The Red Sox looked to Felix Doubront to stop the current skid they are on, but unfortunately the Athletics would continue to get to Sox pitching and take the second game of the series. Then the game went from focusing on another loss to focusing on the drama that was going on in the dugout.
Felix Doubront put the Sox in a hole with the 4th pitch he threw. Coco Crisp hit a leadoff homerun to have the A’s leading 1-0. Doubront found more trouble in the 4th inning when he gave up an RBI single to Cespedes, a 2 run RBI double to Inge and then an RBI single to Norris. Sox 0-5. That would be it for Doubront and Aceves was on in the 4th.
To say Alfredo Aceves had an interesting 4th inning would be an understatement. Aceves gave up a double to Crisp. Aceves then ran into a routine pop up in foul territory between Salty and Loney and proceeded to drop the ball. Aceves then kept throwing erradic throws to second as Coco was on base. A few times over it seemed that Pedey was not expecting the throw and it almost went into centerfield. Aceves then started barking at the home plate umpire as the inning was drawing to a close. Aceves got the strikeout to end the inning, but it was one of the most bizarre innings ever. As the players went back to the dugout, Pedey and Aceves had themselves an intense conversation in the dugout where Royster ended up needing to get in between them. Bobby Valentine tried to come over and say something to Aceves and he swatted him away. However, Aceves and his craziness went back out to the mound for the 5th. Aceves gave up an RBI single to Norris to put the Sox in a 0-6 hole. Aceves went on to pitch a scoreless 6th and he was done for the night. Aceves pitched 63 pitches last night and over the past 5 days he has pitched 143 pitches. I know everyone is talking about how out of control and reckless Aceves was last night, however I’d make the case that his workload and whatever Bobby V is doing with him is also verging on reckless.
While at the same time, A’s pitcher Griffin was pitching a no hitter. However in the 5th his no no bid would come to an end when Salty came to the plate and hit a bunt single with the shift on. The A’s crowd did not appreciate Salty putting down the bunt and let him know it every other time he came to the plate. In my opinion, you do whatever you need to do to try to win the game and I think the 5th inning is just a wee bit early to start talking about protecting a no hitter.
The Sox scored their one and only run in the top of the 6th. Pedroia hit an RBI single and Ciriaco was safe at the plate. Upon review, it looks like Ciriaco might have actually been out, but we’ll take it! In the 7th, Daniel Bard took the mound for the Sox. Bard gave up a leadoff homerun to Carter to give that run right back to the A’s. Sox 1-7. Bard gave up another single and then settled down and got 2 Ks to get out of the inning. In the 8th, Rich Hill was out of the bullpen and into the game. Hill was activated from the DL and this was his first outing since June 8th. Hill recorded two Ks and a walk before he was pulled in favor of Andrew Bailey. This was Bailey’s first time pitching against his former team. He got a real nice ovation from the crowd. Bailey got Cespedes to strikeout to end the inning.
The Red Sox keep finding new and interesting ways to lose games.
Red Sox 1 Athletics 7 BOXSCORE
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