JJ Bleday, Cody Thomas and Jace Peterson each hit two-run home runs, the bullpen didn’t allow an earned run over the final 4 2/3 innings and the Oakland Athletics held on to defeat the visiting Boston Red Sox 6-5 on Wednesday afternoon for a rare series win.
Lucas Erceg, Angel Felipe, Sam Long and Trevor May protected a slim lead after the A’s stopped scoring after the fourth inning, helping the hosts beat Boston for the second time in as many days following an eight-game losing streak.
The homers by Bleday, Thomas and Peterson came in the first, second and fourth innings, respectively, against Red Sox starter Brayan Bello (7-6).
The power display allowed Oakland to quickly erase a 2-0 Red Sox lead, the product of a two-run, first-inning homer by Justin Turner, and turn it into a four-run advantage.
Boston cut its deficit in half in the fifth on a Rob Refsnyder RBI single and Turner’s run-scoring groundout, knocking out Athletics starter Ken Waldichuk along the way.
Two of Oakland’s four errors conspired to gift the Red Sox another run in the sixth, after which Felipe struck out Connor Wong and Triston Casas with the potential tying run at second base.
Felipe (1-0) worked a 1-2-3 seventh and Long did the same in the eighth, setting the stage for May, who pitched around a one-out walk in the ninth for his eighth save.
On a day when Thomas homered for the first time in 45 career plate appearances, Felipe notched his first big-league win in just his fifth outing.
Waldichuk was charged with four runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out five.
Bello took the loss, pulled after allowing all six Oakland runs and five hits in four innings. He walked two and struck out three.
Bleday, Thomas, Tony Kemp and Jordan Diaz had two hits apiece, while Peterson scored twice for the A’s, who had opened a 10-game homestand coming out of the All-Star break by getting swept in a three-game series by the Minnesota Twins.
Turner finished with three RBIs, Refsnyder had two runs and Adam Duvall recorded two hits for the Red Sox, who were outhit 10-6.
–Field Level Media
