Josh Willingham shines as Oakland Athletics defeat Boston Red Sox 15-5 - MLB Update
Oakland Athletics’ designated hitter, Josh Willingham had a remarkable day with his bat as he hit four grand slams including a solo homer and went 2-for-5 in the Athletics’ 15-5 win against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, Boston on August 26.
Red Sox batters gave their team a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Adrian Gonzalez singled to right-centre and Jacoby Ellsbury posted one run. Athletics took two runs during second inning to take a 2-1 lead. Brandon Allen scored the tie run for Athletics
when David DeJesus singled to right-field. The leading run was taken by DeJesus when Cliff Pennington hit a single-run drive towards right-field.
The pitchers were on top during the third inning. Athletics’ starter, Gio Gonzalez pitched just over five innings and surrendered four runs, seven hits, two home runs, three walks and four earned runs with an ERA of 3.35. He had five strike-outs on his 105
pitches.
In the fourth inning, Athletics blasted six runs to enhance their lead while Red Sox were able to add just two runs to cut their deficit 8-3. Scott Sizemore struck a two-run homer (389 feet) towards left-field and Kurt Suzuki scored a single run. The third
and fourth runs were taken by Jemile Weeks and Coco Crisp when Hideki Matsui doubled to centre-field.
Willingham also hit a two-run homer (350 feet) to left-field and Matsui added one run to complete a six-run campaign for the Athletics. On the other side, Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia hit a solo homer (378) towards left-field and David Ortiz struck
a one-run homer (400 feet) to centre-field, at the bottom of fourth inning.
Red Sox further reduced their lead 8-4 in the fifth inning when Marco Scutaro was ground out to short-stop and Ellsbury added a single run. Pennington doubled to left-field and Suzuki scored a single run in the seventh inning to raise the Athletics’ lead
9-4. During eighth inning, Athletics’ batters smashed four runs to advance their lead 13-4.
Weeks, Willingham, Allen and DeJesus each contributed a single run to end the four-run eighth inning. In the ninth inning, Athletics posted two runs while Red Sox scored one run to end the game 15-5. Sizemore and Weeks added two collective runs for Athletics
while Scutaro posted the last run for the Red Sox.
However, Athletics led off the three-game series 1-0 played at Boston.
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