Red Sox Wrap: Boston Enters Break After Sweeping Athletics

The Boston Red Sox completed a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics with a 4-3 victory at Fenway Park on Sunday afternoon.

Boston now enters the Major League Baseball All-Star break with a 48-43 record after winning five straight contests. Oakland, meanwhile, fell back to a woeful 25-67 after an outing with three errors.

Check out the full box score here.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
While the Red Sox pitching staff allowed plenty of traffic on the base paths, Boston’s hurlers buckled down in a number of result-altering situations. The Athletics were 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position in the contest. They had plenty of opportunities to push runs across the plate in a day the Red Sox didn’t have their best offensive display. Boston was no-hit through four innings with just six hits in the game.

Oakland had the leadoff man aboard in four consecutive innings — sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth — and failed to plate any of them.

In the second inning, Oakland managed to score just one run despite having bases loaded with one out. And in the sixth inning, the Athletics were held without a run despite having runners on first and second and nobody out. Then in the seventh inning, the A’s didn’t score even after having runners at first and third with one out. For good measure in the eighth inning, the visitors again didn’t score after having runners on first and second with one out.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Masataka Yoshida gave the Red Sox a 4-3 advantage with a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Yoshida, who showed off his hand-eye coordination with his 353-foot blast on a ball well high out of the zone, was the lone Boston hitter to finish with multiple hits (2-for-4, two runs, RBI).

— Adam Duvall barreled a home run of his own in sixth inning against Athletics right-hander Paul Blackburn. Duvall sent Blackburn’s four-seamer 402 feet to left-center field.

— Red Sox reliever Joely Rodríguez had one of the most impactful showings out of the bullpen. Rodríguez entered the game with Oakland threatening and retired all three batters he faced, including striking out the final two hitters of the inning.

WAGER WATCH
All those who took Justin Turner +390 to hit a home run Sunday came up just a few inches shy of cashing. Turner belted a shot that sounded off the centerfield wall — the highest tip of the wall in the furthest part of the ballpark. Turner, who now has a nine-game hit streak, was forced to settle for a wall-ball double while bettors were forced to think about what could’ve been.

ON DECK AT NESN
The Red Sox will travel to face the Chicago Cubs on Friday after the MLB All-Star break. First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. ET, and you can watch it live on NESN after an hour of pregame coverage.