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BROCK HOLT |
BOSTON STRONG -
THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION
A.J.
Griffin stymies the Red Sox
in an Oakland win
July 13, 2013 ...
Jon Lester lost again as the Red Sox were beaten, 3-0, by the Oakland Athletics before a sellout crowd of 36,067 at Oakland Coliseum. Lester was 6-0 with a 2.72 earned run average in his first nine starts this season. But Lester is 2-6 with a
6.27 ERA in the 11 starts since. As the Red Sox evaluate their rotation for after the All Star break, Lester is a major question mark. The Sox are 5-4 on a West Coast road trip that ends on Sunday and Lester was responsible for two of the losses.
Oakland righthander A.J. Griffin (8-6) pitched eight innings. He scattered six hits, walked one, and struck out three. Griffin retired the final seven batters he faced. The Sox were held to seven hits, two each from Mike Napoli and Shane Victorino, and never
came close to scoring. Grant Balfour finished the Sox off for his 25th save. He has converted 43 consecutive saves dating to last season.
Lester worked out of a jam in the second inning. After Chris Young and Josh Reddick singled with two outs, he got Derek Norris to ground to first. Norris was the first of nine consecutive batters Lester would retire. That streak ended in the fifth
inning when Norris lined an 0-and-2 fastball over the fence in left field. Lester has allowed seven home runs on 0-and-2 pitches in his career. Three of them have come this season with two in the last two starts.
The Oakland lead grew to 2-0 in the sixth. With one out, Lester walked Jed Lowrie after getting ahead of him, 0 and 2. Josh Donaldson followed with a single to center on another 0-and-2 pitch. Lowrie scored when Cespedes singled to left. Lester did not get
out of the seventh inning. Reddick led off with a single to left, beating the defensive shift. Lester then walked Norris. With one out, Red Sox manager John Farrell called in Junichi Tazawa. Coco Crisp hit the first pitch into right field for an RBI single. Tazawa
ended the inning but the Sox trailed, 3-0.
The Red Sox had runners on in the first six innings against Griffin but could not score. Shane Victorino and David Ortiz had singles in the first inning before Mike Napoli struck out swinging. Jarrod Saltalamacchia walked with one out in the second inning
but Jose Iglesias grounded into a double play. Victorino singled with two outs in the third inning and stole second. Pedroia then grounded out. Napoli doubled off the wall in center with out in the fourth inning. Nava hit the ball well but Cespedes caught it
in left. Saltalamacchia then flew out. Rookie Brock Holt extended his hit streak to six games with a one-out single in the fifth inning. But Ellsbury flew out to center and Victorino grounded to first. The sixth inning was another chance the Red Sox missed. Ortiz
reached on an error by second baseman Grant Green with one out. After Napoli struck out again, Nava singled to right and Ortiz went to third. Saltalamacchia then flew to left and the Sox were still scoreless.
Rookie third baseman Brock Holt has made a major impact on the Sox since getting called up July 6. He has hit .320 over his first eight games with seven RBIs, two sacrifices, and two sacrifice flies. He also has drawn three walks and struck out once. The
25-year-old Holt drove in two runs in Friday night's 4-2 victory against Oakland with a two-out single in the second inning. Holt hit a modest .262 with Triple A Pawtucket and was on the disabled list with a strained rib cage muscle before the Red Sox called
him up.
Stephen Drew, out since June 29 with a strained right hamstring, went through a full workout before the game that including running the bases. Drew is eligible to be activated off the disabled list Sunday but that will wait until next weekend. Xander
Bogaerts will hit third for the World Team in the Futures Game at Citi Field in New York Sunday. |
