The Oakland Athletics scored two runs in the seventh inning on Tuesday night, and held off the Boston Red Sox 3-2 at Fenway Park.
Boston (22-15) took the lead early when Alex Verdugo singled with one out in the first inning, and would advance to third base on two wild pitches. JD Martinez drove him in with a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 1-0. Matt Olson tied it in the fourth for Oakland (22-15) with a single that scored Seth Brown. The A’s then got RBI singles from Matt Chapman, and the game winning RBI single from Elvis Andrus in the seventh to make it 3-1. Rafael Devers cut it to 3-2 with an opposite field solo homerun into the seats above the green monster, his ninth of the season in the bottom of the seventh. The Red Sox got two runners on base with one out in their last at bat in the bottom of the ninth on walks to Alex Verdugo and Xander Bogaerts. Oakland closer Jake Diekman though would get Devers to ground into a fielders choice, and Christian Vazquez on a foul popup to the first baseman to end it.
Nathan Eovaldi got a no decision in the loss for Boston allowing one run on two hits with two walks and four strikeouts in 6.0 innings. Darwinzon Hernandez (0-2) was tagged with the pitching defeat allowing both runs in the seventh and only going 1/3 of an inning. Michael Chavis was the only repeat hitter in the game with two singles. Chris Bassitt (3-2) allowed two runs on three hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts in 7.0 innings to pick up the pitching win for Oakland. He threw only 86 pitches to get through seven (64 for strikes). Yusmiero Petit picked up his fifth hold of the season, with Diekman getting his fourth save. Eduardo Rodriguez will head to the mound for the Red Sox in game two on Wednesday night. He will be opposed by right hander James Kaprielian for the Athletics.
