Red Sox Stage Late Comeback to Complete Sweep of A’s
Trailing 4-0 in the eighth inning, the Boston Red Sox batted around and scored seven runs in impressive fashion to earn a three-game series sweep of the Oakland Athletics Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park. The Red Sox improved to 27-31 on the year with the 7-4 win.
Rusney Castillo triggered the dramatic comeback when he smacked a homer to center field off A’s starter Kendall Graveman. The solo shot marked Castillo’s first major league round-tripper. Hanley Ramirez followed with an RBI single that plated Dustin Pedroia. David Ortiz then belted a sacrifice fly to left that scored Brock Holt.
With the Red Sox trailing 4-3 and A’s closer Tyler Clippard into the game, Xander Bogaerts stepped to the plate with two outs in the eighth and two runners on. After waging a lengthy at-bat, Bogaerts drove a double off the Green Monster to plate the tying and go-ahead runs. Alejandro De Aza and Castillo would add insurance RBI singles before the A’s finally escaped the inning.
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Graveman pitched wonderfully for the A’s up until the Red Sox batters woke up. He struck out six over seven innings.
Clay Buchholz started the game for the Red Sox and the A’s jumped on him early, scoring three runs in the second and one run in the fourth. Buchholz was far from his stellar self which he had been showcasing in recent starts, allowing 10 hits over 4 2/3 innings of work. He struck out four.
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In relief of Buchholz, Steven Wright through the ball brilliantly, surrendering just one hit over 3 1/3 innings. He struck out two. Wright was moved to the bullpen after manager John Farrell decided to keep Joe Kelly in the starting rotation.
Tommy Layne pitched the ninth for the Red Sox and retired the A’s in order to record his first save of the season.
The three-game sweep was the first of the season for the Red Sox.
The Red Sox will depart for Baltimore and get set for a three-game series opposite the rival Orioles on Tuesday.