A's 7, Red Sox 3

 

Of all the improbable things in this most improbable of comeback seasons, the most improbable might possibly be that the Red Sox are 26-4 in the last 30 games and half of those losses are to the last place Athletics (46-72), and even more specifically at the hands of starting pitcher Gage Jump (5-7, 4.46).

On July 28, Jump and the A's beat Boston, 3-4. Big Jake Bennett took the loss. Since that game, the Sox won nine straight while the A's suffered nine back0to-back losses. The two teams met again yesterday in another Jump-Bennett match, and the two teams' opposing streaks ended.  

Personally, I think the loss was due more to the inevitable sugar crash after Thursday night's epic, 13-inning win than it was to Athletic excellence. Payton Tolle energized the team on Friday night with his 14-K performance, but the team paid the price yesterday with sluggish batting and an exhausted, sleep-deprived bullpen. 

Yesterday, Jump struck out 11 while allowing only two runs on six hits. Big Jake Bennet struck out five, but also gave up four runs on five hits. Slaten gave up a run in the fifth, and Raymond Burgos another three in the sixth and seventh, but Burgos' real job yesterday was to go the distance for the final three innings and give the rest of the bullpen some much-needed rest, which he did.

And thus ended Boston's second epic win streak of the summer at nine straight. Whatever. You don't win 'em all. We won't face Jump and the A's again this season (news flash: the A's aren't making the playoffs), so it's time to start the third streak of summer.

Game 3, the rubber match, is this afternoon. Erik Miller (2-0, 2.57) makes his first start in Fenway against J.T. Ginn (8-6, 3.51). Time to start winning some more games.