Boston Red Sox
Boston fell 7-3 to the Athletics on Saturday evening.
The Red Sox lost for just the sixth time in their last 38 games. Winslow Townson/Getty Images
The Boston Red Sox did something on Saturday they’ve rarely done in recent weeks: lose a baseball game.
The Red Sox (64-52) fell 7-3 to the Athletics on Saturday evening, which snapped their nine-game winning streak. It was the club’s second significant streak of victories in the past month; a win would have made Boston the first team in history to record multiple 10-plus-game winning streaks in a single season.
For the most part, it was a light day in the offense category for Boston by their standards, despite out-hitting the Athletics 10-8. The Sox did tease another epic comeback in the bottom of the ninth, but ultimately left the bases loaded.
Boston recorded 10 hits for three runs and collected four extra-base hits. The team left 12 runners on base, which was the Red Sox’ downfall in the end, and struck out 15 times.
Boston possessed a 2-0 lead after Andruw Monasterio notched a two-run single in the bottom of the first inning, but eventually gave the advantage up for good in the fourth. The hit was an important one for Monasterio, who achieved a 10-game hitting streak and 20-game on-base streak.
But for the Red Sox as a whole, their pitching slowly but surely handed the contest over to the Athletics to their demise. Starting pitcher Jake Bennett was excellent through three frames before allowing a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth to put the visitors up 3-2.
Bennett exited the game after 5.1 innings of work. He finished his 13th start of the season allowing five hits, four earned runs, and three walks while recording five strikeouts on 88 pitches (59 strikes).
Justin Slaten took over for Bennett in the sixth inning with one runner on, and things didn’t go his way. Slaten allowed a two-run double, which gave the Athletics a 5-2 edge. Raymond Burgos entered the game after Slaten in the seventh and allowed a solo shot off Tyler Soderstrom’s bat and another from Henry Bolte in the ninth frame to put Boston down by five runs.
Boston’s bats were on the verge of another thrilling walk-off in the ninth inning when Caleb Durbin hit a two-out RBI single to bring the Red Sox within four runs. Willson Contreras singled and Monasterio walked to load the bases for newcomer Eli White, but White lined out to center field to end the game.
Interim manager Chad Tracy was impressed with his club’s ninth-inning attempt despite coming up short.
“It was a great effort to get the tying run to the plate and give ourselves a shot. It was awesome,” he told reporters postgame. “Obviously we jumped out early with two in the first, and then didn’t do a ton in the middle innings. Had a couple chances, nothing crazy, but then that was our big chance there. … It was a good effort to do that, for sure.”
The loss was just Boston’s sixth in its last 38 games, a truly remarkable feat given the way the team played in the first three months of the season.
The team holds firm possession of the American League’s second wild-card spot, and is 1.5 games behind the New York Yankees in the first spot.
The Red Sox still hold a nine series winning streak, too. They’ll look to extend that streak to 10 series in Sunday afternoon’s rubber match, which is scheduled to start at 1:35 p.m. Eastern Time.
Kaley Brown
Kaley Brown is a sports producer for Boston.com, where she covers the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox.
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