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It’s On to The Athletics

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SACRAMENTO – (Wire Service Report) – The Athletics’ season has been in a free fall in recent weeks and there is likely no recovering from the latest blow.

The Athletics could learn Monday that All-Star catcher Shea Langeliers requires season-ending knee surgery before they later take the field against the Boston Red Sox at the A’s temporary home in West Sacramento, California. Langeliers reportedly sustained a torn meniscus in his right knee during Friday’s game against the Minnesota Twins and was placed on the 10-day injured list Sunday.

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“We’re looking at the situation and making sure that he gets the best advice, the best care and, hopefully, the quickest recovery,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said after Sunday’s 11-8 road loss to the Twins.

Langeliers started for the American League in the recent All-Star Game and leads AL catchers in homers (23) and hits (99). This is the fourth straight season in which he has smacked more than 20 homers.

His loss comes at a time in which the A’s have lost 23 of their past 29 games. The Athletics were at .500 on June 19 but now sit 17 games below the mark entering the four-game set against the lava-hot Red Sox.

Boston has won 17 of its last 19 games after Sunday’s 6-1 victory over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays.

The once-floundering team is now in the thick of the AL wild-card chase. The Red Sox are in second place in a race in which only one team below them — the third-place Cleveland Guardians — are above .500.

Jarren Duran helped fuel Sunday’s victory with three singles, two RBIs and one steal.

“I think we’re just settling into ourselves,” Duran told reporters. “Early on, we were still trying to find our identity. I feel like we’re just now coming into what we knew we could be. It’s showing and the boys have bought in since Day One.

“It’s just  baseball and we were going through that grind and we’re starting to roll and it’s awesome to see.”

Jahmai Jones contributed a pinch-hit, two-run double as Boston scored at least five runs for the eighth time during an 8-2 homestand.

“We had some really good performances across the board,” Jones said. “I felt like it was a really good team day.”

Boston sends left-hander Payton Tolle (5-6, 3.31 ERA) to the mound in the opener.

Tolle, 23, received a no-decision against the Baltimore Orioles on July 20 when he gave up four runs and eight hits over 5 2/3 innings in a 6-5 A’s win.

Tolle went 0-0 with a 3.60 ERA in two appearances (one start) against the A’s last season.

He served up a homer to Nick Kurtz, who just returned to the A’s lineup on Saturday after a right thumb injury.

On Sunday, in his second game, All-Star first baseman Kurtz drilled a three-run homer against the Twins. He had been in a 0-for-25 funk before the blast, which was his 21st of the season.

Right-hander Jack Perkins (2-5, 6.75) will start for the Athletics for the eighth time this season.

He took a no-decision against the host Arizona Diamondbacks last Tuesday when he gave up three runs and five hits over five innings.

In his previous two turns, Perkins gave up a combined 10 runs and nine hits — including four homers — in just 6 2/3 innings. He lost both outings.

Perkins, 26, has never faced the Red Sox.

–Field Level Media

A’s Even the Series vs Sox

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Red Sox: Big Games in July

BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Oakland Athletics take aim at their second straight win and look to claim a series win versus the host Boston Red Sox in the rubber match of their three-game set tonight.

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Oakland, which is 5-3 in its last eight games, snapped a two-game skid Wednesday with a 5-2 win over Boston. Lawrence Butler ripped a two-run double, Max Schuemann also had two hits and left-hander JP Sears pitched scoreless ball over the first five innings.

Butler has recorded multiple RBIs in consecutive games for the first time in his career.

“It builds confidence, for sure,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “Those two balls he hit (on Wednesday) were missiles, and a huge momentum swing in the game.”

The A’s had lost their previous four games against the Red Sox and last four at Fenway Park.

Looking to make the streak a positive one, Oakland’s Luis Medina (2-3, 4.37 ERA) is set to make his eighth start since being reinstated from the 60-day injured list in early June.

The Oakland Athletics take aim at their second straight win and look to claim a series win versus the host Boston Red Sox in the rubber match of their three-game set on Thursday.

Oakland, which is 5-3 in its last eight games, snapped a two-game skid Wednesday with a 5-2 win over Boston. Lawrence Butler ripped a two-run double, Max Schuemann also had two hits and left-hander JP Sears pitched scoreless ball over the first five innings.

