Tonight the Athletics took on the Boston Red Sox in game two of the three-game set at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. Jeffrey Springs took the mound for the A’s against Connelly Early who made his MLB debut for the Red Sox.
Springs got hit hard, early. Romy Gonzalez homered on Springs’ third pitch of the game to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. But they were not done. Alex Bregman and Trevor Story singled and Rob Refsnyder homered to left center field to bring the lead to 4-0 before the A’s came
to the plate.
Early handled the top of the order easily in his first inning of major league ball. Springs started the second no better than the first giving up doubles to two of the first three batters in the second. He got Bregman to ground out to third, holding Gonzales at third. Luckily, he held the Sox to just one run in what looked like it had the potential to be an ugly inning. Headed to the bottom of the second, the Red Sox led 5-0. Connelly Early then struck out the side in the second, making four consecutive K’s in the first two innings of play.
Springs logged a 1-2-3 top of the third, needing only thirteen pitches to retire the Sox in order. Zack Gelof and Shea Langeliers got the first two hits of the night for the A’s in the bottom of the third. But Brent Rooker chased a curve out of the zone for strike three and the final out.
Kurtz, Wilson, and Soderstrom each singled in the bottom of the fourth to load the bases with just one out. Hernaiz struck out swinging, and so did Butler to end the inning. That gave Early nine K’s through four innings in his debut.
Springs came out to pitch the sixth, but after giving up a single and a double to the first two batters he faced, Kotsay had seen enough and replaced him with Tyler Ferguson. Springs’ final line is five innings, giving up five earned runs on eight hits, no walks and six strikeouts. Ferguson got the final two outs to keep the score at 5-0. Connelly Early’s debut ended after five shutout innings with eleven strikeouts.
In the top of the eighth, Michael Kelly replaced Elvis Alvarado who tossed a scoreless seventh. Jarren Duran was plunked by a pitch. Carlos Narváez hit an automatic double on a line drive just out of the reach of a diving Colby Thomas. Duran could only advance to third, but he scored on a ground out to Jacob Wilson. That made the score 6-0 headed to the bottom of the eighth.
Wilson doubled with two down in the eighth to give him a 3-4 night, but he was stranded there at the end of the inning. Osvaldo Bido came in to pitch the ninth. After striking out the first two batters of the inning, he walked Alex Bregman. He also walked Story to put runners on first and second. Finally, Rob Refsnyder flied out to right fielder Colby Thomas to end the inning.
The A’s made a bit of noise in the bottom of the ninth, but with two down, Brent Rooker dribbled one to the pitcher to ground out and end the game. For the second night in a row, the A’s were shut out. Tonight, they out hit the Sox but could not score. The final score was 6-0. Tomorrow they hope to win one to avoid the sweep.
