Gage Jump #61 of the Athletics pitches in the top of the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Sutter Health Park on July 28, 2026 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

By Jeremiah Salmonson

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The A’s faced off against the Boston Red Sox in game two of a four-game series on Tuesday at Sutter Health Park. The A’s came into the game after falling 4-2 in the opening game of the series on Monday night.

In game two on Tuesday, the A’s evened the series and defeated the Red Sox 4-3.

Gage Jump got the ball for the A’s in what was his 11th appearance, all starts, for the green and gold this season. Jump pitched well for the A’s as he tossed six innings of scoreless, three-hit, seven-strikeout baseball to get back on track after giving up six runs in his last start in Arizona. Jump needed 90 pitches, 53 of which were strikes, to get through his outing while also issuing four walks, his lone misstep in the performance.

“I thought Gage was great tonight,” Kotsay said of Jump after the game. “… You mentioned the four walks, but overall being able to make pitches when he had to, right? And that’s part of what we were looking for. Part of what we were looking for is consistency, being able to manage innings and get through a game where he got some solid contact. So he got deep into the game and any kind of start can go six without giving up a run, it’s a great night.”

Gage Jump was also happy with his outing while speaking to reporters after the game.

“Happy with it,” Jump said. “We put up a run and so as soon as that happened, my ultimate goal was to keep the lead as long as I could. I feel like I made some mistakes, but I think the important pitches I made, so learn from it, but yeah, really happy with the game.”

In the seventh inning, the A’s turned to the bullpen. Mark Kotsay elected to go with Luis Medina in the seventh inning, which was fairly uneventful other than a single given up by Medina. However, Kotsay stayed with Medina in the eighth inning, and that proved too much for the young right-hander. In the eighth inning, Medina was only able to get two outs as he was chased by the Red Sox. Medina finished with a line of one and two-thirds innings, giving up one run on two hits while walking two.

Next up, it was Hogan Harris, who came in for the A’s with two outs in the eighth inning to get the final out of the frame. Harris stayed in for the ninth inning, and it wasn’t pretty, but he was able to close out the game for the A’s. Harris finished by giving up two runs on three hits while striking out three in his one and one-third innings of relief.

On the offensive side of the ball, the A’s got just enough across to down the Red Sox even as they made a late push against the A’s bullpen. The A’s scored four runs and managed nine hits while walking only twice in Tuesday’s matchup.

The A’s first run came in the bottom of the second inning when Henry Bolte lined a ball up the middle to get the A’s on the board with the first run of the game.

The rest of the A’s offense came late in the contest as they didn’t score again until the seventh inning.

The A’s second and third runs of the game came in the seventh inning when backup catcher Brian Serven hit his first home run in MLB since Aug. 21, 2022, when he was a member of the Colorado Rockies. It was Serven’s seventh career round-tripper and put the A’s up by three heading into the eighth.

In the eighth inning, the A’s scored their final run of the game. Lawrence Butler drove a pinch-hit RBI double over the head of Ceddanne Rafaela in center field to give the A’s back a three-run lead, 4-1, heading into the ninth inning. It turned out to be the game-winning RBI after the A’s bullpen gave up two runs in the ninth inning. For Butler, it was his 10th double and 26th RBI of the season.

The A’s will look to continue their momentum on Wednesday as they play game three of their four-game series against the Red Sox at 6:40 p.m. PDT. Jacob Lopez (5-4, 6.12 ERA) is scheduled to start for the A’s while Patrick Sandoval (0-0, 3.21 ERA) will go for the Red Sox.