Medina posted his second win on Saturday against another American League East foe in Baltimore, dealing five innings of one-run ball in an eventual 19-8 victory. It marked his third outing in the last four allowing just a single run, despite working through a bases-loaded jam in the third inning.

“Good thing that (catcher Shea Langeliers) and I got on the same plan together,” Medina said through interpreter Ramon Hernandez. “I was executing the pitches to get out of that inning, especially with a team like that.”

The right-hander won his only career start against the Red Sox, throwing 5 2/3 shutout innings on July 18, 2023.

The Red Sox have gone 2-2 in their last four games after a five-game win streak. Rob Refsnyder homered and Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran each had multiple hits on Wednesday.

Refsnyder’s long ball in the sixth inning snapped a personal 0-for-12 streak. Wednesday marked the fifth straight game with a homer for a Boston batter.

Overall, though, it wasn’t enough.

“We didn’t do much,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We’ve just got to keep working. … You’ve just got to stay the course.”

Cora’s club is still 7-2 in its last nine games overall.

After allowing 11 runs (eight earned) to San Diego and the New York Yankees over his last two starts, Red Sox righty Tanner Houck (7-6, 2.68) will look to duplicate his first career start against Oakland from earlier this season.

On April 1, Houck struck out 10 Athletics across six innings of shutout, three-hit baseball.

Houck will join fellow homegrown players Rafael Devers (who will sit out to rest an ailing shoulder) and Duran at Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game, but first he must move past lasting just 3 1/3 innings in a no-decision last Friday at Yankee Stadium.

However, the overall body of work for Houck — allowing two earned runs or fewer in 13 of his 18 starts — has put him in the conversation as one of baseball’s best.

“Lot of days of hard work, a lot of hours of having great conversations with people,” Houck said. “It all boils down to having an incredible coaching staff and teammates that stand by you every day and want you to get better and push you to get better. I’m … just trying to soak it all in.”

–Field Level Media

Bello to Face A’s in Day Game

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OAKLAND – Boston right-hander Brayan Bello isn’t close to arbitration eligibility, yet his impressive pitching has the Red Sox already thinking about offering the second-year player a contract extension.

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Bello is 7-5 with a 3.14 ERA this season, and he has been even more impressive lately, going 4-1 with a 2.21 ERA in his past six starts. He is scheduled to pitch this afternoon in Oakland in the rubber game of a three-game set against the Athletics.

Opposing Bello will be Oakland left-hander Ken Waldichuk (2-6, 6.66 ERA).

With the exception of a three-batter hiccup by opener Joe Jacques on Tuesday, the Red Sox have pitched brilliantly in the first two games against the A’s, winning 7-0 on Monday before falling 3-0 in the rematch.

Bello is 2-0 in July, having beaten the visiting Texas Rangers before the All-Star break and then the host Chicago Cubs in his first start back.

The 24-year-old has been so impressive of late, Red Sox assistant general manager Eddie Romero acknowledged this week that the club would consider locking up Bello for years to come.

“It’s all case by case. There’s no guidebook for it,” Romero said. “But I think Brayan is a special case, and we’ll make efforts to talk to him and his group. He’s basically done what he needs to do and what we would want of a young starting pitcher in this organization.

Red Sox Defeat Lowly A’s

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BOSTON – A five-run second inning gave the surging Red Sox all the offense they needed en route to a 7-3 win over the visiting Oakland Athletics on Friday night.

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Jarren Duran, Justin Turner and Alex Verdugo all went 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead Boston, while recently activated SS Yu Chang drove in two runs.

Boston’s Nick Pivetta (5-5) allowed two earned runs in five innings to earn the win following a strong starting effort of opener Brennan Bernardino.

Seth Brown homered and scored twice for Oakland in the losing effort.

The Red Sox offense rallied for its second big inning in as many nights, scoring five runs while batting around in the bottom of the second.

After Verdugo and Enrique Hernandez singled and Triston Casas walked to load the bases, A’s opener Sam Long (0-1) was pulled in favor of Luis Medina, who allowed three straight one-out singles that produced the opening runs.

Chang hit a ground ball single into center field to bring in the first two runs. After Medina uncorked a wild pitch, Duran and Turner laced back-to-back base hits to increase the Boston lead to 4-0. Rafael Devers finished the scoring in the inning with an RBI fielder’s choice.

Oakland got on the board with Tony Kemp’s two-out single in the fifth. Kemp was able to advance on a subsequent throwing error by Devers, but Pivetta got out of the jam with a popup.

