Back-to-back basts lift Red Sox to series win over Athletics

Back-to-back home runs from Wilyer Abreu and Willson Contreras in the eighth inning erased a one-run deficit and lifted the Red Sox to a 5-4 victory over the Athletics on Thursday night at Sutter Health Park.

The win secured Boston’s seventh consecutive series victory as the Red Sox took three of four from the Athletics. 

Boston improved to 57-51, while the Athletics fell to 45-64. The Red Sox gained a game on the Yankees for the top wild card spot and tied the White Sox for the third best record in the American League. 

Trailing 4-3 entering the eighth, Abreu led off the inning by launching a 422-foot solo homer to center off reliever Luis Medina to tie the game. 

Abreu wasn't able to celebrate his homer because one batter later, Contreras gave Boston its first lead of the afternoon with a 414-foot blast to nearly the same spot in center for his 23rd homer of the season.

“I didn't even have time to celebrate because [Contreras] hit the ball right away,” said Abreu. “So I just went back to the Wally head and waited for him in the dugout. I did the high-five to the guys when I was through half of the dugout. He hit a homer, and I just went back to the stairs to wait for him.”

Contreras broke out of a 2-17 slump and prior to the homer.

“Baseball is about grinding,” said Contreras. “Sometimes you wanna feel good, sometimes you won't feel good. But also, we're feeling OK, we're taking good at-bats. We're walking, we're getting on base, and that's really important, too. We're not giving away at-bats. And Wily and I, we’re just trying to do our job, trying to make contact and help the team any way we can.”

The late comeback rewarded another strong outing from Sonny Gray. The veteran right-hander worked seven innings, allowing four runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out five. He improved to 13-2 with a 2.93 ERA through 20 starts.

“The big assignment of tonight was, keep us in the game and pitch us deep, because we were fairly thin in the bullpen with some guys down,” said Chad Tracy. “So he did both those things, kept us in the game.”

Boston’s bullpen once again slammed the door.

Greg Weissert stranded a leadoff single in the eighth by inducing Tommy White into a 6-4 double play before retiring the side. A day after recording his first save of the season, Weissert again delivered in a high-leverage spot.

“Second day in a row in big spots,” Tracy said of Weissert. “Huge, huge contributor to two wins for us the last two days.”

Aroldis Chapman handled the ninth despite allowing a one-out, 406-foot double to Alika Williams. He finished the game by striking out Colby Thomas looking and Nick Kurtz swinging.

The Athletics jumped in front early for after Jacob Wilson’s RBI single gave them a 1-0 lead in the third. Lawrence Butler doubled home a run and Donovan Walton added an RBI single in the fourth to make it 3-0.

Boston finally broke through against rookie right-hander Mason Barnett in the fifth.

Andruw Monasterio continued his torrid July with an RBI single before Ceddanne Rafaela lined a two-run double down the left-field line to tie the game at 3-3. Monasterio has been one of Boston’s hottest hitters this month, entering Thursday batting .357 with a 1.118 OPS in July.

The Athletics regained a 4-3 advantage in the sixth on a sacrifice fly after Boston squandered a golden opportunity in the top half of the inning. 

Contreras and Masataka Yoshida opened the frame with back-to-back singles before Caleb Durbin successfully bunted both runners into scoring position. But Jarren Duran flied out to shallow left and Monasterio struck out swinging to end the threat.

Duran’s frustration was evident after his fly out. He appeared to direct comments toward either third base coach Chad Epperson or Contreras after Epperson elected to hold the runner at third. Duran continued gesturing as he walked into the dugout.