Pablo Sandoval rewarded Boston Red Sox fans who stayed awake as Monday night turned into Tuesday morning.
Hours after receiving the World Series ring he won last season as a member of the San Francisco Giants, the burly third baseman launched a solo home run in the top of the 11th inning to give the Red Sox a 5-4 win over the Oakland A’s.
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GAME IN A WORD
Slippery.
The Red Sox scored runs in top of the fourth, fifth and seven innings, only to have the A’s respond with runs of their own in the home half of each of those frames. Neither team led by more than one run in the game.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Right-hander Matt Barnes completed a two-inning relief appearance with a 1-2-3 11th to pick up his first major league win.
ON THE BUMP
— Red Sox starter Rick Porcello returned to Earth on Monday after surrendering just one total run over his previous two starts. Porcello allowed one base hit in each of the first two innings, then found himself in his first jam of the night in the third.
A’s center fielder Billy Burns capped off an eight-pitch at-bat by successfully bunting for a hit with two strikes and one out. Burns then took second on a wild pitch (which probably should have been ruled a passed ball on catcher Blake Swihart), advanced to third on a Coco Crisp groundout and came home with the game’s first run on a single to right by designated hitter Billy Butler.
Things got worse for Porcello in the fourth, as the A’s touched him for three hits and a run in the frame. A double play off the bat of shortstop Marcus Semien helped limit the damage.
The fifth? More of the same. Porcello picked up two quick outs before surrendering consecutive doubles to Butler and catcher Stephen Vogt, allowing Butler to come home with Oakland’s third run of the ballgame. That proved to be Porcello’s final inning, as manager John Farrell went to his bullpen to start the sixth.
Porcello threw 101 pitches.
— Right-hander Alexi Ogando completed a scoreless sixth with a little help from Mike Napoli. After Ogando allowed a single and a double with two outs, the first baseman snared a Crisp liner to strand two runners in scoring position.
— Lefty Craig Breslow came on to pitch the seventh. He entered the inning with a 4-3 lead, but it took the A’s just four pitches to change that. Josh Reddick and Butler led off with back-to-back singles, and Vogt lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score Reddick from third.
After striking out pinch hitter Mark Canha, Breslow was relieved by Junichi Tazawa.
— Tazawa retired the only two batters he faced before giving way to Tommy Layne. Layne retired three straight, then walked Josh Reddick with one out in the ninth.
— Closer Koji Uehara induced two flyouts to newly inserted right fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. to finish off the ninth, sending the game to extras.
Uehara needed just five pitches to do so, but he did not return to the mound for the 10th. Instead, Barnes did the honors.
— Barnes walked the first batter he faced in the 10th but proceeded to retire the next six.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— The Red Sox were unable to muster much offense early on against A’s starter Scott Kazmir, going hitless through the first three innings and sending just nine men to the plate. Hanley Ramirez walked to lead off the second, but a 6-4-3 double play promptly wiped him off the basepaths.
— Boston finally broke through in the fourth thanks to two excellent at-bats by Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz. Pedroia saw 10 pitches en route to working a one-out walk, and Ortiz fouled off three Kazmir offerings before smacking a 3-2 fastball into center field.
Pedroia was running on the play, allowing him to come all the way around around from first to tie the game at one run apiece. Vogt received the relay in time but was unable to complete the tag on the scrappy second baseman.
— Swihart snapped an 0-for-12 slump with a two-out double in the fifth — the second extra-base hit of his young major league career — and Mookie Betts drove in the rookie catcher with an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2. Pedroia made a strong bid to continue the rally, but old friend Crisp robbed him of extra bases with a leaping catch at the wall in left.
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— Ortiz led off the sixth inning with a double, but Kazmir picked him off second base. The controversial call was upheld after video review, prompting a vociferous protest by third base coach Brian Butterfield.
— Base hits by Xander Bogaerts, Swihart and Betts allowed the Red Sox to tie the game, then take the lead, in the seventh. Betts’ base knock scored Bogaerts and sent Swihart to third, and Swihart came home to make it 4-3 Sox when Semien bundled what would have been an inning-ending double play.
— Boston’s offense went silent until Sandoval’s solo blast in the 11th — the second homer in as many games for the Red Sox third baseman.
— Betts, Bogaerts and Swihart each finished with two hits for the Red Sox. Pedroia and Sandoval each walked twice.
TWEET OF THE GAME
A’s reliever Angel Castro, who allowed Sandoval’s homer, has been around the block a time or six.
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UP NEXT
The Red Sox will take the field Tuesday night for Game 2 of their seven-game West Coast swing. Justin Masterson will get the start for Boston opposite Oakland’s Drew Pomerantz.
Thumbnail photo via Bob Stanton/USA TODAY Sports Images
