A's Get The Better Of Sox Again As Skid Continues (62-73)

The 2012 baseball season is becoming miserable as the Red Sox lost again today to extend their skid to six games. This was a rough game for the Red Sox pretty much from the start as the game began with a tough pitching matchup-- Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-3, 5.10) and Brett Anderson (2-0, 0.64). The A's started off the bottom of the first on a walk by Coco Crisp. Crisp scored almost immediately when Seth Smith drove a high home run to center field to make it 2-0 early. It took them only one inning to get another run when Stephen Drew crushed a hanging sinker to left-center to make it 3-0. They just kept on rolling in the third as well, putting runners at the corners with one out. They'd score a run on a sacrifice fly for Josh Reddick. Later in the inning, they'd score again when Stephen Drew knocked a line drive single to left to make it 5-0.

Ross had an RBI single

The A's just kept pounding Matsuzaka in the fourth, loading the bases with one out. They scored one run when Yoenis Cespedes grounded out to second base to make it 6-0. It took the Red Sox until the sixth, but they eventually got their first run of the game--loading the bases with one out. Cody Ross singled to left, scoring one run before Scott Podsednik was nailed at the plate, making it 6-1. It stayed there for a while, but the Red Sox picked up another run in the ninth after a leadoff double for Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia would eventually score on a sacrifice fly for Mauro Gomez to make it 6-2. However, it wasn't nearly enough to dig into a huge A's lead.



Bright Spots:
Andrew Miller- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
Craig Breslow- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K
Junichi Tazawa- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K
Mark Melancon- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R
Dustin Pedroia- 3-4, 1 R, 1 2B
Cody Ross- 1-4, 1 RBI

Dull Spots:
Daisuke Matsuzaka- 3.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 4 BB, 4 K, L (1-4)
Ryan Lavarnway- 0-4, 2 K
Mike Aviles- 0-3, 1 K
James Loney- 0-3, 1 K

Player of the Game:
Dustin Pedroia- Pedroia acted as the catalyst today, going 3-4 with a double and scoring a run in a bad game-- he is now .288/12/55