The Oakland Athletics have to hate playing the Red Sox.
Boston crushed the A’s for the second night in a row Saturday — and for the fifth time this season — producing a seven-run third inning en route to a 11-2 win. To make matters worse for Oakland, Red Sox starter Rick Porcello was perfect through 5 1/3 innings and held the team to four hits over seven innings.
Here’s how it all went down.
GAME IN A WORD
Repeat.
It felt like déjà vu all over again Saturday. as the Red Sox immediately jumped all over the A’s pitching for the second night in a row. They’ve outscored Oakland 67-19 in five games this season.
IT WAS OVER WHEN …
The Red Sox scored seven runs in the third inning.
It’s not very often that a game gets called in the third inning, but Oakland looked to be out of this one after Boston collected seven two-out hits, one of which was a Hanley Ramirez home run, to stretch its lead to 9-0 early.
ON THE BUMP
— Porcello carried a perfect game into the sixth inning, so needless to say, it was another great start for the right-hander. Porcello’s first hit allowed was a one-out double to A’s center fielder Jake Smolinski in the sixth, and Smolinski scored on a Bruce Maxwell single in the next at-bat.
The Cy Young contender gave up another run in the seventh on two singles, but he finished the night with just two runs allowed on four hits with two strikeouts and no walks over seven innings.
— Fernando Abad came on in the eighth and pitched a 1-2-3 inning.
— Junichi Tazawa gave up a leadoff double to shortstop Chad Pinder in the ninth, but he retired his next three batters. The right-hander punctuated the frame with a strikeout of left fielder Brett Eibner.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but Dustin Pedroia had another multi-hit night. The second baseman went 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored.
Catcher Ryan Hanigan pinch-hit for Pedroia in the ninth and hit a single.
— Yoan Moncada got his first major league hit with an RBI double in the third inning. The third baseman went 2-for-5 with two runs scored, an RBI and two strikeouts.
— Mookie Betts collected his 100th RBI with a first inning double, finishing the night 1-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs. Brock Holt pinch-hit for Betts in the ninth inning and struck out.
— David Ortiz had a very Ortiz-like night, going 3-for-4 with two doubles, a run and two RBIs. Aaron Hill pinch-hit for Ortiz in the eighth inning and reached on an error to go 1-for-2 with an RBI.
— Xander Bogaerts went 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI before Travis Shaw pinch-hit for the shortstop in the ninth. Shaw struck out in his only at-bat.
— Ramirez hit his 20th home run of the season, a solo shot, in the third inning, going 1-for-4 with a run, a walk and an RBI.
— Sandy Leon (2-for-5 with a double) and Jackie Bradley Jr. (2-for-4) also had multi-hit nights. Each picked up a run and an RBI, too.
— Chris Young (0-for-4) was the only Red Sox starter who didn’t record a hit, but the left fielder walked and scored a run in the third inning.
TWEET OF THE NIGHT
You could say Betts’ 30 home run, 100 RBI season is pretty special.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox will put the A’s out of their misery Sunday in their final meeting of 2016, a 4:05 p.m. ET contest. Lefty Eduardo Rodriguez will be on the mound for Boston against A’s right-hander Kendall Graveman.
Thumbnail photo via Neville E. Guard/USA TODAY Sports Images
