While Nava had a glorious debut with the Sox he had not homered since that first phenomenal swing.
Boston has scored four runs or less in eight straight so a shakeup of any kind might help.
The plane is on its way to Seattle, where John Lackey gets the call in the opener of a four-game series on Thursday. First pitch is 10:10 p.m. and we'll take you through another crucial contest for the Sox.
Final, Athletics 6-4: Clay Buchholz was rusty and the offense was again a non-factor as the Sox drop the finale in Oakland, their 10th loss in 14 games.
Boston is now eight games behind New York and five in back of Tampa Bay in the loss column. In addition, the club still has 17 of its next 24 on the road. There needs to be a winning streak in there somewhere or this thing could slip away.
Back in a bit to sum things up.
End 8th, Athletics 6-4: The A's likely feel as if they should have about three runs in the last two innings, if not for some stellar defense by the Sox. Coco Crisp triples but is thrown out at home on a fly ball to Mike Cameron, who teamed with Dusty Brown on a pretty double play.
Daric Barton followed with a double, one of five baserunners for Oakland in two innings that failed to score.
Run prevention, folks. It just might be a bit too late.
Boston will try to mount a rally against Michael Wuertz. Oakland's regular closer, Andrew Bailey, threw two innings Tuesday night and may not be available.
Mid 8th, Athletics 6-4: More quality defense by Oakland allows Brad Ziegler to work around a leadoff single by Adrian Beltre, who is now 8-for-12 in the series. J.D. Drew hits into a double play and Mike Cameron grounds to third and the Sox are running out of time.
End 7th, Athletics 6-4: If the Sox rally to tie it or take the lead they will be able to thank Eric Patterson for keeping it close in the first place. With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Patterson raced in to making a diving catch of a blooper down the line in left.
6:10 p.m.: Scott Atchison gets the first two outs in the bottom of the seventh before a double and a walk ends his afternoon. Michael Bowden is the third Red Sox pitcher.
Mid 7th, Athletics 6-4: Kevin Youkilis gave it a ride with two on in the top of the seventh, but it died in deep right. Such is life when runs are hard to come by.
If you are interested in following the action over at Fenway Park on Wednesday night, follow our Football at Fenway live blog.
End 6th, Athletics 6-4: Dusty Brown has had a spotty day behind the plate. He had a great block at the plate to get an out there back in the early innings but his passed ball in the fifth hurt. He bounces back by throwing out Coco Crisp trying to steal second in the sixth.
Mid 6th, Athletics 6-4: Maybe my bashing the Red Sox' offense caused it to wake up. Adrian Beltre hammers a two-run homer, his fourth dinger in nine games. Beltre is now 7-for-12 with two homers in the series.
The Sox kept up the threat when J.D. Drew followed with a single but a spectacular double play eventually got Gio Gonzalez out of the inning.
The duo of Mark Ellis and Cliff Pennington have looked sharp on defense this series.
End 5th, Athletics 6-2: The final line on Clay Buchholz: 4+ IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 2 HR. Scott Atchison allows both of his inherited runners to come in and then another with the help of a passed ball.
As mentioned earlier, the Sox haven't scored as many as five runs in a game since that 14-run outburst in Toronto the Saturday before the All-Star break. They have not even reached the six-run mark in 12 of their last 13.
Tall order here in Oakland.
5:22 p.m.: Clay Buchholz is responsible for runners on first and second base as he departs with no outs in the bottom of the fifth. Have to chalk this one up to rust and hope he performs better in Anaheim his next time out.
Scott Atchison is on in relief.
Mid 5th, Athletics 3-2: Jed Lowrie scored the Red Sox' first run and then drove in the second with a single in the fifth. Bill Hall had doubled and stole second base in advance of the Lowrie hit.
End 4th, Athletics, 3-1: The Sox have as many hits (2) as they do errors, and that doesn't account for Adrian Beltre's dropped pop in the third that went into the books as a fielder's choice since there was a force at second. Jed Lowrie commits a throwing error in the fourth that nearly gets Kevin Youkilis killed.
Lowrie's throw sailed to the outfield side of first and as Youkilis stretched to grab it he was steamrolled by Rajai Davis.
The trainer paid Youk a visit but he was OK. Still, another high-pitch inning for Clay Buchholz, who also walked a man.
Mid 4th, Athletics, 3-1: That is now 10 straight set down by Gio Gonzalez, who has settled in nicely against this suddenly anemic attack. The Sox have averaged just 2.9 runs over their last seven games and don't look like they will break out anytime soon against Gonzalez.
Throw in the fact that the Yankees and Rays have already won and we enter the middle innings of this one with a slight sense of desparation.
End 3rd, Athletics 3-1: Clay Buchholz had not allowed a home run in his previous 36 1/3 innings entering this one. He has served up two dingers in the last two innings, the latest a two-run bomb by Jack Cust to straightaway center.
Buchholz is up to 57 pitches already and is not real sharp. We may have to see Scott Atchison eat up some of the middle innings.
Cust has four home runs in his last seven games.
Mid 3rd, 1-1: Considering he has been dominant in day games (4-0, 1.30 ERA), very good at home (2.98 ERA) and exceptional of late (2.05 ERA in five starts), it was a tad surprising to see Gio Gonzalez get off to such a rocky start, allowing four of the first six men to reach. He has certainly settled down since then.
