Slugfest Over A's Returns Sox To .500 (11-11)

Buchholz pitched well for all
but one inning

Just one game after their offense being completely shut out by Gavin Floyd and the White Sox, the Sox came on strong again last night. The A's took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Daric Barton got into a rundown between second and third, allowing Kurt Suzuki to score. However, the Sox quickly answered in the second when David Ortiz homered on a line drive into right field. Darnell McDonald got on base with a ground rule double with one out, later in the inning, and Marlon Byrd drove him in with a single to make it 2-1. Mike Aviles proceeded to drive in Byrd with a single and he would score later in the inning when Jemile Weeks committed a bad error. In the third, Darnell McDonald crushed a two-run homer into left-center field and over the monster to make it a 6-1 game-- it was Darnell's second of the season. In the fifth, David Ortiz crushed his second homer of the game (sixth of the year) to right. Later in the inning, Marlon Byrd drove in a run with a double high off the wall and Mike Aviles knocked a three-run homer to left for an 11-1 lead.

Ortiz hit two home runs

The A's would load the bases with two outs in the seventh inning-- Clay Buchholz had been cruising along so far, but here he would falter. Coco Crisp proceeded to knock a little ground ball to Adrian Gonzalez's right. Gonzalez deflected it off his glove and two runs would score to make it 11-3. Former Red Sox Josh Reddick then came up and promptly knocked a low pitch into the bullpen for a three-run homer to make it 11-6. As you may have guessed, Clay Buchholz was removed from the game after this. One bad inning completely ruined his line and he finished with 6.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 BB, 5 K, W (3-1). After Junichi Tazawa came into the game, the A's quickly loaded the bases before Vicente Padilla came on and struck out Daric Barton. The A's loaded the bases again off Scott Atchison in the eighth, but no harm done as Franklin Morales got the final two outs. Finally, Alfredo Aceves allowed only a double in a shutdown ninth, nailing down an 11-6 win.

Bright Spots:
Alfredo Aceves- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 K
Mike Aviles- 2-5, 2 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI
Dustin Pedroia- 2-5
David Ortiz- 2-3, 3 R, 2 HR, 1 BB, 2 RBI
Darnell McDonald- 3-4, 3 R, 1 HR, 1 2B, 2 RBI
Marlon Byrd- 2-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI

Dull Spots:
Cody Ross- 0-4, 1 K, 3 LOB

Player of the Game:
David Ortiz- Ortiz lifted the Red Sox with a pair of home runs last night, he also scored three and went 2-3 to add to a brilliant .405/6/20 season for Ortiz.