Final, Red Sox 6-3: Daniel Bard has come on to close things out for Boston.
Drew has stayed in right field for the Sox, replacing Cameron.
He strikes out Ellis swinging to start the inning. He then gets Kouzmanoff in an 0-2 hole, and he taps out to Lowrie.
Cliff Pennington is the final hope for Oakland, but Bard gets him to ground out to Pedroia to end the game. Wheeler and Bard made very short work of Oakland to close out the sweep.
So, that's that. Boston goes into the Bronx with all sorts of momentum. Crawford and Gonzalez go deep, and the Sox get a sweep.
End 8th, Red Sox 6-3: Brad Ziegler comes on for Oakland, and he gets J.D. Drew, hitting for Cameron, to pop to short.
Saltalamacchia then comes up and lines one to right center. Jackson goes for the diving catch and can't come up with it, and Salty strolls over to third easily — though it looked like a long run for him. He's 3-4 on the day.
Ellsbury grounds one to first, and Saltalamacchia is running home on contact. Barton goes home with it immediately, and Suzuki tags out Salty for the second out — Ellsbury safe at first.
Ziegler throws over to first to check on Ellsbury a couple of times. He runs anyway, and is tagged out at second on a good throw by Suzuki. He looks like he may have been safe — and he's not happy about it.
Regardless, inning over.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 6-3: Dan Wheeler comes on for the Sox, and he gets Jackson to ground to short for the first out of the inning and then gets Suzuki to ground to third shortly thereafter.
Barton quickly pops to Youk, and Wheeler is through the eighth on seven pitches.
End 7th, Red Sox 6-3:
De Los Santos comes back out for the A's.
Big Papi comes to the plate on a 3-3 day, and he thrashes one deep into the right-center alley. Crisp, though, gets a great jump and tracks it down on the track by the 420 sign.
De Los Santos then gets Lowrie to strike out swinging and does the same to Crawford to end the inning. Four of De Los Santos' six outs have been Ks.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 6-3: Matt Albers stays on the mound for the top half of the seventh. He makes short work of Kouzmanoff, getting him to strike out swinging for the first out of the inning.
He gets ahead of Pennington, but the shortstop rallies for a single to left.
Thereafter, Albers recovers to get Crisp to fly out to left.
Francona ends Albers' outing after an inning of work, and Tommy Hottovy comes on.
Hottovy can't find the strike zone. He throws four straight balls to begin his outing, walking Sweeney — two on, two out.
Hottovy finally throws a strike on his seventh pitch. DeJesus grounds the eighth pitch to Pedroia, and he gets out of the inning.
End 6th, Red Sox 6-3: Fautino De Los Santos has come on in relief of Brett Anderson, who racked up a high pitch count in just five innings of work.
Saltalamacchia, who is 2-2, comes up first, but he can't replicate that success and strikes out swinging.
Ellsbury, though, knocks one into center for a base hit, and a De Los Santos wild pitch allows him to walk over to second.
De Los Santos throws another wild pitch, and Ellsbury ends up over at third — he's hurling them hard, but he has no clue where they are going.
On a full count, Pedroia's third of the day, he slaps one to right and drives in Ellsbury.
Pedroia then steals second with Gonzalez at the plate. Eventually, Gonzo strikes out.
De Los Santos gets out of the inning with minimal damage as Youkilis flies to deep center.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 5-3: DeJesus fouls one off the same foot that was hit earlier in the game and thereafter proceeds to ground to first.
Lackey goes inside on Jackson and hits his third batter of the game. It was clearly unintentional — Lackey has just let a few go — and he isn't thrown out despite hitting a pair after a warning was issued.
He next faces Suzuki, and after an eight-pitch battle, he gets him swinging. Jackson steals second on the play — he was going on the full count.
Lackey has gone over his prescribed pitch count. Francona brings in Matt Albers in relief.
Things don't start out well for Albers. He gives up a double off the monster to Barton, and that brings around Jackson to make it 5-3.
Albers then ends the inning by getting Ellis to ground out with the count full.
End 5th, Red Sox 5-2: Ortiz takes one right back up the middle for a leadoff single in the fifth — he's now 3-3 on the day and his batting average is up to .327.
Lowrie, though, hands the A's a gimme double-play ball to second. Ellis converts it 4-6-3, and Papi's single is erased.
Crawford draws a two-out walk, as the A's bullpen begins to get ready — Anderson has just reached the 100-pitch mark.
Cameron, though, strikes out looking to end the inning.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 5-2: Lackey gets Kouzmanoff to ground out to begin the fifth.
Pennington then grounds to Lowrie for the second out.
Crisp draws a two-out walk, but nothing is made of it as Sweeney grounds to first — nothing out of the infield this inning for Lackey.
He's now through five with just two runs allowed — not too bad.
End 4th, Red Sox 5-2: Jarrod Saltalamacchia leads off with a single to center, his second of the day.
Ellsbury again bunts, this time for a sacrifice, and Salty moves over to second easily.
Pedroia takes another count deep, but Anderson jams him, and his flare to left is tracked down by Pennington.
Gonzalez smashes one the opposite way — it's over the monster. Red Sox lead 5-2! He now has 50 RBIs already this season.
Youk chops one to third, and Kouzmanoff has to use all his hops to prevent it from going into left. He throws to first for the out — nice play, inning over.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 3-2: Lackey starts the inning by striking out Dejesus, his first K of the game.
He jammed Jackson in the next at-bat, and the right fielder hit it right to Youkilis at third.
