by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s beat the Boston Red Sox Tuesday night 9-2. The A’s played the type of game they thought they would play all season. They had offense, they had excellent defense and they had terrific pitching. Drew Pomeranz went seven innings holding the powerful Red Sox to just 2 runs and four hits and the A’s much-maligned bullpen shut the Sox down in the eighth and ninth innings to secure the win. Coco Crisp, Sam Fuld, Eric Sogard, Stephen Vogt and Josh Reddick all made sparkling defensive plays that stopped the Sox cold. The Sox, on the other hand, did not get a good start from Justin Masterson. Masterson went 2 1/3rd innings  allowing six runs on six hits and was tagged for two home runs

The A’s scored three times in the bottom of the first. With one out, A’s shortstop, Marcus Semien, hit a blast the hit off the top of the wall in deep center field just to the right of the 400-foot mark. Josh Reddick singled to right to drive in Semien and Reddick came in to score when Stephen Vogt lined his ninth home run of the year  to right that barely made it over the wall. The runs batted in were the 29th and 30th of the year and Vogt now leads in the AL with 30 RBI.

The A’s made it a 4-0 game in the second. Brett Lawrie started the inning with a single. Lawrie advanced to second on a fielder’s choice and scored on an Eric Sogard double.

The A’s drove Red Sox starter to the showers in the bottom of the third. Josh Reddick led off with a big fly to deep right field For Reddick, it was his sixth home run of the year. Masterson retired Billy Butler for the first out but walked Vogt. Sox manager John Farrell removed Masterson from the game and brought in Steven Wright to pitch. Wright walked Max Muncy and gave up a single to Brett Lawrie to load the bases. Wright retired Sam Fuld but was tagged for a single by Eric Sogard that drove in Vogt and Muncy with two more runs for the A’s. 7-0 in favor of Oakland after three innings of play.

The A’s extended the lead to 8-0 in the fourth. Marcus Semien led off the inning with a home run over the scoreboard in left field. Semien now has six home runs this season for Oakland.

The Red Sox scored their first run of the game in the top of the sixth. Shane Victorino led off with a double to left field. Ground outs by Xander Bogaerts and Blake Swihart allowed Victorino to advance to third and then score. The Sox tacked on another run in their half of the seventh inning. Dustin Pedroia reached second on an infield single and a throwing error by Marcus Semien. Pomeranz struck out Big Papi and retired Hanley Ramirez on a ground out. Pedroia took third on the play and scored after a bloop single to right by Mike Napoli.

The A’s added a run in the eighth to make it a 9-2 game. Coco Crisp walked with two outs and singles by Semien and Reddick brought him home with the run.

Game notes- The A’s snapped their six-game losing streak with the win and if they win on Wednesday, they will have back to back wins since they took from Houston early in April. Drew Pomeranz won his second game of the year and is 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA in three starts at home. Josh Reddick was 4-for-5 with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI. Marcus Semien had 3 hits including a single, triple and home run. Eric Sogard was 2-for4 with 3 RBI. Stephen Vogt is hitting  .314 with five home runs and 11 RBI in May.

The Red Sox have lost eight of their last eleven games and have been outscored 55-29 over that stretch.

Oakland’s line score was 9 runs, 12 hits, and one error. Boston’s was 2 runs on four hits and no errors.

Game three of the series will be played at 12:35pm PT at the O.co Coliseum on Wednesday. Sonny Gray (4-0,1.65ERA) will go for Oakland and he will be opposed by Wade Miley (1-4, 6.91 ERA)

Time of game was 2 hours thirty-two minutes and 24,065 paid their way in to see the game.