Final, A’s 13-0: The umpires waited just the required 30 minutes to make their decision to call tonight’s game after seven innings — certainly an understandable one given the miserable conditions and lopsided score.
The Red Sox couldn’t muster much of anything on the offensive end, as Bartolo Colon worked all seven scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and a walk while striking out seven.
Oakland jumped on Sox starter Alfredo Aceves early, pounding the right-hander for six runs in a bizarre second inning that featured three walks, two balks and two errors.
The A’s proceeded to add two more against Aceves in the fourth and a total of five off rookie Steven Wright, who was making his first major league appearance.
These teams will face off again Wednesday afternoon at 4:05 p.m in the series finale.
End 7th, A’s 13-0:Â Bartolo Colon tosses his best inning of the night, striking out Daniel Nava, Will Middlebrooks and Jarrod Saltalamacchia in order to put the Red Sox away in the seventh.
And with that, the grounds crew brings the tarp out. Welcome to tonight’s first rain delay, Red Sox fans. Hopefully this will be a brief one.
This Red Sox rain delay is presented by LL Bean.
Mid 7th, A’s 13-0:Â I think the wind and rain might be getting to the heads of some fans, as the crowd spent a solid 30 seconds heckling Josh Donaldson while Brandon Moss was at bat.
That was about the most exciting thing that happened in the seventh, as Steven Wright allowed a pair singles but also struck out two to complete his first scoreless inning.
End 6th, A’s 13-0:Â The Red Sox have finally cracked Bartolo Colon, with Jacoby Ellsbury working a walk against the big righty — the first free pass he’s issued all season.
Hey, in games like this, you have to find some sort of bright side.
Ellsbury wouldn’t advance past first, though, as Colon retired the next three batters in order.
The seventh inning will feature some wholesale defensive changes for the Sox, with Pedro Ciriaco replacing Dustin Pedroia at second base, Mike Carp replacing Mike Napoli in the cleanup spot and playing left field, and Daniel Nava shifting in to fill Napoli’s spot at first base.
The man on the mound will remain the same, though, as Steven Wright comes back out for his third inning of work.
Mid 6th, A’s 13-0:Â Josh Reddick drives in his second run of the night to give his A’s a 13-0 lead.
Steven Wright has not had the most auspicious of debuts, walking his third and fourth batters of the night to start the inning before Reddick scored Brandon Moss with an RBI double. Wright did settle down, though, retiring the next three batters in order.
The stands have mostly cleared out on this dreary night at Fenway, but a few intrepid fans are still holding in the lower deck.
8:33 p.m.:Â The umpires call in the grounds crew in an attempt to dry the mound for pitcher Steven Wright.
End 5th, A’s 12-0:Â The Red Sox finally snapped Bartolo Colon’s consecutive outs streak at 12, but they could not change the goose egg next to their name on the scoreboard.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Jonny Gomes both singled in the inning but were stranded on base when Stephen Drew popped out to shortstop Jed Lowrie in shallow left field.
Drew has just four hits in 35 at-bats since returning from the disabled list on April 10.
Mid 5th, A’s 12-0:Â The deficit has reached double digits after the A’s pounded Wright for four more runs in the top of the fifth.
Wright picked up his first career strikeout in the frame and made a heads-up play to catch John Jaso in a rundown between second and third, but he also allowed a double and a single and walked two as Oakland continued to pile on runs.
This is beginning to take on the look of the 20-2 shellacking the A’s put on Boston last August, marking one of the lowest points of last year’s disappointing campaign.
End 4th, A’s 8-0:Â The Red Sox go down in order for the third straight inning without the ball clearing the infield dirt.
If Bartolo Colon keeps this up, it will be difficult to doubt whether the 39-year-old has enough left in the tank to continue to compete at the major league level.
The Sox have reached base just once tonight, with their one hit coming on an infield single that Dustin Pedroia barely beat out in the first inning.
Mid 4th, A’s 8-0:Â At least there will be no pressure on Steven Wright in his first big-league appearance.
The knuckleballer, who has kicked around the Indians farm system since 2007, got Brandon Moss to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to put an end to the fourth.
Top 4th, A’s 8-0:Â This is just a bad night all around.
With John Jaso standing on second base after a double, Seth Smith took Alfredo Aceves deep to center for his second home run of the season.
The only silver lining was that Smith’s homer wasn’t a three-run shot, as leadoff hitter Coco Crisp was originally called safe to begin the inning before the umpires conferred and determined that Mike Napoli had gotten his tag down before Crisp’s foot touched first base.
A single by Jed Lowrie ended Aceves’ night, and we will now witness the debut of Steven Wright, the first Red Sox knuckleballer since Tim Wakefield.
End 3rd, A’s 6-0:Â The lengthy break did not deter Bartolo Colon, as the Red Sox could not muster a hit in their half of the third.
Through three innings, Colon has thrown 30 of his 38 pitches for strikes and has yet to record an out via ground ball (four strikeouts, five fly outs).
Alfredo Aceves will return for the Sox in the fifth, but John Farrell will likely have his hand on the bullpen phone.
Mid 3rd, A’s 6-0:Â On the other hand, Alfredo Aceves is struggling to locate the plate tonight.
Aceves loaded the bases with no outs on a pair of walks and a single before issuing another free pass to Seth Smith to bring in the game’s first run.
After Jed Lowrie struck out, Brandon Moss singled home two more runs with a line drive up the middle.
Things then got worse for Aceves as he was called for a balk, allowing the runners to advance to second and third and letting Smith score easily Luke Donaldson’s fly out to center field.
Mike Napoli then appeared to bail his pitcher out with a nice diving stop on a Josh Reddick grounder, but Aceves was late covering first base and then threw the ball away while trying to nail Moss at the plate.
