After a long night of traveling to the left coast, the last person the Red Sox wanted to see was Dan Haren and his miniscule ERA. Haren was strong for 7 2/3 innings but it was a walk-off homerun from Eric Chavez that won the game for the A’s in the bottom of the 11th, as the A’s won 5-4.
Kyle Synder had retired the first two batters of the inning before the walk-off homer for Chavez. Santiago Casilla got the win in relief for the A’s and Synder took the loss.
The Red Sox got to Haren for a run in the 1st inning. After Haren retired the first batters he faced, David Ortiz hit a pitch out of the ballpark to give the Sox an early lead.
That lead lasted til the bottom of the 2nd when the A’s struck for 2 runs. Bobby Crosby walked to lead off the inning and went to third on a single by Mark Kotsay. Both runners scored when Mark Ellis hit a triple to center field that Wily Mo Peña misplayed. No error was given as the ball spun away from Wily Mo. Tavarez then retired the next three batters but left the field down a run at 2-1.
Ellis led off the 4th inning with a line drive homerun to left, giving the A’s a 3-1 lead. The HR gave him 3 rbi in 2 at-bats. Tavarez settled down to get the next two hitters and then allowed a two out double to Travis Buck, in which he broke Buck’s bat. He got Nick Swisher to line out to right ending the threat.
Haren had retired 14 batters in a row before he walked Big Papi to lead off the 6th. But he got Manny to strikeout swinging for his 5th strikeout of the night.
Meanwhile, Tavarez got Kotsay to fly out to Manny and then allowed a double to Ellis, his third hit of the night. He then got Kendall to fly out to deep center. Kendall was the last batter he faced as Brendan Donnelly came in and retired Shannon Stewart on a grounder to Youk at third.
Tavarez’ pitching line: 5 2/3 innings, 9 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. He threw 107 pitches.
The Red Sox struck for another run in the 7th. After Haren retired Youk and J.D. Drew, Wily Mo launched a Haren splitter into the seats, cutting the deficit to 3-2.
Oakland got to Joel Piñero for a run in the 8th. Eric Chavez walked to lead off the inning. Piñero then retired Crosby on a fly out. With Kotsay at the plate, Chavez stole second before Kotsay walked. Ellis then grounded into a fielder’s choice at third but a throwing error by Youk allowed Kotsay to be safe at second. Kendall followed that with a sacrifice fly scoring Chavez to put the A’s up 4-2.
The Sox managed to get to Alan Embree in the 9th for two runs. Big Papi led off the inning with a double. Manny then took strike 3 looking for the first out. Youk grounded out to short, moving Papi over to third. Jason Varitek, pinch hitting for Drew, hit a single over Swisher’s head to bring in Papi and cut the deficit to 4-3. Coco Crisp came in to run for Varitek. Wily Mo then crushed a ball to deep center and Coco, who was off running on the pitch, came around to score to the tie game up at 4. Embree got Mirabelli to fly out to end the inning. But the damage was done as Embree was charged with a blown save.
Oakland threatened in the bottom of 9th loading up the bases with no outs. Piñero walked Buck to lead off the inning and Swisher reached on a Hinske error. Buck advanced to third on the play. J.C. Romero came in and relieved Piñero and promptly walked Dan Johnson. He then got Chavez, who doesn’t hit lefties all that well, to strikeout. Crosby hit a ball to Youk at third who threw home to Mirabelli for an out, who then threw Hinske at first for the inning ending double play.
The Sox mounted a threat of their own in the 10th but couldn’t score. Mike Lowell, who was pinch hitting for Hinske, popped out to second. Pedroia came up with a chance to extend his hitting streak to 14. He didn’t disappoint his 65 or so family members and friends, as he lined a single to right. Julio Lugo, who had come in for Alex Cora in the 8th, struck out swinging, bringing Big Papi to the plate. Big Papi took a Ron Flores offering to deep center that missed a home run by a foot but the not so fleet of foot Pedroia was thrown out by about 10 feet at the plate. I guess that will settle the debate of who is faster, Pedroia or Youkilis.
Romero started out the 10th by retiring Kotsay but allowed a single to Ellis. Jack Cust pinch-hit for Kendall and drew a walk. Kyle Snyder came in for Romero and he retired Stewart but both runners moved up a base. Buck checked his swing and the ball went to Youk at first, who threw to Synder and they barely got Buck at first.
Notes and Musings:
Dustin Pedroia’s hitting streak ended at 13 games. Extended to 14 games.
Brad Mills son, Beau is attendance while the team is in Oakland. Beau is expected to be taken in the upcoming MLB draft on Thursday in the 1st round. He should expect to go anytime after the 4th pick. He was a third baseman for Lewis-Clark State College, an NAIA school. He led them to an NAIA championship this past season. He had originally attended Fresno State but left because of academic issues.
The Red Sox didn’t get into their hotel in San Francisco until 6 am Pacific time.
Big Papi had gone 19 games and 61 abs without a homer until the first inning.
Dustin Pedroia won the AL Rookie of the Month for May and Player of the Week for last week.
Dan Haren came into the game leading the AL in ERA.
Coco was supposed to start in center field. But when Travis Buck hit a flyball to center, it wasn’t Coco. It was Wily Mo. Crisp came down with an upset stomach right before the game according to Tina Cervasio.
J.D. Drew had never faced Dan Haren before tonight.
This was the third game that Doug Mirabelli started when Tim Wakefield wasn’t pitching.
NESN will be replaying the games at 8:00 am on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
The Red Sox are heading to Arizona on Friday. Remdawg pointed out it was 109° in Phoenix on Monday.
Tavarez has faced the ace of the opposing team for 6 out of his 10 starts.
He also broke 2 Oakland bats in the 4th inning.
Mark Ellis finished a single short of the cycle. Single in the 10th for the cycle.
After being scratched, Coco came in and pinch ran for Varitek in the 9th.
J.C. Romero was celebrating his 31st birthday on Monday.
Mark Ellis’ cycle was the first against the Red Sox since 1978 when Andre Thornton of the Indians did it. It was also the first cycle by an A’s player since June 29, 2003. He is only the 4th Athletics player to hit for the cycle. Can you name the other 3 since 2000?
Youkilis has at least one hit in 25 of the last 26 games.
It was the 6th walkoff for the A’s at home.
The game got over at 1:50 AM on the East coast.
