Oakland Athletics defeat Boston Red Sox 5-0 – MLB Update
Boston Red Sox failed to continue their winning streak as Oakland Athletics defeated them 5-0 at O.co Coliseum, Oakland on Tuesday, April 19.
The 9-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays should have given confidence to the struggling Red Sox, but the totally opposite thing transpired on Tuesday night as Brett Anderson incapacitated the Red Sox offence.
Brett kicked off the game throwing at Jed Lowrie of Boston. The Red Sox line-up consisted of stars like Dustin Pedroia, Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis failed to execute the fastballs Anderson threw.
Anderson outplayed the Red Sox batters with eight shut-out innings as his long-standing rival John Lackey was taken to task by Oakland. Tossing 109 pitches, Anderson was the single most dominating player on the field in the presence of stars that dominate
the Red Sox list of players.
Youkilis, who was unwilling to admit the weakness in the offence, commented on Monday. "A lot of stuff is made up. 'Not seeing the ball.' -- Just because you're not getting hits doesn't mean you're not seeing the ball," the Red Sox third baseman said. "I
saw the ball fine. This game is hard. This game is very, very hard. It's not easy. If it was, we'd all hit .400. You've got to keep working hard, and things will happen if you put together good at-bats."
Disallowing any run in the first inning, the Oakland offence had a promising start. David DeJesus grounded out to short-stop where Coco Crisp scored, making it 1-0 lead for the Athletics.
Anderson, who was all poised for an aggressive and unhittable feat, was too elusive for Boston. He provided the best defence possible for the team as the Red Sox batters were under a spell of constant struggles, exerting themselves to do something.
Lackey who gave up the first hit and run was assertive, trying not to be left behind as his nemesis Anderson continued his eminently successful march. It essentially seemed a battle between two pitchers trying to outplay the batters of respective teams.
But the battle of nerves usually culminates with the victory of one who keeps his poise. That perhaps was gloriously done by the Athletics.
Oakland virtually sealed their victory in the eighth inning when Dan Wheeler of Boston replaced Lackey. Wheeler proved more of a blessing for Oakland’s batters. First, Daric Barton singled to shallow centre where Cliff Pennington scored. It did not stop
there, as the eventful inning continued much to the disappointment of Boston.
Hideki Matsui doubled to deep right where Barton and Josh Willingham scored and then came Kurt Suzuki who singled to right centre as Sweeney scored, making it a 5-0 lead for Oakland. Craig Breslow, who came out to pitch for Oakland, was successful in disallowing
the Red Sox batters to go for any hit, reducing them to zero and thereby securing a 5-0 win for the Athletics.
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