Reddick took second on the throwing error and third on yet another balk by Aceves before scoring the inning’s sixth run when Napoli couldn’t corral a low throw by Will Middlebrooks on a Chris Young grounder (Middlebrooks was charged with the error).
Sogard, the 10th batter in the frame, finally grounded out to the pitcher to end it, but that was one of the worst innings of the season for the Red Sox. Knuckleballer Steven Wright is warming up in the bullpen, and he we could see him make his major-league debut tonight in long relief.
End 2nd, 0-0:Â If there’s one aspect of Bartolo Colon’s game that has not diminished over time, it’s his ability to throw strikes.
That control is on display again tonight, as he struck out both Will Middlebrooks and Jarrod Saltalamacchia in the second and has now thrown 21 of his 24 pitches for strikes.
It’s difficult to judge Colon’s effectiveness through three starts so far this season. He is 2-0, and the A’s have come away victorious in all three of his starts, but both of those wins have come against the lowly Astros, who will visit Fenway Park tomorrow for the first time as American League foes.
But he continues to prove that if you want to beat him, you’ll have to put the ball in play. He is one of two pitchers on the A’s staff — and the only full-time starter — without a walk this season.
Mid 2nd, 0-0:Â The ball seems to be dying in this cold, wet air.
The A’s put two runners on against Alfredo Aceves (a single by Brandon Moss and a walk by Josh Donaldson), but Aceves was able to induce three weak fly balls to retire the side.
End 1st, 0-0:Â Dustin Pedroia beats out Colon’s throw to first for an infield single, but the right-hander retires Ellsbury and Victorino on fly balls to left and strikes out Mike Napoli to prevent Pedroia from advancing further.
Having been around the league for nearly two decades, Colon is a familiar foe to most current major leaguers. Every Red Sox hitter has faced the Dominican native at least once, but few have done so with much success.
Jonny Gomes (5-for-13) is the only Boston batter with a solid resume against Colon, which gives more credence to John Farrell’s decision to start him over David Ortiz tonight.
In 46 career at-bats against Colon, Ortiz has totaled just six hits and struck out 15 times.
Mid 1st, 0-0:Â The cold cannot stop Aceves. It didn’t in the first, at least, as the right-hander needed just eight pitches to retire the side in order.
Two of those outs came via three-pitch strikeouts to Crisp and Seth Smith, which were sandwiched around a nice play by Mike Napoli to snare a John Jaso line drive out of the air near first base.
Napoli is certainly protecting himself from the elements, as the red “B” on his cap is barely visible beneath his winter hood.
Jacoby Ellsbury, Shane Victorino and Dustin Pedroia are due up first against another Red Sox alum, Bartolo Colon.
6:35 p.m.: Coco Crisp takes a strike from Alfredo Aceves and we are under way at Fenway.
As it was last night, the A’s are employing a lineup full of Red Sox alumni. Crisp, Jed Lowrie, Brandon Moss and Josh Reddick all spent time in Boston earlier in their careers.
6:05 p.m.: We’re just about 30 minutes from game time, and frankly, it’s looking pretty miserable outside at Fenway right now.
Last weekend’s springtime weather should return by tomorrow, but right now we’re looking at temperatures hovering around 40 degrees with a 65 percent chance of rain. Zero fun, sir.
The tarp is off the infield at this time, though, so hopefully any heavy precipitation will hold for the next few hours.
4:30 p.m.: John Farrell seems to be mindful not to overexert David Ortiz early in the slugger’s return game action. Ortiz is not in the starting lineup for tonight’s game against the A’s, with Jonny Gomes filling his spot as the designated hitter.
Gomes has had his struggles at the plate in his first season with the Red Sox, going just 5-for-29 in 13 games thus far. He came up big over the weekend, though, kick-starting the Sox’ eighth-inning rally on Saturday with a pinch-hit double against the Royals.
On the other side of the diamond, John Jaso, Seth Smith and Eric Sogard will all start tonight for the A’s after entering last night’s game as pinch hitters.
Check out the full starting lineups below, and remember, tonight is another early start at Fenway Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
Athletics
Coco Crisp, CF
John Jaso, C
Seth Smith, DH
Jed Lowrie, SS
Brandon Moss, 1B
Josh Donalson, 3B
Josh Reddick, RF
Chris Young, LF
Eric Sogard, 2B
Bartolo Colon, RHP
Red Sox
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Shane Victorino, RF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Mike Napoli, 1B
Daniel Nava, LF
Will Middlebrooks, 3B
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Jonny Gomes, DH
Stephen Drew, SS
Alfredo Aceves, RHP
8 a.m. ET: After three hotly contested games against Kansas City over the weekend, the Red Sox finally seemed primed for a relatively easy victory against Oakland on Monday.
The final result ended up being a little closer than John Farrell’s club would have liked, with a six-run cushion dwindling down to three after a rough eighth inning. Still, Andrew Bailey was able to put the A’s down in the ninth and lock down a 9-6 win.
The two teams are at it again Tuesday night, with right-hander Alfredo Aceves starting opposite veteran journeyman Bartolo Colon.
The 39-year-old righty has played for eight teams — including a brief stint in Boston — since breaking into the league in 1997, and he comes to Fenway Park in search of his third win in four starts this season.
Aceves, who is making his third start of the year, worked a shutout for five innings against Cleveland last week before faltering and allowing a pair of home runs in the sixth. He did get the win in that contest, though, his first since being bumped back into the rotation in the wake of John Lackey’s arm injury.
Tuesday’s contest will be another early start, with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Be sure to check back here throughout the day as we update you with everything you need to know leading up to game time.
