Boston Red Sox Sweep Oakland Athletics With 13-3 Win

The Boston Red Sox scored a total of 40 runs over the three game series against the Oakland Athletics

Rick Porcello and Boston Red Sox took on the Oakland Athletics for the final game in the three game series that started on Monday. After crushing the A’s both in game one and two, the Red Sox looked to come back and hit some long balls out of the park.

The Athletics got on the board first in the top of the second inning.  First, A’s catcher Stephen Vogt singled to center with one out. Then, third baseman Yonder Alonso drove Vogt in with a double to right field. Porcello was able to strike out Billy Butler and Marcus Semien to get out of the inning with the Athletics leading 1-0.

The Red Sox responded in the bottom of the second. With two on and two outs, Jackie Bradley Jr, who is currently slugging .549, stepped up to plate ready to drive in some runs. He did not disappoint as he hit a long homerun to center off of A’s starter Eric Surkamp to collect three RBI. The second inning concluded with the Red Sox up 3-1.

However, tonight, the Athletics were not going to go down without a fight – although it was a small fight. With two men on in the top of the third, Porcello looked to strike out Khris Davis for the final out. However, Davis was able to hit a hard line drive into left field – allowing Chris Coghlan and Billy Burns to score. The game was tied back up at 3-3.

Boston was not perturbed by the tied game and Chris Young promptly hit a double in the bottom of the third to drive in Dustin Pedroia. In an effort to prevent the Sox 4-3 lead from getting any bigger, the A’s pulled Surkamp from the game and sent rookie reliever Ryan Dull to the mound. After intentionally walking Travis Shaw, Dull was able to get Christian Vazquez to fly out to right field to end the third inning.

The Red Sox started to rack up the runs quite quickly in the middle of the game. Pedroia added some insurance runs by blasting a two-run homer into the monster seats in the fourth. In the bottom of the fifth, JBJ had yet another extra base hit to collect another RBI while Mookie Betts ground out to short, but was still able to drive in Vazquez. Hanley Ramirez then doubled, which allowed Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts to reach home. In the sixth, Betts’ single scored Vazquez.

By the time the sixth inning ended, it was 11-3 with the BoSox well in the lead. Porcello left the game with two outs in the seventh to a well-deserved standing ovation and a hug from David Ortiz, who met Porcello on the dugout steps. Porcello struck out five and only allowed three runs over his 6.2 innings pitched. With another quality outing from Porcello in the books, the hefty contract he signed with the Sox in 2015 is becoming more palatable.

To top off the night, Jackie Bradley Jr. continued to demonstrate how hot his bat is by smashing a two-run home run into right field. The game ended with the Red Sox on top 13-3. The series against the Athletics ended just how it began, with the Sox offense completely crushing Oakland’s pitching.

Game notes:

• The Red Sox made franchise history tonight by scoring 13 or more runs in three consecutive games.
• Prior to the game, lefties were hitting .183/.221/.305 against Porcello. Tonight’s game was no different. He struck out three lefties to start the game.
• Dustin Pedroia stole his first base of the year in tonight’s game.
• The Oakland Athletics had the highest scoring offense in the American League before Monday when the Boston Red Sox’s bats caught fire.
• Joe Kelly made his second rehab start in the minors, going five innings and only allowing one run.

Porcello obviously deserves the game ball. He is now 6-1 with a 0.99 WHIP. If he continues to pitch this well throughout the season, 2016 will be a great comeback year for this veteran who struggled in 2015.

Next: Hanley Proved His Case to be the DH

Again, Boston’s offense was on fire tonight. JBJ that gets the game ball for his three hits that drove in six runs. Two of those hits here home runs. Bradley is set to have a quality season offensively.