Suzuki was hit weakly in the back in the next at-bat. Despite the warning, Lackey was not thrown out. He took off for second on the next pitch and successfully stole the base.
Barton lines one into right for a base knock, and Suzuki comes around to score without a throw — it was a pretty bad pitch from Lackey, right down the middle without much movement.
Lackey nearly hits Ellis to draw the count full, but he finally gets him to fly to right to end the frame.
End 3rd, Red Sox 3-1: Anderson, who has already thrown 53 pitches, starts off the third against Youkilis, who struck out in his first AB.
Youk eventually grounds one back off Anderson, but he recovers for the putout.
Ortiz rips a double to deep center — he's off to a 2-2 start already.
Lowrie then makes good contact on one, but it is tracked down in deep right-center. Still, Papi is able to tag and trot over to third.
Anderson loses control of one — or throws at Crawford on purpose — and gets Crawford on the shoulder. He's not too pleased about it, but he heads over to first to put runners on the corners with two down.
Larry Vanover hands out warnings to each dugout about the HBPs.
Cameron chops one to Kouzmanoff to end the inning, stranding two.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 3-1: Kevin Kouzmanoff skies one to center that keeps on carrying. It sneaks over the wall for a home run to dead center. The A's have one back.
Note: Tim Wakefield is going to be taking Buchholz's start against the Yankees, and Clay will instead go on Friday against Toronto — giving him a few extra days rest.
Pennington grounds out for the first out of the inning, and Crisp is back up for the second time. He grounds to first, and Gonzalez gets the putout unassisted.
Sweeney then pops to second to end the inning.
End 2nd, Red Sox 3-0: Big Papi takes the first pitch of the inning — a breaking ball — the opposite way, and the ball bounces just in front of Sweeney's glove for a single.
Lowrie then gets ahead of Anderson 2-1. He sits on a fastball and rips it right back up the middle for a base hit — two on, nobody out.
Crawford swings at the first pitch, and he hits a line drive just over the right-field wall — three run home run.
Cameron sends a flyball to center, and Mark Ellis runs out from second way into the outfield and makes the play.
Saltalamacchia goes inside-out on a changeup, roping a single into right. Anderson, clearly, isn't fooling anybody at the moment.
After again trying to lay down a bunt, Ellsbury works Anderson deep into the count before being jammed and flying out to right.
After getting ahead 3-0, Pedroia lines one down the third-base line. It gets past Kouzmanoff for a double, but Salty is held at third on the double.
Gonzalez grounds to short thereafter to end the inning — two stranded, but damage done.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Lackey gets a popout to Pedroia out of Suzuki to start the second.
Daric Barton then draws a walk from Lackey — the decisive pitch just missed off the outside edge.
Ellis grounds one sharply up the middle, nabbed by Pedroia. He, Lowrie and Gonzalez combine for a nice 4-6-3 double play, and this inning ends for Lackey just as the first did.
End 1st, 0-0: Ellsbury tries to drop a bunt down to lead off for the Red Sox, but Anderson makes a nice spinning play to just get him at first.
Pedroia battles with Anderson in a lengthy at-bat, and he finally takes ball 3 and ball 4 on some close pitches.
Anderson keeps an eye on Pedroia at first with a few throws to the bag.
Gonzalez ropes one down the left-field line, but Sweeney gets there with a very nice sliding catch — he probably saved a run.
Anderson gets Youkilis to chase a high, hard one — he strikes out and ends the inning.
Mid 1st, 0-0: A bearded John Lackey begins his start pretty brightly, getting ahead of Coco Crisp 0-2. Eventually, he gets Coco to golf one to shallow right — easy play for Cameron.
Sweeney comes up next and flips a changeup into shallow left for a single.
Lackey then lets one get out of control. He hits David DeJesus on the foot with a pitch — the second ball DeJesus has been nailed with this series.
Lackey gets some good luck. A ball is chopped right to Youkilis, who steps on the bag and first to first for the rare 5-3 double play — inning over.
1:30 p.m.: One roster move to report: Josh Reddick has been optioned to Pawtucket in order to make space for Lackey on the roster.
12:30 p.m.: The vast majority of the Sox regulars will be in the field behind John Lackey for Sunday's series finale.
The A's, on the other hand, are shuffling things up to a significant extent after Saturday's marathon.
Here are the full lineup cards:
Boston Red Sox
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
Jed Lowrie, SS
Carl Crawford, LF
Mike Cameron, RF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
John Lackey, SP
Oakland Athletics
Coco Crisp, CF
Ryan Sweeney, LF
David DeJesus, DH
Conor Jackson, RF
Kurt Suzuki, C
Daric Barton, 1B
Mark Ellis, 2B
Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B
Cliff Pennington, SS
Brett Anderson, SP
7 a.m.: John Lackey hit the lowest of lows the last time he stood atop a major league mound. The right-hander was knocked around the park on May 11, a start in which he gave up nine runs in 6 2/3 innings before sounding like a beaten man when meeting with reporters afterward.
Not long after that, Lackey was placed on the disabled list to help heal some elbow tightness, but perhaps more importantly, heal his ego.
He gets his first crack back at it on Sunday afternoon when the Red Sox go for a sweep of the Oakland Athletics at Fenway Park. And if there were one team, Lackey would love to see in his return, it would probably be the A's. In 32 career starts against Oakland, Lackey is 17-6 with a 2.86 ERA.
He took a loss in Oakland on April 19, but it was one of his finer outings of the season, going six innings and allowing just two runs.
Oakland, losers of its last five, will send hard-throwing lefty Brett Anderson to the mound to try and stop the skid.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m.