Brown added to the Oakland offense with a one-out homer to right-center following Shea Langeliers’ double in the seventh

Sox Continue Winning Streak at Oakland

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OAKLAND – Kiké Hernández took a swing at a 3-1 sinker ball and popped it up to lead-off the Boston Red Sox game against the Oakland Athletics Friday night. Miraculously, the ball did not leave the sold-out ballpark, as a crowd of 32,304 fans looked on. Hernández had hit a leadoff home runs in three of Boston’s five prior games (Sunday, Monday, Thursday) and was the only Red Sox player ever with three or more leadoff homers in a five-game span.

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Hernández went on to other heroics in the game as he drove in the go-ahead run with a broken-bat single in the 10th inning and then made a tremendous defensive play to throw out Oakland’s Seth Brown at home plate from center field in the bottom of the 10th inning, resulting in a 3-2 Red Sox victory.

The Boston win came after the usually dependable closer Matt Barnes allowed an Elvis Andrus home run in the bottom of the ninth. Barnes blew his fourth save and the Red Sox had to rely on reliever Adam Ottavino to pitch the extra inning, complete with Brown posted on second base to start off the inning.

The win was credited to Barnes (4-2) and Ottavino earned his sixth save of the season.

The Sox have won their last eight games, the AL’s longest active win streak and the club’s second-longest of the season behind the nine games they won from April 5-14th. Boston is a season-high 21 games over the .500 mark.

Red Sox Avoid Sweep vs. A’s

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BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox snapped a three-game losing streak and avoided a three-game series sweep with their 8-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics Thursday night at Fenway Park. The win boosted Boston’s record to 11-8 at home since being swept and starting the season 0-3 vs. the Baltimore Orioles.

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Sox starter Garrett Richards went 6.0 innings, and allowed five hits, three walks while striking out four A’s. He reduced his ERA to 3.89 this season (18 ER/41.2 IP), and ranks as the second-lowest among Red Sox starters. Richards is 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA (6 ER/25.0 IP) in his last four starts.

Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts broke out a mini-slump and went 3-for-3, with a run scored, a home run, double and three RBI. Bogaerts hit a two-run HR in the 1st inning, an RBI double in the 2nd, and singled in the 4th inning and now leads the majors in hits (49).

Boston 1B Bobby Dalbec went 2-for-4, with a home run as he hit a two-run blast to center field off Athletics’ starter Sean Manaea in the 2nd inning. Dalbec is batting .351 with an .990 OPS vs. lefties in 2021 (13-for-37, 2 2B, 3B, 2 HR, BB).

Manaea went only 2.0 innings, allowed 10 hits and seven runs, with three runs in the 1st and 2nd innings. The game marked the first time Manaea allowed three or more  runs in multiple innings of a start as he set season-lows with 2.0 innings pitched and season highs in runs (7) and hits (10).

Red Sox Drop 3-2 Decision to A’s

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BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox lost for just the second time when their starter lasted at least 6.0 innings and last night that designation went to Nathan Eovaldi  who allowed only one run over 6.0 innings for the second time in his last three starts but the Oakland A’s outlasted Boston 3-2 at Fenway Park.

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The Athletics are 22-9 over their last 31 games, after starting the year 0-6. A’s starter Chris Bassitt went 7.0 innings, and allowed two runs on three hits. Bassitt recorded his third career game with 10+ strike-outs and his second with 10+ strike-outs and no walks.

A’s 3B slugger Matt Chapman went 1-for-3, and hit an RBI single in the 7th inning to put the A’s ahead, 2-1. Chapman has reached base safely in five of his last seven plate appearances. A’s SS Elvis Andrus added an RBI single in the seventh to extend the A’s lead to 3-1. Andrus has a hit in four straight games after going hitless in seven of his previous 10 outings.

For the Sox, Eovaldi threw a season-high 102 pitches and has tossed at least 6.0 innings in four of his eight starts, the most by a Red Sox pitcher this season. Eovaldi has not allowed a home run in his last 58.0 innings, MLB’s longest active streak.

Sox 3B Rafael Devers hit a solo home run in the seventh inning.

Bassitt was credited with the win and relieve Jake Diekman earned the save.

Both clubs are (22-15) on the year. The Red Sox are 10-10 at Fenway Park.