The Oakland Athletics (55-39) are now a full game ahead of the Texas Rangers with one game left to go before the All-Star break. The A’s will head into the break with a winning record for the first time since 2008. With the win tonight against the Boston Red Sox (58-38), Oakland brought the season series to 2-3. Games against the Red Sox always draw big crowds in Oakland, and Saturday night was no exception. With an attendance of 36,067, the A’s produced their 9th sell out of the season.

Pitching his fourth career start against the Boston Red Sox, AJ Griffin (8-6 3.94) sought to continue his dominance after coming off a big 10-4 win against the Kansas City Royals last Sunday. He labored a bit early on, but consistently managed to get himself out of trouble. On his outing today, Griffin said “you just try to go out there and keep them off the board the best you can”. After struggling against the Red Sox in a previous start, Griffin said he just “tries to act like number 40… I just try to stay calm, and that’s something I’ve learned a lot from watching Bartolo.”

During the first, second, and fourth innings the Red Sox had a runner reach second base, but each time failed to capitalize. Boston right-hander Jon Lester was for the most part cruising until, in the fifth inning, Derek Norris launched an 0-2 pitch over the left field wall for his fifth home run of the season. Up until his home run the A’s had mustered just two hits, which came on consecutive two out singles in the second inning. The one run would be all Griffin needed.

In the top of the sixth Griffin again managed get through a jam after a Grant Green bobble and throwing error led to a 2-out, runners on first and third situation. Jarrod Saltalamacchia just missed one, sending a deep fly ball to the left-center field gap, only to be hauled in by Coco Crisp.

After surrendering the Norris home run in the previous inning, Lester appeared to be rattled in the A’s half of the sixth. After walking Jed Lowrie, Oakland strung together consecutive singles from Josh Donaldson and Yoenis Cespedes, the second of which brought Lowrie around to score, extending the A’s lead to 2-0.

Lester continued to struggle and ran into trouble in the seventh. He was chased from the game with runners on first and third with one out. Reliever Junichi Tazawa was called on, but couldn’t stop the bleeding. Crisp singled, bringing in Reddick from third, making the score 3-0. Lester finished with 6 1/3 innings pitched, he gave up six hits, surrendered three runs, walked three, and struck out four.

Griffin really settled down late in the game, finishing his outing with his easiest two innings of the night, back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the seventh and eighth. He threw eight shutout innings, scattering six hits, walking one, and striking out three. Griffin asked pitching coach Curt Young about going out for the ninth, but his night was done. “You’ve got one of the best closers in the league, why aren’t you going to turn the ball over to him”.

Any A’s game wouldn’t be complete without a little Australian Rage. Grant Balfour, now a perfect 25 for 25 in save opportunities, came in the ninth with the A’s leading 3-0. David Ortiz grounded out, Mike Napoli reached on a single, but was erased on a fielders’ choice that left Daniel Nava at first. After a pacing pep talk to himself on the mound, Balfour got Saltalamacchia swinging for the second out, and Jose Iglesias popped up in foul territory to end the game. When asked about the pressure Balfour might face with the streak on the line, A’s Manager Bob Melvin said “the run speaks for itself, as it has continued from last year…he’s not thinking about anything besides that particular game”. Balfour now has 43 consecutive saves, most in Oakland A’s history.

Oakland and Boston close out the first half of the season tomorrow afternoon at 1:05pm back at the O.Co coliseum.

Player Profile: Who is Grant Green?

Grant Green, a 25 year old from Anaheim Hills, California, started in his second major league game tonight for the Athletics. Green was the A’s first round draft pick back in 2009, producing noticeable numbers at the University of Southern California, ending his senior year batting .371 with four homeruns and 32 RBIs. Down in Triple A Sacramento, Green was hitting an impressive .318 with a .374 on-base percentage. Oakland looked to give him a chance, with struggling second basemen Eric Sogard and Adam Rosales not producing the numbers the A’s were looking for. Until Sogard hit his first homerun against the Phillies earlier this month, neither second baseman had touched ‘em all. The A’s are still waiting to see the bat they hoped they would get from Green; as great as the numbers look from Sacramento, in his first seven ABs, Green is now 0-7 with five Ks. Melvin isn’t worried; after a sacrifice fly that moved a runner from second to third, the A’s manager maintains his faith in the young Green, saying that he is “still searching for his first hit, but he was thinking he had a job to do, and he did it. He helped his team win. To me, that was an impressive at-bat”. Not to worry about the numbers, once Green gets over the initial big league jitters, history shows his numbers will prove him worthy. Beast.