Final, Athletics 2-1: Crushing losses are becoming the norm for these Red Sox.
Coco Crisp, who delivered the game-winning hit in the eighth inning Friday, ripped a walk-off single into right field off Koji Uehara in the bottom of the 10th inning. The A’s have won the first three games of the series and can complete a sweep Sunday.
The Red Sox tied the game 1-1 in the eighth inning after a blown call by home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott gave Boston a second life in the frame. Dustin Pedroia aggressively scored from third base on a wild pitch that bounced only a few feet away from catcher Stephen Vogt.
Edward Mujica started the bottom of the 10th inning and walked Alberto Callaspo. Nick Punto then dropped down a sacrifice bunt, after which Red Sox manager John Farrell turned to Uehara. Crisp wasted no time in jumping on the first pitch.
The Red Sox’s inability to produce timely hits — their biggest issue all season — again spoiled a solid pitching performance. Rubby De La Rosa allowed just one run on four hits over seven innings. He struck out seven, walked one and threw 100 pitches (58 strikes).
Jon Lester will look to play the role of stopper in Sunday’s series finale. But right now, things aren’t looking so hot for Boston.
Mid 10th, 1-1: The Red Sox squandered another good opportunity in the 10th inning.
Jackie Bradley Jr. and Brock Holt delivered back-to-back singles off Dan Otero with one out. Neither Dustin Pedroia nor David Ortiz could push across a run.
Pedroia lined out to right fielder Craig Gentry. Ortiz struck out swinging.
Holt has reached base four times in this game — three hits and a walk — but you probably already assumed that, anyway.
Edward Mujica will pitch the bottom of the 10th inning for Boston. Koji Uehara also had been warming up in the bullpen in case the Red Sox grabbed the lead.
End 9th, 1-1: Fans in Oakland are being treated to free baseball, as nine innings wasn’t enough to decide this one.
Junichi Tazawa worked around a one-out walk in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Josh Donaldson earned a free pass after Brandon Moss lined out to begin the inning. Stephen Drew made a nice play on Moss’ line drive while stationed on the right side of the second base bag.
Tazawa escaped the inning by striking out Jed Lowrie and retiring Stephen Vogt on a fly ball to left field.
Jonathan Herrera, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Brock Holt are due up for Boston in the 10th inning.
Mid 9th, 1-1: The Red Sox’s offense couldn’t generate any momentum from tying the game the inning prior.
Sean Doolittle retired Jonny Gomes, A.J. Pierzynski and Stephen Drew in order.
Gomes, who pinch-hit for Daniel Nava, popped out to first base. Pierzynski and Drew both flied out to center field.
Junichi Tazawa will come back out to pitch the ninth inning for Boston.
End 8th, 1-1: We’ll head to the ninth inning all tied up.
Craig Breslow and Junichi Tazawa combined to keep the A’s scoreless in the eighth inning after the Red Sox caught a break and tied the game in the top half of the inning.
Breslow induced two ground-ball outs before surrendering a single to Craig Gentry. Tazawa entered and retired Yoenis Cespedes on a fly ball to right field.
The A’s will turn to their closer Sean Doolittle in the ninth inning with the game tied.
Mid 8th, 1-1: The Red Sox caught a break in the eighth inning.
Mike Napoli, batting with runners at the corners, foul tipped a 2-2 pitch. Replays showed that catcher Stephen Vogt caught the ball in the webbing of his glove just above the dirt, but home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott ruled that the ball hit the dirt. Thus, Napoli was given a second life.
The blown call proved huge, as Luke Gregerson’s next pitch bounced in the dirt and away from Vogt. The ball only bounced about five feet or so away from the plate, but Dustin Pedroia aggressively — it was beyond aggressive, in fact — took off for home and dived in safely with the tying run.
Napoli ended up flying out to end the inning, at which point A’s manager Bob Melvin was ejected for arguing Wolcott’s call.
Pedroia reached base in the eighth inning on a forceout after Brock Holt singled. It looked like Pedroia was about to ground into his second double play of the game, but second baseman Eric Sogard’s throw to first base was high.
David Ortiz followed the forceout with a single into center field. Coco Crisp was playing very deep, which enabled the ball to drop in. Pedroia raced from first to third, paving the way for him to score on Gregerson’s wild pitch.
End 7th, Athletics 1-0: Rubby De La Rosa has been terrific.
De La Rosa tossed another scoreless inning in the seventh. He certainly is giving the Red Sox reason to believe he’s ready for a spot in the major league rotation.
