Red Sox sweep the A’s: Yoshida’s monster shot carries Sox to victory

The Boston Red Sox completed the sweep over theOakland Athletics by the score of 4-3 on Sunday afternoon. This is their 8th win in the last 9 games and their 5th straight win to finish out the 1st half and come into the All-Star Break.

Both Alex Verdugo and Jaren Duran were not in the starting lineup for the Sox.

Instead, Kike Hernandez was in center field, Masataka Yoshida was in the DH spot, Rob Refsnyder was at left field and Adam Duvall was at right field. Meanwhile, Yu Chang was back at shortstop after taking the day off on Saturday. Jorge Alfaro made his first start in a Boston Red Sox uniform as he would take two walks on the day. Justin Turner played first base in place of Tristan Casas.

This was another bullpen game for the Red Sox as Tayler Scott would get his first start in a Sox uniform where he would only pitch in the first inning. Scott allowed two hits and an unearned run by first baseman Ryan Noda scoring on a throwing error by Alfaro.

Both Chris Murphy and Josh Winchkowski would pitch the majority of the game pitching five innings combined. They were followed by recently activated Joely Rodriquez, who would not allow a hit in the 7th and struck out two. Chris Martin would pitch the 8th and get the win while the All-Star Kenley Jansen would get the save in the 9th.

Red Sox took advantage of defensive errors by the A’s

The Athletics would have three errors charged on the defense that the Red Sox were able to capitalize on. Starting pitcher J.P. Long carried a no-hitter until the 5th inning. Despite this he would allow an unearned run by Refsnyder.

Refsnyder would walk, advance to 2nd on the wild pitch, then advance to third on a throwing error on third baseman Jace Peterson, that Rafael Devers reached on. Refsnyder would eventually score on the sacrifice fly from Adam Duvall.

Then in the bottom of the 6th, after Yoshida hit a single, he would steal second via a bad throw from A’s catcher Shane Langiliers, and advance to third. Yoshida would then score on a RBI double from Christian Arroyo.

The most hilarious one would come when Tyler Wade could not grab the ball when Duran reached on an infield single. Wade would not even make an effort on picking up the ball thus Duran would use his speed and run to second on the error. Duran was a pinch hitter for Hernandez at center field before moving to left when Dugie pinch hit for Refsnyder, Duvall also moved to right.

Red Sox player of the game: Yoshida monster shot wins it

Matasaka Yoshida’s first two at-bat attempts would fail as he would ground out and struck out in the hands of Long. After Long was relieved first By J.P. Blackburn, who was scheduled to start on Saturday but was out due to illness, Yoshids would reach on the single in the 6th.

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Then the Sox were tied 3-3 in the bottom of the 8th, Yoshida would have the solo homer over the Green Monster, and that would be all they needed to win due to the performance by Jansen on the mound.

This would make Yoshida’s 7th straight multi-hit game which makes the longest streak in the majors this season and he now has 10 homers in his young major league career.

The Red Sox will now head into their All-Star Break as Jansen is the only All-Star from the team. Next week, the Sox will go on six-game road trip facing off against the Chicago Cubs and the Oakland Athletics to start off the 2nd half of the season.