As for the game, what the hell was THAT? The Red Sox bats came to play against Joey Estes and the Oakland A's by scoring ELEVEN runs in the first two innings, off-setting a 2 run first inning against Brayan Bello (9-5, 5.40 ERA). Game over, right? WRONG! Bello got nailed for 3 runs in the sixth and Greg Weissert gave up a run in the seventh. The Sox did get a run in the bottom of the eighth to take a 12-6 lead but Trey Wingenter allowed a 3 run home run to Zack Gelof in the ninth inning. Still, Lawrence Butler popped up to end the game with the Sox winning 12-9.
Bello got the ball in the top of the first inning and JJ Bleday struck out swinging to start. Miguel Andujar singled to left and Brent Rooker doubled off the Monster to score Andujar. Tyler Soderstrom took strike three and a wild pitch moved Rooker to third. Shea Langeliers got a base hit to center to score Brent and Zack Gelof struck out swinging to end the inning with the A's up 2-0.
The Sox attacked Estes right out of the gate in the bottom of the first as Jarren Duran doubled to right to start. David Hamilton got a base hit to center to score Duran and Tyler O'Neill doubled to center. Rafael Devers got a base hit to right to score both Hamilton and O'Neill then took second on a wild pitch. Connor Wong struck out swinging, Masataka Yoshida flied out to left and Wilyer Abreu flied out to right to end the inning with the Sox ahead 3-2.
Lawrence Butler singled to right to start the top of the second and took second on a wild pitch. Brett Harris struck out swinging but Max Schuemann walked. Bleday struck out swinging and both runners pulled off a double steal. Andujar struck out swinging to end the inning. The Sox exploded in the bottom of the second as Dominic Smith walked to start. Ceddanne Rafaela tripled into the right field corner to score Dominic and Duran hit a sac fly to score him. Hamilton flied out to right but O'Neill was hit with a pitch. A wild pitch moved Tyler to second and he scored on the Devers double to center. Wong got a base hit to third to chase Estes. Tyler Ferguson came in and Yoshida got a base hit to center to score Devers. Abreu then pounded his 7th home run of the season to put the game on ice. Smith followed with his fourth home run of the year for back to back jacks. Rafaela flied out to center to end the inning with the Sox ahead 11-2.
Smith is all smiles
Rooker struck out swinging to start the top of the third and Soderstrom did the same. Langeliers also went down hacking to end the inning. Duran lined out to left to start the bottom of the third and Hamilton singled to left. O'Neill struck out looking and Devers lined out to right to end the inning.
Gelof got a base hit to center to start the top of the fourth but Butler took strike three. Harris walked but was forced at second by Shuemann. Bleday struck out swinging to end the inning. Wong lined out to left to start the bottom of the fourth but Yoshida doubled to right. Abreu popped up to third and Smith struck out swinging to end the inning.
Andujar grounded out to short to start the top of the fifth but Rooker singled to center. Soderstrom grounded into a double play to end the inning. Michel Otanez came in to pitch the bottom of the fifth and Rafaela struck out swinging to start. Duran popped up to second but Hamilton walked. O'Neill struck out swinging to end the inning.
The A's struck back in the top of the sixth as Langeliers singled to left to start. Gelof got a base hit to left and Butler hit a home run all the way to Idaho to cut the lead. Harris lined out to center and that was it for Bello. He got hammered for 5 runs in 5 1/3 innings off 9 hits and 2 walks. Greg Weissert came in and Schuemann singled to center, but Bleday forced him at second. Andujar grounded out to short to end the inning with the A's down 11-5.
Not his best stuff
Devers struck out swinging to start the bottom of the sixth and Wong took strike three. Yoshida and Abreu drew back to back walks to chase Otanez. Scott Alexander got Smith to ground out to short to end the inning.
The A's responded in the top of the seventh as Rooker walked to start. Soderstrom got a base hit to center to put runners at the corners but Langeliers struck out swinging. Gelof hit a sac fly to center to score Rooker and Butler took strike three to end the inning with the A's down 11-6.
A's refuse to quit
Rafaela got a base hit to right to start the bottom of the seventh and moved to second on the grounder to third by Duran. Hamilton struck out swinging and O'Neill took strike three to end the inning.
Zack Kelly came in to pitch the top of the eighth and Harris popped up to second to start. Schuemann struck out swinging and Bleday grounded out to first to end the inning. The Sox got another run in the bottom of the eighth as Austin Adams came in to pitch. Devers walked to start and Wong was hit with a pitch. Yoshida was also hit with a pitch to load the bases and Abreu hit a sac fly to left to score Devers. A wild pitch moved the runners over but Smith struck out swinging. Rafaela popped up to first to end the inning with the Sox ahead 12-6.
Abreu drives in another run
Trey Wingenter made his Sox debut by crapping his pants in the top of the ninth as Andujar singled to left to start. Rooker walked but Soderstrom flied out to center to move Andujar to third. Langeliers struck out swinging but Gelof hit a home run to Indiana to cut the lead. Butler popped up to third to end the game. The Sox had won it 12-9.
Sox win
Abreu is the Hero
Hero of The Night is a tough one with a well balanced offense but Wilyer Abreu hit a 3 run home run and drove in the final run which proved to be more important than it should have been.
The Good:
David Hamilton was 2 for 4 with a walk, rbi and a run scored.
Rafael Devers was 2 for 4 with a walk, 3 rbis and 2 runs scored.
Masataka Yoshida was 2 for 3 with a walk, hit by pitch, rbi and a run scored.
Ceddanne Rafaela was 2 for 5 with an rbi and a run scored.
Zack Kelly pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
The Bad:
Greg Weissert allowed a run in 1 2/3 innings.
Trey Wingenter allowed 3 runs in the 9th inning.
The Ugly:
Jarren Duran was just 1 for 4 but drove in a run and scored a run.
Tyler O'Neill was just 1 for 4 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts but was hit with a pitch and scored 2 runs.
Connor Wong was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but was hit with a pitch and scored a run.
Dominic Smith was just 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but walked, hit a home run and scored two runs.
Brayan Bello got the win but allowed 5 runs in 5 1/3 innings off 9 hits and 2 walks, but he struck out 11.
Final Thoughts:
That was too close for comfort although the Sox are surging just before the all-star break. Ever since that disaster against the Chicago White Sox the Red Sox have been one of the hottest teams in the month since. They're only 7 games out of first place and 4 games behind the New York Yankees for the wild card. If the Sox can get some pitching help at the deadline, they'll have enough ammo for a stretch run. It all depends on if the trio of Brayan Bello, Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford can take the next step. Bello failed big time today as he was handed an 11-2 lead and couldn't hold it. If the score was a lot closer they might have lost this one. If Craig Breslow's idea of trade deadline pickups are Trey Wingenter, they're in trouble. That would be par for the course since ownership essentially stopped spending money. The Sox have 3 weeks to figure out what they're going to do and hopefully they can win as many games as they can in the meantime. The win improved the Sox to 50-41, 7 games behind the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the AL East. The Sox look to make it two in a row against the A's tomorrow night when Nick Pivetta (4-6, 4.09 ERA) takes on JP Sears of Oakland. The game begins at 7:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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