De La Rosa surrendered a two-out single to Stephen Vogt in the seventh but took care of Alberto Callaspo to end the frame.
The A’s will turn to their bullpen in the eighth inning. Luke Gregerson will take over for Jesse Chavez.
Mid 7th, Athletics 1-0: The story remains the same.
The Red Sox’s offense just cannot manufacture a run. Daniel Nava singled to lead off the seventh inning, but Jesse Chavez — likely pitching his final inning — responded by retiring three straight.
A.J. Pierzynski drove a ball to the warning track that Coco Crisp tracked down. Pierzynski, of course, flied out to the warning track to end Thursday’s series opener, and he’s had several balls of late come close to leaving the yard.
Stephen Drew lined out to left field and Jonathan Herrera grounded to second base.
End 6th, Athletics 1-0: It’s going to be awfully tough to send Rubby De La Rosa back down to Triple-A, even though it seems like the most likely scenario at this point.
De La Rosa is dealing again in this game. The right-hander’s fastball has been up around 97 mph, and he’s supplementing it with a devastating changeup.
De La Rosa struck out two more in the sixth inning while working around Yoenis Cespedes’ two-out single. De La Rosa now has seven strikeouts through six innings. His pitch count sits at 81.
Mid 6th, Athletics 1-0: Stop me if you’ve heard this before. A double play killed a Red Sox rally in the sixth inning.
Brock Holt gave the Red Sox their first hit of the game in the sixth. He singled into left field and took second base when Dustin Pedroia followed with a single into right field.
The Red Sox’s threat immediately came to a screeching halt, though. David Ortiz rolled one over to first base, where Alberto Callaspo started up an inning-altering double play.
Mike Napoli still had a chance to drive in Holt, who stood at third base as the potential tying run. Napoli struck out looking and knew it immediately.
End 5th, Athletics 1-0: Rubby De La Rosa issued his first walk of the game in the fifth inning. It was his only blemish.
Stephen Vogt walked with one out. De La Rosa retired Alberto Callaspo and Eric Sogard to end the inning without any damage.
The Red Sox enter the sixth inning still searching for their first hit off Jesse Chavez. The top of the order is due up.
Mid 5th, Athletics 1-0: The Red Sox still are searching for their first hit.
Jesse Chavez has walked four through five innings of work, but Boston hasn’t been able to get anything going. Stephen Drew, Jonathan Herrera and Jackie Bradley Jr. went down without a fight in the fifth inning.
Chavez has thrown 75 pitches (43 strikes) while striking out three. Bradley struck out looking to end the top of the fifth inning.
End 4th, Athletics 1-0: Brandon Moss delivered a two-out single in the fourth inning before Rubby De La Rosa put the finishing touches on a scoreless frame.
De La Rosa retired John Jaso and Yoenis Cespedes on a pair of lineouts to right field and left field, respectively.
Moss singled into center, but De La Rosa struck out Josh Donaldson to end the inning. De La Rosa put Donaldson away with back-to-back 97 mph fastballs on the black.
Mid 4th, Athletics 1-0: Jesse Chavez struck out two in the fourth inning.
David Ortiz and Daniel Nava became Boston’s first two strikeout victims of the afternoon. The two K’s sandwiched Mike Napoli’s six-pitch walk.
A.J. Pierzynski grounded to first base to end the inning.
End 3rd, Athletics 1-0: The A’s grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third, but the inning’s highlight was provided by Brock Holt.
Stephen Vogt, a catcher playing right field for Oakland, crushed a ball off the wall to begin the inning. The ball ricocheted past Jackie Bradley Jr., allowing Vogt to race into third base with a triple, although it was a bang-bang play because of Bradley’s ridiculously awesome arm.
Alberto Callaspo followed with a sinking line drive into right-center field. Holt, who just keeps making plays, completely stretched out for an incredible diving catch. Holt popped up and fired home in an attempt to throw out Vogt, but his throw was off the mark.
Rubby De La Rosa struck out Eric Sogard and Coco Crisp to end the inning.
Mid 3rd, 0-0: Jesse Chavez overcame a leadoff walk to complete a scoreless third inning.
Jonathan Herrera walked on six pitches to begin the frame. The Red Sox ended up leaving him in scoring position.
Jackie Bradley Jr. grounded to first base, at which point Herrera took second. Brock Holt flied out to left field and Dustin Pedroia grounded to second base to end the inning.
End 2nd, 0-0: Rubby De La Rosa is off to a nice start.
De La Rosa struck out Brandon Moss to begin the bottom of the second inning. De La Rosa fell behind in the count 3-0 but battled back to earn his first strikeout of the afternoon.
