The Oakland Athletics currently lead the American League wild-card race. This has been accomplished primarily on the strength of their pitching staff, which has allowed the second-fewest runs in the AL.
Athletics 20, Red Sox 2
The A’s accomplished something Friday night they hadn’t done in 12 years.
Presswire
That's why Friday night's outburst in Oakland was such a shocker, as the A's scored 20 runs in a game for the first time in almost 12 years, defeating the visiting Boston Red Sox 20-2.
The A's smashed five home runs off five different Boston pitchers: Josh Donaldson off starter Aaron Cook in the second inning; Brandon Moss off demoted closer Alfredo Aceves in the fifth; George Kottaras off Daniel Bard in the sixth; Josh Reddick off Mark Melancon in the seventh, and Kottaras again, this time off Vicente Padilla in the eighth. (Not only that, but three of those players -- Moss, Kottaras and Reddick -- are former Red Sox.) In all, the A's pounded out 19 hits and drew four walks.
It’s probably a good thing for Red Sox fans that this game took place on the West Coast; the late-Friday start in Boston means that many Boston fans probably didn’t see it. Meanwhile, the 20-run outburst -- just the fourth for the A’s franchise since they moved to Oakland in 1968 -- pushed them from 11th to ninth in the AL in runs scored.
For more on the A’s, please visit Athletics Nation, and for more on the Red Sox please visit Over The Monster.
See More:
