Red Sox 4, A's 2

 

Trailing by one run, Conner Wong doubled to open up the sixth inning. Yoshida and Seigler both grounded out, advancing Wong to third but, well, two outs. A's starting pitcher Jack Perkins walked Contreras and was replaced by reliever José Suarez, who walked Abreu. Bases loaded, two outs.

Ceddanne Rafaela comes to the plate. He doesn't swing at a changeup or a fastball, 0-2, and then Suarez throws an 82-mph slider right across the plate.

Grand-slam home run, Rafaela's first, 402 feet into deep left center. The game-winning hit and Boston's only score of the game, but the Sox take the lead and win the game, 4-2.

But wait a minute. Did I say Seigler back there? What was he even doing in the game? New-guy Curtis Mead started at second, but in his second at-bat, A's starter Jack Perkins hit Mead in the hand with a pitch. Mead left the game in obvious pain and the extent of his injury is not yet known. Fuck Perkins, fuck the A's, and fuck Sacramento, California. 

Red Sox starting pitcher Payton Tolle went 5⅓ innings, striking out seven but giving up two runs on two solo homers. The bullpen was perfect - no runs, no hits, no walks - until Chapman gave up a bullshit little single to start the ninth, but he struck out the next three batters to end the inning and win the game.

Everyone in the AL East won their game today, so the Red Sox (55-50) are still seven games back from Tampa Bay in the division and 4½ back from the Yankees in both the AL East and the Wild Card standings. Three of the six teams currently eligible for the playoffs in the American League are from the AL East, just saying.

Big Jake Bennett (6-3, 2.58) starts for the Sox tonight. The rookie hasn't pitched in Sacramento yet and hasn't faced the A's before, so he should be padding his stats with a win tonight (9:40). The A's will counter a rookie named Gage Jump (if an action movie starred a character named "Gage Jump," it would get changed to something more believable), who's 3-6 and has a 4.42 ERA.  

The Red Sox, 8-2 in the last 10 games and still officially the hottest team in MLB, are on a two-game win streak, with three more games to go against the A's. With the Dodgers on the horizon, I don't see another 15-run streak in the immediate future, but it Mead's injury isn't severe, anything's still possible.