De La Rosa, who retired Josh Donaldson on a ground ball to short, also struck out Jed Lowrie to end the inning. Lowrie chased a 2-2 pitch in the dirt that A.J. Pierzynski blocked before firing down to first base to complete the out.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Jesse Chavez had no issues in the second inning.
Chavez, who walked two in a scoreless first inning, handled Daniel Nava, A.J. Pierzynski and Stephen Drew in order on 13 pitches.
Nava and Drew both struck balls directly at Coco Crisp in center field. Pierzynski grounded to Alberto Callaspo at first base.
End 1st, 0-0: Rubby De La Rosa needed just seven pitches to toss a scoreless first inning.
De La Rosa breezed through the first three hitters in the A’s lineup. Coco Crisp, John Jaso and Yoenis Cespedes went down in order.
Crisp and Cespedes both popped out. Stephen Drew and Dustin Pedroia successfully battled the very bright sun.
Jaso grounded to Pedroia.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Dustin Pedroia showed some frustration in the Red Sox’s dugout following an at-bat Friday. Something tells me the second baseman won’t be too pleased about his first-inning at-bat in this game, either.
Brock Holt led off the game with a walk, but Pedroia grounded into a double play soon after. Shortstop Jed Lowrie fielded the ball, stepped on the second base bag and fired to first.
David Ortiz worked a walk to extend the inning, but Mike Napoli, like Pedroia, took aim at Lowrie, who again was up to the challenge while completing an inning-ending forceout.
4:08 p.m.: Jesse Chavez misses with his first offering to Brock Holt. Baseball has begun.
4:01 p.m.: Red Sox pitchers have allowed four runs or fewer in a season-long nine straight games. They own a 1.87 ERA in that stretch.
3:45 p.m.: It’s an anniversary of sorts for Koji Uehara.
Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of Uehara being named the Red Sox’s closer. It’s been an incredible ride, obviously, and the 39-year-old’s numbers since assuming the role are downright silly.
Since becoming Boston’s closer, Uehara has converted 42 of 44 save opportunities. In those 44 save opportunities, Uehara has a 0.39 ERA (two earned runs over 46 1/3 innings), 65 strikeouts and only three walks.
2:15 p.m.: Xander Bogaerts will begin Saturday’s game on the bench.
Bogaerts is in the midst of an 0-for-12 skid over his last three games. The 21-year-old is hitting .093 (4-for-43) over his last 12 games, so Red Sox manager John Farrell has decided to insert Jonathan Herrera into the starting lineup at third base.
Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz and Mike Napoli slide up in the lineup in Bogaerts’ absence. Herrera will bat eighth.
Saturday’s complete lineups are below.
Boston Red Sox (34-40)
Brock Holt, RF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Mike Napoli, 1B
Daniel Nava, LF
A.J. Pierzynski, C
Stephen Drew, SS
Jonathan Herrera, 3B
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
Rubby De La Rosa, RHP (2-2, 2.84 ERA)
Oakland Athletics (46-28)
Coco Crisp, CF
John Jaso, C
Yoenis Cespedes, DH
Brandon Moss, LF
Josh Donaldson, 3B
Jed Lowrie, SS
Stephen Vogt, RF
Alberto Callaspo, 1B
Eric Sogard, 2B
Jesse Chavez, RHP (6-4, 2.93 ERA)
2 p.m. ET: The Boston Red Sox have had no margin for error of late.
The Red Sox enter Saturday’s game against the Oakland Athletics at O.co Coliseum on the heels of seven consecutive contests decided by two runs or fewer. Six of those games were decided by one run, including Friday’s 4-3 loss. Boston is 3-4 overall in the seven games.
The Red Sox, who are 11-16 in one-run games this season, have dropped two straight games to the A’s. Things won’t get any easier Saturday, either, as Boston is going up against Jesse Chavez, who enters with a 6-4 record and 2.93 ERA.
Rubby De La Rosa will take the ball for the Sox in what could possibly be his final start before a demotion to Triple-A Pawtucket. De La Rosa has pitched very well upon joining the major league club, but the Red Sox have a couple of difficult decisions to make with Clay Buchholz and Felix Doubront rejoining Boston’s rotation mix.
De La Rosa is 2-2 in four starts with Boston. The two losses have come on the road, so it’ll be interesting to see if the 25-year-old can buck that trend against Major League Baseball’s top team Saturday.
Saturday’s first pitch is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. ET. In other words, you don’t have to stay up late for this particular West Coast tilt. Catch the action on NESN, and follow along with NESN.com’s live blog.
