Final: Red Sox 10, A's 1

The Red Sox continued to steamroll the Oakland A's Wednesday, barely breaking a sweat in a 10-1 stomping. The win was the third straight overall for the Sox and fifth in five tries against Oakland this season.

The Sox got homers from Rafael Devers (who homered for the fourth straight game) and Alex Verdugo, who homered for the first time since mid-April and knocked in four runs. Xander Bogaerts also had two RBI.

The win went to rookie Josh Winckowski, who earned his first major league win with five shutout innings, during which he allowed four hits and walked just one.

WHO: Red Sox (33-29) vs. Oakland A's (21-42)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SERIES TO DATE: BOS 1-0
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: 4-0
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Josh WInckowski (0-1, 12.00) vs. RHP James Kaprielian (0-3, 5.73)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI-FM 93.7

LINEUPS

SOX

Duran CF
Devers 3B
Martinez DH
Bogaerts SS
Verdugo LF
Story 2B
Cordero 1B
Plawecki C
Bradley Jr. RF

A's

Kemp 2B
Laureano CF
Brown LF
Bethancourt 1B
Vogt DH
Andrus SS
Murphy C
Barrera RF
Bride 3B

STATE OF THE SOX: The Red Sox have won 10 of their last 12 games, out-scoring opponents 55-26 over that span. The Red Sox own the AL’s best record since 5/18 (.731, 19-7), tied with ATL for best in the majors. The Sox are in a stretch of 25 games in 27 days from 6/3-29 (9-2 so far), including 19 in 20 days from 6/3-22. SERIES BUSINESS: With a win tonight or tomorrow, the Red Sox will clinch their 4th consecutive series win: at OAK (3-0), at LAA (3-1), at SEA (2-1), and vs. OAK (1-0 so far). The Sox are 7-1-2 in their last 10 series after beginning the season 1-7-1 in series play. ...The Red Sox were 10-19 after getting swept by CWS from 5/6-8...They are 23-10 (.697) since 5/10, trailing only the Yankees for MLB’s best record (25-8, .758). Since 5/10, the Sox lead MLB in runs (195), AVG (.278), OPS (.819), XBH (136) and doubles (89), and rank 2nd in SLG (.473), total bases (552), and run differential (+68). Since 5/10, the Red Sox have lost consecutive games only once: 5/30 vs. BAL & 5/31 vs. CIN...In their last 10 games following a team loss, Sox starting pitchers are 5-1 with a 2.05 ERA (14 ER/61.1 IP). ...Last night began the Red Sox’ 9-game homestand against OAK (1-0), STL (3 G), and DET (3 G). It is the Red Sox’ longest 2nd-longest homestand of the season...They will play a 10-game homestand from 7/22-31 vs. TOR (3 G), CLE (4 G), and MIL (3 G). The Sox are 10-5 in their last 15 home games...In that time, they have scored 5.93 runs per game while batting .286 with an .866 OPS (89 R, 42 2B, 3 3B, 24 HR). ....The Red Sox currently hold the AL’s 3rd Wild Card position...Entering play on 5/10, the Sox owned the AL’s 2nd-worst record (10-19) and were 6.5 games out of the final Wild Card position. A.L....The Red Sox lead the majors in doubles (148), 26 more than any other team (ATL-122). The Red Sox lead the AL in hits (547) and XBH (213)... They rank 2nd in runs (290), AVG (.255), and total bases (885) and 3rd in SLG (.413). ...The Red Sox have hit 8 HR in their last 4 games...In their last 28 games (beginning 5/16), the Sox rank T-4th in the majors with 40 HR. J.D. Martinez has hit 3 HR in the last 4 games after hitting 0 HR in his previous 19 (5/18-6/9). Of Rafael Devers’ 15 HR this season, 5 have had a projected distance of at least 430 feet...Only 3 other AL players have hit as many as 5 such HR (Yordan Alvarez-6, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.-5, Aaron Judge-5....Six of the Red Sox’ last 8 games have been decided by 2 runs or fewer, including 5 by 1 run. The Sox are 7-4 in their last 11 games decided by 1 or 2 runs, including 5-1 in their last 6...They began the season 6-12 in their first 18 decided by 1 or 2 runs.....Devers leads the majors in hits (84), XBH (39), and total bases (154), and the AL in doubles (23)...He also leads AL 3rd basemen in AVG (.332), runs (49), and FanGraphs’ WAR (3.6). Trevor Story leads AL 2nd basemen in runs (32), RBI (41), and XBH (tied, 23), and ranks 2nd in walks (24) and steals (8), and 3rd in defensive runs saved (6). Xander Bogaerts leads AL shortstops in WAR (2.7), runs (37), hits (73), doubles (17), and OBP (.397), and ranks 2nd in AVG (.327), SLG (.484), and OPS (.881). J.D. Martinez leads AL designated hitters in doubles (22), XBH (30), AVG (.345), and OBP (.413). P...The Sox are the only team featuring multiple qualifying hitters with an AVG of at least .300... They feature 3 such players: Martinez (.345, 3rd in MLB), Devers (.332, 4th), and Bogaerts (.327, 5th). The Sox are also the only team featuring 3 players with an OPS of at least .850 (Bogaerts, Devers, Martinez). The Sox feature an MLB-best 8 players with 20+ RBI. ...The Red Sox feature 5 pitchers with at least 40.0 IP and a sub-3.60 ERA, tied with the Yankees for the most such pitchers in MLB: Wacha (2.33), Eovaldi (3.16), Houck (3.38), Pivetta (3.50), and Whitlock (3.51). Tanner Houck has allowed 0 runs in his last 16.0 IP spanning his last 8 outings (all in relief), his longest career scoreless-innings streak. In his last 22 outings, Austin Davis has allowed 1 run in 22.2 IP (0.40 ERA)...He has allowed 0 runs in his last 13.0 IP (13 G), the longest streak of his career. ... The Red Sox’ 5 primary starting pitchers have combined to post a 3.44 ERA (109 ER/285.1 IP) in their 54 starts (Eovaldi, Pivetta, Hill, Wacha, Whitlock). In their last 13 games, Red Sox starters have posted a 1.79 ERA (15 ER/75.1 IP) with 69 SO and only 15 BB. The Sox are 14-5 (.737) when their starting pitcher throws at least 6.0 innings, winning each of the last 8 such games and 13 of the last 14. 3 of the 11 complete games in the majors this season have been thrown by Red Sox pitchers: Nick Pivetta (5/18 vs. HOU), Nathan Eovaldi (5/28 vs. BAL-G1), and Michael Wacha (6/6 at LAA)...The Sox are the only team in the majors with multiple complete games. ...The Sox feature 5 qualifying hitters with at least a .500 SLG vs. LHP, most in the majors: J.D. Martinez (.707), Xander Bogaerts (.560), Rafael Devers (.559), Trevor Story (.520), and Kiké Hernández (.500). Martinez (.415) and Bogaerts (.400) rank 1st and 2nd in the AL in AVG vs. LHP this year, 2nd and 3rd in MLB.

