All good things must come to an end and the Boston Red Sox 9 game win streak was snapped by the same pitcher and the same team that beat them before the streak. Gage Jump and the Sacramento A's held the high powered Sox to just 2 runs through the first six innings on a 2 run Andruw Monasterio single. The A's jumped on Sox starter Jake Bennett (7-5, 3.17 ERA) for 4 runs before knocking him out in the sixth. The Sox bullpen didn't help as Justin Slaten and Raymond Burgos allowed 3 runs between them and the A's snapped the streak with a 7-3 victory over the Sox at Fenway Park.
Bennett got the ball in the top of the first inning and Henry Bolte struck out swinging to start. Jacob Wilson lined out to right and Jonah Heim did the same to end the inning. Jump got the ball in the bottom of the first and Jahmai Jones got a base hit to left to start. Ceddanne Rafaela lined out to center and Jones stole second. Caleb Durbin walked and both runners pulled off a double steal while Willson Contreras struck out swinging. Andruw Monasterio got a base hit to right to score both runners but Eli White struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox ahead 2-0.
Tyler Soderstrom grounded out to first to start the bottom of the second and Tommy White flied out to right. Brian Serven also flied out to right to end the inning. Nick Sogard struck out swinging to start the bottom of the second but Jump threw a grounder away by Jarren Duran for an error. Connor Wong grounded out to short to move Duran to second but Jones struck out swinging to end the inning.
Lawrence Butler grounded out to second to start the top of the third and Max Muncy flied out to center. Alika Williams walked but Bolte flied out to center to end the inning. Rafaela got a base hit to center to start the bottom of the third but Durbin popped up to first. Contreras took strike three and Monasterio flied out to center to end the inning.
Wilson doubled to left to start the top of the fourth but Heim struck out swinging. Soderstrom struck out swinging but White singled in the hole at short to put runners at the corners. Serven hit a routine grounder to Bennett...kicked by Jake to score White on the "single". Butler lined out to center to end the inning with the A's down 2-1.
White struck out swinging to start the bottom of the fourth but Sogard doubled to center. Duran struck out swinging and Wong popped up to second to end the inning.
Muncy struck out swinging to start the top of the fifth but Williams was hit with a pitch. Bolte took strike three but Wilson doubled to left. Naturally Heim got a base hit to left to score both runners to put Sacramento up for good. Soderstrom walked but White forced him at second to end the inning with the game all but over...3-2 A's.
The Sox failed to respond in the bottom of the fifth although Jones doubled to left to start. Naturally Rafaela struck out swinging but Durbin grounded back to the mound to move Jones to third. Contreras struck out swinging to end the inning.
Serven lined out to first to start the top of the sixth but Butler walked to chase Bennett. He lost it in the last few innings allowing 4 runs off 5 hits and 3 walks. Justin "Incinerator" Slaten came in and Jeff McNeil pinch hit for Muncy. Butler stole second, McNeil walked and Donovan Walton pinch hit for Williams. Both runners pulled off a double steal and Walton pounded a ground rule double into the bullpen to score them to ice the game. Bolte grounded out to short and Wilson flied out to right to end the inning with the A's up 5-2.
Monasterio walked to start the bottom of the sixth but White forced him at second. Sogard dropped down a bunt to third but somehow beat it out. Naturally Duran and Wong both struck out swinging to end the inning.
Raymond Burgos came in to pitch the top of the seventh and Heim flied out to center to start. Naturally Soderstrom hit a home run all the way to Great Britain to increase the lead. White flied out to right and Serven grounded out to short to end the inning with the A's up 6-2.
Luis Medina came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh and Jones popped up to first to start. Rafaela lined out to right and Durbin struck out swinging to end the inning.
Butler lined out to center to start the top of the eighth and McNeil did the same. Walton grounded out to second to end the inning. Seth Johnson came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Contreras refused to run out a grounder which caused Fenway to boo. Monasterio struck out swinging but White walked. Somehow Sogard doubled to right to score White....but wait! To show the streak was truly dead, the umps got together and ruled the ball went out of play for a ground rule double, White had to return to third. Hogan Harris came in to face Duran and Jarren struck out swinging on a straight fastball right down the middle to end the inning to a chorus of boos.
The A's added to the misery in the top of the ninth as Bolte hit a home run all the way to Seattle to start. Wilson grounded out to third, Heim struck out swinging and Soderstrom took strike three to end the inning with the A's up 7-2
Wong lined out to left to start the bottom of the ninth but Jones doubled to left. Rafaela struck out swinging but Durbin somehow got a base hit to left to score Jones. Contreras got a base hit to center and Monasterio walked to load the bases. Naturally with the game on the line....White lined out to center on a 3-1 counter to end the game. The A's had won it 7-3.
Jackass of the Night is Justin Slaten. He turned a 3-2 game into 5-2 to open the floodgates.
The Good:
Jahmai Jones as 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored.
Andrew Monasterio was 1 for 3 with 2 walks and 2 rbis.
Nick Sogard was 3 for 4.
The Bad:
Jarren Duran was 0 for 4 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts.
Connor Wong was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Jake Bennett got rocked for 4 runs in just 5 1/3 innings to take the loss off 5 hits and 3 walks.
The Ugly:
Ceddanne Rafaela was just 1 for 5 with 2 strikeouts.
Caleb Durbin was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but walked, drove in a run and scored a run.
Willson Contreras was just 1 for 5 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts.
Eli White was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but walked.
Raymond Burgos allowed 2 runs in 3 innings of work.
Final Thoughts:
Can't expect the Sox to go undefeated the rest of the season, a game like this was bound to happen. Its uncanny how the Red Sox kryptonite is Gage Jump, that's twice now he's beaten the Sox when others don't even come close. The Sox had been so hot the last month that fans fully expected to rally in this one. Duran striking out in the eighth sealed the deal but the game was lost well before that. Slaten, Burgos and even Bennett wasn't good enough to get the job done on this day. Worse yet, both the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays won so all the momentum the Sox built evaporated. The Sox are still 6 games ahead of the Texas Rangers but the Sox are still within striking distance of the division. They might be the only ones who can take Tampa and New York at this point. The Sox will get the Yankees three weeks from tonight, hopefully they can go on a run until then. All in all it was a bad loss but they were due for one. The loss dropped the Sox to 64-52, 6 games behind the Rays for first place in the AL East. The Sox look to bounce back tomorrow in the rubber game of this series with JT Ginn going for Sacramento and a bullpen game for Boston. The game begins at 1:35 PM at Fenway Park.
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