All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 6-4 win over the A's, complete with BSJ analysis and insight
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
A's make Sale work -- and only for five innings: The A's can be relentless at the plate, fouling off pitches by the bucketful and extending at-bats. Just ask Chris Sale. He needed 102 pitches just to get through five innings, even though he gave up just two hits while striking out nine. (Full disclosure: he also walked a season-high four, one that came at the end of a 12-pitch wrestling match with Khris Davis.). "It seemed like a lot of foul balls,'' said Sale. "My off-speed wasn't as good as I wanted it to be, especially my breaking ball. But I felt good, felt loose, felt strong. Command was obviously erratic, but this is major league baseball — you go out there without your best stuff and it's going to be tough.'' As much as Sale had trouble with his secondary pitches, his fastball was perhaps the best he's had this season. He routinely sat at 95-96 mph and had no trouble gearing up to 97 mph.
Bogaerts back in the power game: Last season, Bogaerts -- hampered by a hand injury in the second half and too passive at the plate for much of the season -- saw a big dip in his power numbers, recording just 10 homers in 148 games. This year, after just 27 games played (he missed time with a broken bone in his foot), Bogaerts already has five homers in 27 games. His three-run homer in the sixth was the biggest hit of the night and evidence that he's a different hitter than he was a year ago.
Xander Bogaerts put the Red Sox up by four with his fifth home run of the season in the sixth. pic.twitter.com/T1T6hPw3hX
— Brendan (@brendan_camp) May 17, 2018
Just Dingahs. #Crushed pic.twitter.com/scufwBnvjq
— MLB (@MLB) May 16, 2018
- The Red Sox scored three runs in the first inning, marking the fourth time they've done that this year.
- Since April 7, the Red Sox have hit 55 homers, the second-highest team total in that span.
- Martinez homered for the seventh time in his last 14 games.
- Sale became the second Red Sox pitcher since 1991 to allow three runs or fewer in each of his first 10 starts.
- Sale has 36 strikeouts in his last three starts, covering 21 innings.
- Bogaerts is hitting .349 at Fenway this season.
- Andrew Benintendi extended his hitting streak to nine games.