NOTES: 

* The Red Sox made a number of roster moves, announcing that Jonathan Arauz was claimed on waivers by the Baltimore Orioles; the Sox also placed Christian Arroyo on the COVID-IL list and replaced him with OF Jarren Duran; finally, the Sox recalled RHP Josh Winckowski and, to make room on the roster optioned Phillips Valdez.

* Josh Taylor (back) threw a live BP session with the staff and Alex Cora watching. "He threw the ball well,'' said Cora. "He has another one Saturday, and if everything goes well, hopefully, next week, he goes on a rehab assignment.''

* Chris Sale is set to throw a live BP Thursday morning. He'll have one more over the weekend before any determination is made with a rehab assignment.

* Cora threw cold water on the notion of Sale coming back, at least, initially, as a reliever. "From my end, and we've been talking about it: Chris Sale is a starter,'' said Cora. "IT just happened that he came in in relief in October of '18 (in the World Series). Every five days, he not only impacts that day, he impacts the rest of the week. When he's on, he's one of the best. And the way he's throwing the ball right now, it looks like he's ready to go. Now, we just to have patient and we slow it down and we go from there. He might start and (initially) go four and that's good, right? If our pitching staff can handle that, yeah. But I see Chris as a starter.''

* Cora said he wanted rookie Josh Winckowski, getting his second big league start, "attack the zone'' more than he did in his debut last month against Baltimore, "and use all his pitches. I do believe the game sped up on him in the first inning.''

* Trevor Story is in the midst of a brutal slump (4-for-33). "He's swinging under it,'' said Cora. "His contact point is getting out there instead of letting the ball travel. That's something I talked to Pete (Fatse) about. He'll be OK. He's in-between right now -- late on the fastball, out in front on breaking balls. But I think everything starts with backtracking the ball, controlling the zone and staying on pitches.''