Photo credit: @Athletics

By Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s Sean Manaea continued his mastery over the Boston Red Sox as he beat them for the second time this season. Manaea didn’t pitch a no-hitter, but he pitched well enough to earn his fifth win against four losses. Manaea bested Boston’s Rick Porcello, who suffered his first loss of the year. The A’s hitters came through with three solo home runs and catcher Jonathan Lucroy’s double with two outs in the fourth drove in two big runs.

Oakland put a run on the board in the top of the third. With one out, Matt Joyce hit fourth big fly of the campaign off Porcello to give the A’s an early 1-0 lead. The Red Sox tallied twice in their half of the third. With two out, Mookie Betts singled. Betts stole second and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Andrew Benintendi reached on a throwing error by Matt Chapman that allowed Betts to score and Benintendi was able to go to second when the ball got by Matt Olson. Hanley Ramirez’s singled to drive in Benintendi with Boston’s second run. The Red Sox lead 2-1.

The A’s regained the lead in the fourth. With one out, the Matts, Olson, and Chapman, singled. Lucroy followed with a double to drive them in, and Lucroy scored on Dustin Fowler’s first career triple. Oakland has a 4-2 lead after four.

The Red Sox crept closer in the bottom of the fifth. Red Sox catcher Sandy Leon singled, and Betts doubled to put men on at second and third with no out. Benintendi flew out, but Leon could not tag and score. Ramirez hit into a fielder’s choice that drove in Leon. Betts was thrown out a third and Manaea retired J.D.Martinez for the third out.

Matt Olson homered to right-center-field to make it a 5-3 game in the top of the sixth. The Red Sox got the run back in the seventh when Rafael Devers led off the inning with his seventh. In the eighth, Khris Davis homered for Oakland, and J.D.Martinez blasted his 11th to make it a 6-5. The A’s closer Blake Treinen earned his seventh save as he was able to get the final three outs of the game.

Game Notes and Stats: With the win, The A’s improve to 20-21 and Boston drops to 28-13 and are now in second place in the AL East just a half game behind the idle New York Yankees. The A’s are now 2-2 on the 10-game road trip and have beaten Boston three out of four.

Sean Manaea went six-plus innings and allowed eight hits, four runs, one of which was unearned, four strikeouts, one walk, and one home run, and improved to 5-4.

Yusmeiro Petit pitched two innings and Treinen pitched one. Rick Porcello took the loss and is now 5-1. Porcello went six innings and allowed nine hits, and five runs, and two homers.

Trevor Cahill, who has been on the 10-day DL, is eligible to return to action on Wednesday. Outfielder Stephen Piscotty, who lost his mother to ALS last week, is expected to return from bereavement leave Tuesday night.

Up Next: Daniel Mengden (2-4, 4.06 ERA) will pitch for Oakland Tuesday. Mengden is 0-1 with an ERA of 8.00 in two career starts against Boston. He will be opposed by lefty Eduardo Rodriguez (3-0, 4.58 ERA). Game time will be at 4:10 pm PT.