Oakland Athletics’ Boog Powell (3) follows the flight of his two-run home run against the Houston Astros during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/D. Ross Cameron)

by Jerry Feitelberg

Boston- The Oakland A’s coming off a sweep of the Houston Astros and winners of five straight, are on their way to Boston to face the AL East division leader, the Boston Red Sox. The A’s had lost eight of nine before beating the Angels last Wednesday. The lost all six on the road and the first two games of the home stand.The young and powerful A’s did not have any trouble scoring runs, but the pitching couldn’t keep the opponents off the scoreboard. All that changed this past weekend as the A’s pounded the Astros’ pitching and the pitching kept the Astros from scoring.

For many of the young A’s hitters, it will be their first trip to Fenway Park. The A’s are hitting homers. They have over 200 so far, and they are led by Khris Davis, Ryon Healy, Matt Chapman, and Chad Pinder are leading the way from the right side, and Matt Olson and Matt Joyce are the big boppers from the left side of the plate. Fenway Park has very unusual dimensions. The distance down both lines is slightly over 300 feet. The problem for the right-hand hitters will be hitting the ball over the 37-foot high wall aka the Green Monster. For the lefty hitters, if they can pull the ball down the line, it will be an easy home run. However, the distance increases to 380 feet quite rapidly, and it takes a big blast to put the ball out of the park.

The other problem the A’s have is that they cannot win on the road. The A’s at home are 42-33 but have a woeful road record of 21-47. The Red Sox, on the other hand, need to win. They are in a dogfight with the New York Yankees for the top spot in the East. The Sox do not have the big boppers in the lineup this year. The Sox have hit 146 home runs, and that is about 40 homers below the league average. They have several excellent players. They are led by the veteran Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia has missed a lot of games due to injury, but the slack has been taken up by Eduardo Nunez. Nunez came over to the Red Sox in a trade with the SF Giants. Rafael Devers is manning third base. He is just 20 years ago and made a big splash when he came. He had his first slump of his career but seems to be hitting much better now. Xander Bogaerts is at short, and Mitch Moreland platoons at first base with Hanley Ramirez. The Red Sox have Andrew Benintendi in left, Jackie Bradley, Jr in center and Mookie Betts in right field. Sandy Leon and Christian Vasquez handle the catching.

The pitching matchups for the series will see Sean Manaea pitch Tuesday night against Eduardo Rodriguez. Manaea beat the Angels last Wednesday in Oakland. He went six innings and no runs while earning his tenth win of the year. Rodriguez, also a lefty, is 4-5 with an ERA of 4.33. Rodriguez has scuffled most of the season, but he had a good outing last week as he allowed just six hits and 2 runs in six innings of work. Rodriguez is 1-0 against the A’s lifetime with an ERA of just 1.69.

The second game of the series will feature Jharel Cotton going against Boston’s Doug Fister. Cotton’s record is 7-10, and he has an ERA of 5.82. In his last outing, Cotton gave up seven runs in five innings of work. He continues to give up the gopher ball. In his last outing, he was hammered three times. He has given up 12 big flys in his last 33 2/3rds innings. Fister was plucked off the waiver wire from the LA Angels. Everyone thought Fister was done. Fister has shown that he is not ready to close the book on his career. With the Red Sox, he is 5-2 and has an ERA of 2.79. Overall he is 5-7 for the year, and his ERA stands at 3.91. In three of his last starts, he gave up runs in the first inning, but settled down and was able to pick up three wins.

The Thursday game will feature righty Daniel Gossett going against the lefty, Drew Pomeranz.Gossett beat the Astros on Saturday as he allowed just one run in six plus innings and struck out seven. Pomeranz, a former Oakland Athletic, has found a home in Boston as he is having the best year of his career. His overall record is 15-5, and his ERA is 3.35. He is also pitching very well in Boston. Fenway Park is notorious for being a nightmare for left-handed pitchers. Lefties have to keep the ball down and away to right-hand hitters. If they come inside, there’s a good chance that pitch will either be off the wall or over it. Pomeranz is 8-2 at Fenway. Pomeranz has faced the A’s just once since leaving the team. In his only game against Oakland earlier this year, he gave up one earned run in the four innings that he pitched.

It should be a fantastic series. The Red Sox figured that this might be a breather for them. That was two months ago. They cannot take the A’s lightly. This young team is starting to come together, and if the A’s get any kind of pitching, the series could be a barn burner.