Gonzalez has his second straight 1-2-3 inning after navigating the 2-4 hitters in the Red Sox lineup.
End 2nd, 1-1: We saw a little bit of everything in the bottom of the second inning. In the end, the only thing that really counts is Matt Watson's solo blast, the first home run of his career.
After Watson went deep on a Clay Buchholz fastball, Rajai Davis had one of the wildest trips around the bases you will ever see.
Davis reached when Kevin Youkilis dropped a throw from Adrian Beltre. He then advanced to second on a balk, got to third on a wild pitch and raced home when Coco Crisp chopped one to second baseman Bill Hall.
Hall came home with it and Dusty Brown did a great job of blocking the plate to get Davis.
Mid 2nd, Red Sox 1-0: The A's have flashed some serious leather in this series. Give them credit for that. Gio Gonzalez gets through a perfect second inning by retreiving a comebacker that hit off his leg and nailing Darnell McDonald by a step.
Earlier in the inning, Mark Ellis tracked down a long pop down the line in right. Dusty Brown struck out for the second out.
End 1st, Red Sox 1-0: If Clay Buchholz's pitch count is limited in this one, he may not last very long. Buchholz needs 24 pitches to get through the first and keeps the A's off the board only when Kevin Kouzmanoff hits into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.
Mid 1st, Red Sox 1-0: The Sox get a break when Jed Lowrie walks in his first plate appearance and is ruled safe at second on a grounder up the middle by Kevin Youkilis. Replays appeared to show that Lowrie hit the bag after he was tagged and should've been the last out. Adrian Beltre follows with a hard RBI single to make the questionable call pay off.
Beltre picked up a rare stolen base and J.D. Drew walked to load the bases with two outs. Mike Cameron grounded to short to finally end it.
Although they got Clay Buchholz an early run, the Sox again left the bases loaded. They did that twice Tuesday. The way this offense is going, it needs a big hit in one of those situations at some point.
3:30 p.m.: The first inning will be a big one for Clay Buchholz when he steps on the mound in a few moments. Not only is it his first real action in nearly a month, but it has also been among his most difficult innings all year.
Although he has a 2.40 ERA in the first inning over 15 starts, Buchholz has allowed opponents to hit .306 and has issued 14 walks against just 10 strikeouts. He has had to escape a bunch of early jams before settling in.
3:05 p.m.: The official word is finally in, confirming what we already knew. The Sox have activated Clay Buchholz and Jed Lowrie. Dustin Richardson is optioned to Pawtucket while Ryan Shealy is designated for assignment.
Jeremy Hermida will come Thursday in Seattle, likely ending Daniel Nava's first stint in Boston. Josh Beckett's arrival Friday will spell the end for another player.
You never know how everyone will come back from their respective injuries, but slowly the Sox, at least on paper, are going to look like a formidable unit once again.
2:46 p.m.: The Sox enter this one with a 9-15 record in day games, the fourth worst mark in the American League. They are hitting .254 in day games, a remarkable 24 points lower than night games.
This is not a brand new scenario — Boston has had a lower average in day games for five straight years. But the contrast in 2010 is striking.
On another note, also related to offensive ineptitude (seems weird saying that about the major league leader in runs scored), the Sox' attack has been limited to four runs or less in seven straight games. They have averaged 2.9 runs in that stretch.
Their previous longest such streak was just four games from June 6-9.
2:30 p.m.: Perhaps it is a little too early for scoreboard watching in the Red Sox dugout, but we love to do it. As of this minute the Rays are ahead of Baltimore 5-4 in the sixth and the Yankees are up 6-3 on the Angels in the fifth.
We will keep you posted on those games, which should be final by around the time the Sox and A's start.
By the way, here is Oakland's lineup:
Cliff Pennington, Ss
Daric Barton, 1B
Kurt Suzuki, C
Jack Cust, DH
Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B
Mark Ellis, 2B
Matt Watson, LF
Rajai Davis, RF
Coco Crisp, CF
12:52 p.m.: One of the benefits to getting Jed Lowrie back is to give shortstop Marco Scutaro some rest. On the day he is activated from the disabled list, Lowrie will immediately spell Scutaro by playing short and batting second for the Sox.
Here is the complete lineup for Boston:
Darnell McDonald, LF
Jed Lowrie, SS
David Ortiz, DH
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Adrian Beltre, 3B
J.D. Drew, RF
Mike Cameron, CF
Bill Hall, 2B
Dusty Brown, C
Ryan Shealy was designated for assignment after Tuesday's game, making room for Lowrie.
8:26 a.m.: The Red Sox get one of their three sidelined All-Stars back in the fold Wednesday afternoon when Clay Buchholz returns to face the Oakland A's.
It's Buchholz's first start since June 26, a day which ended early for him when he hurt his left hamstring running the bases.
Buchholz is 5-1 with a 1.70 ERA on the road and won seven of his last eight decisions before the injury.
The Sox are also expected to activate infielder Jed Lowrie to provide some needed infield depth.
Oakland starts lefty Gio Gonzalez. First pitch is 3:35 p.m.
