Oakland A's 4 Boston Red Sox 6 (May 2, 2007)
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0 commentsSox's 6 help with Beckett's 6th
Josh Beckett (W, 6-0) became the majors' first 6 game winner this year and the first Red Sox (17-9, 1st in AL East) pitcher to win his first 6 starts since Roger Clemens did it in 1991 as Boston defeated the Oakland A's (13-14, 3rd in AL West) 6-4 and earned a split of the two-game set. Beckett struggled a bit as the game went on, but the offense was able to bail him out. Beckett's line for the evening was still fairly impressive, as he went 7.0 innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts. AL Rookie of the Month for April Hideki "Hero in the Dark" Okajima pitched another scoreless inning, lowering his ERA to 0.61, and the veteran Mike Timlin (S, 1) got the save in place of Jonathan Papelbon, who was unavailable.
| W: | Josh Beckett | (6-0, 2.72) |
| L: | Jay Marshall | (1-1, 5.25) |
| S: | Mike Timlin | (1, 6.23) |
Oakland starter Chad Gaudin pitched fairly well, going 5 innings while giving up 8 hits and 3 runs, 2 earned. He walked and struck out 2. Rule 5 draftee Jay Marshall (L, 1-1), who had never pitched above A-ball before this season, blew a save opportunity and took the loss on a hit batsman, back to back walks, and a single after recording two outs to start the 6th. Kiko Calero and Alan Embree finished out the game for Oakland.
Red Sox second baseman Alex Cora has been on an absolute tear lately, and continued with 2 RBIs on one hit today. His batting line thus far this year is a robust .345/.406/.724. Julio Lugo also chipped in 2 RBIs for Boston, and David Ortiz and J.D. Drew each had one. Manny Ramirez is slowly coming out of his slump, going 2-4 and raising his average to .227. The top four men in the Red Sox order -- Lugo, Kevin Youkilis, Ortiz, and Ramirez -- drew five walks on the day and scored two of Boston's 6 runs.
New Oakland designated hitter Mike Piazza went 2-3, but had to leave the game with a shoulder injury after colliding with Boston third baseman Mike Lowell on a tag play at third. He was replaced in the order by Nick Swisher. Jason Kendall had 2 RBIs for the A's, and first baseman Dan Johnson continued his hot hitting against the Sox, going 2-4 with an RBI. He is hitting .333 on the year.
Coming Up Next... Boston has a makeup game on Thursday against the Seattle Mariners, with Daisuke Matsuzaka (3-2. 4.36) taking on Horacio Ramirez (2-1, 4.41). They will then head to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Twins in a three-game set over the weekend.
Oakland has Thursday off, then they head south to take on the 3rd place Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Dan Haren (3-2, 1.60) takes the mound for the A's against Tampa's Casey Fossum (2-2, 8.58).
Date
May 2, 2007
