Lost in all of the offense was the effort of spot starter Sean O'Sullivan (1-0). He got the ball in the top of the first and got Coco Crisp to line out. Billy Burns tried to reach on a bunt but Sullivan snuffed him out at first. Josh Reddick singled but Khris David grounded out to end the inning. Sean Manaea got the ball for the A's and didn't fare too well. Mr. Mookie Betts greeted him with a solo blast into the monster seats for a quick 1-0 lead. Dustin Pedroia struck out but Xander Bogaerts singled. Hanley Ramirez then blasted a 460 moon shoot to dead center. Chris Young singled but Josh "Razor" Rutledge banged into a double play to end the inning. Just like that it was 3-0 Boston.
The A's got a chance in the top of the second inning. Steven Voght flied out but Billy Butler singled. Yonder Alonso poppep but Marcus Semien singled. Chris Coghlan singled and Butler tried to test Jackie Bradley Jr's arm.....bad idea. JBJ had Butler out by a mile at home to end the inning.
Manaea found himself in the bottom of the second inning. Travis Shaw, Ryan Hanigan and JBJ all grounded out in short order.
Crisp grounded out to second to start the top of the third inning. Burns lined out but Reddick singled. Davis grounded out to end the inning. The Sox hit parade continued in the bottom of the third. Betts singled and Pedroia doubled him home. Bogaerts singled home Pedroia and Ramirez singled Bogaerts to third. Young singled home Bogaerts but Razor lined out. Shaw doubled home both runners but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple. That was it for Manaea as the A's manager wasted no time pulling the plug, replacing Manaea with Daniel Coulombe. Hanigan struck out to end the inning with the Sox ahead 8-0.
Voght flied out but Butler singled to open the top of the fourth inning. Alonso flied out and Semien grounded out to end the inning. The Sox were finally silenced in the bottom of the frame. JBJ flied out, Mr. Mookie grounded out but Pedroia walked. Bogaerts grounded out to end the inning.
O'Sullivan flashed some power in the top of the fifth inning. Coghlan and Crisp struck out but Burns singled. Reddick struck out to end the inning. 5 shutout innings from a spot-starter is just what the doctor ordered. The Sox continued to strike in the bottom of the fifth. Ramirez singled and took second on a wild pitch. Young struck out but Razor walked. Shaw then blasted a 3 run bomb to make it 11-0 for good measure. Hanigan grounded out but JBJ singled to chase Coulombe. Andrew Triggs relieved Eric and struck Mr. Mookie out to end the inning.
O'Sullivan finally tired in the top of the sixth. Brock Holt replaced Pedroia at second base to give him the rest of the night off. Davis and Voght singled and moved up on a wild pitch. Butler grounded back to O'Sullivan but Alonso singled home Davis and advance Voght to third. Semien beat out a double-play ball to score Voght to make it 11-2. Coghlan and Crisp hit back to back doubles to make it 11-4. Burns flied out to end the inning. It fell apart at the end but O'Sullivan had tossed 6 innings and kept the Sox in the game.
Triggs managed to get Holt, Bogaets and Ramirez all to ground out in short order in the bottom of the sixth.
Robbie Ross Jr was first out of the bullpen in the top of the seventh. Reddick walked but Davis and Voght struck out. Butler doubled in Reddick to make it 11-5. Alonso grounded out to end the inning. The Sox continued to pile on in the bottom of the seventh. Young was plunked but was erased on the force by Razor. Shaw singled and Razor scored all the way from first when a bad throw by Reddick sailed away. Shaw took second on the error and moved to third on the ground out by Hanigan. Marc Rzepcynski replaced Triggs and JBJ greeted him with a run scoring single. Alonso booted a ball, allowing Betts to reach but Holt grounded out to end the inning, 13-5 Boston.
Junichi Tazawa came on to pitch the top of the eighth just to get some work in. Semien singled but Coghlan blasted one right back to Taz....who threw the ball away trying to double off Semien. Marcus took second on the error. Crisp struck out and Burns grounded out to end the inning with no harm done. The Sox had one last scoring chance in the bottom of the eighth. Tyler Ladendorf took over at second and Coghlan moved to right field. Ryan Madson was brought in to pitch. Bogaerts flied out but Ramirez walked. Young singled and Razor beat out a double play ball to put runners on first and third. Shaw walked to load the bases but Hanigan flied out to end the inning.
Sox closer Craig Kimbrel took the mound in the top of the ninth for no reason other than to get some work in. Ladendorf struck out but Davis singled. Davis took second on defensive indifference and Voght struck out. Butler flied out to end the game. The Sox had won 13-5.
Hero of the night is Travis Shaw. He went 3 for 4 with a 3 run bomb, 5 total rbi's, a walk and 2 runs scored.
The Good:
Mookie Betts was 2 for 5 with 2 runs scored and his 5th home run of the year. Dustin Pedroia was 1 for 2 with a walk, run scored and rbi. Xander Bogaerts was 2 for 5 with an rbi and 2 runs scored. Hanley Ramirez was 3 for 4 with 3 runs scored, a walk, 2 rbi's and his 4th home run of the year. Chris Young was 3 for 4 with an rbi and a run scored. Jackie Bradley Jr was 2 for 4 with an rbi. Junichi Tazawa pitched a scoreless 8th inning. Craig Kimbrel pitched a scoreless ninth.
The Bad:
Brock Holt was 0 for 2 after taking over for Pedroia. Ryan Hanigan was 0 for 5. Robbie Ross Jr allowed a run in the inning he worked.
The Ugly:
Josh Rutledge was 0 for 4 but walked and scored 2 runs. Sean O'Sullivan got the win by gutting through 6 innings although he allowed 4 runs on TWELVE hits while striking out 3.
Final Thoughts:
Good offense always makes up for lousy pitching and for now the Sox are red hot. They've scored 27 runs the past two games and they're taking advantage of a weak schedule to rack up some wins. In the era of the second wild card, every win counts. Its great to see almost everyone on a hot streak because this is the offense the Sox envisioned in August of last year. In fact, replace Pablo Sandoval with Ramirez and Blake Swihart with Christian Vazquez, this is the exact same offense that posted a winning record from August to September of last year. Betts, Pedroia, JBJ, Shaw, Ortiz, Holt and Bogaerts were there last year and are here now. Let's just hope the starting pitching comes around as well. The win puts the Sox at 20-13, tied for first place with the Baltimore Orioles. Tomorrow night the A's plan on calling up Eric Surkamp to take on Rick Porcello (5-1).
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