Oakland A’s players share congratulations after defeating the Boston Red Sox in game 1 of the three game series on Tue May 11, 2021 at Fenway Park in Boston (@Athletics photo)

Oakland Wins Game One Against Boston 3-2

By Barbara Mason

Tuesday evening the Oakland A’s took on the Boston Red Sox at the storied Fenway Park in the first of a three game series. Both teams sit in first place in their respective divisions. The series will be a challenge for the A’s. This is probably the toughest series that they have faced all year, even tougher than Tampa Bay.

Ramon Laureano is back in the lineup which is great news for Oakland. They will have to call on all their resources to match up with Boston. The Red Sox have some heavy hitters; one of them Martinez who sacrificed in the first inning driving in Verdugo. After one inning the Red Sox had taken a 1-0 lead thanks to J.D. Martinez.

Chris Bassitt was on the mound for Oakland and Nathan Eovaldi pitched for Boston. With the exception of the one run in the first inning both pitchers were having solid performances through the first three innings.

It was quiet for the A’s until the fourth inning. Seth Brown walked and Matt Olson singled bringing Brown in and the game was tied 1-1. This was proving to be a highly contested ball game. Through six innings Chris Bassitt had nine strikeouts as this game remained deadlocked.

Boston’s Darwinzon Hernandez would take over on the mount in the top of the seventh inning. The A’s had a great chance in the seventh inning with Olson on third, Lowry on first with no outs. Matt Chapman singled and Matt Olson scored to break the tie 2-1. That’s all it took and after 16 pitches the Red Sox made a pitching change bringing in veteran Adam Ottavino. Elvis Andrus would single and Chapman scored to extend the lead to 3-1 in favor of Oakland.

The seventh inning was a good one for Boston as Rafael Devers homered cutting into Oakland’s lead 3-2. This game was going down to the wire.

It was a quiet eighth inning for both teams. The A’s could get nothing going in the top of the ninth and so the game was in the hands of Jake Diekman and he came through. The Red Sox made some noise in the ninth inning but came up short and the A’s won game one of the three game series.