In what is almost certainly a new low, the Red Sox fell to the Oakland Athletics 20-2
Aaron Cook started the game, shockingly enough, with a 1-2-3 inning. But it was a frame which hinted at the horror to come, as the Athletics put the ball in the air three times, which is never a good sign for the ground ball "specialist."
The runs would start scoring in the second, when line drives gave the Athletics three straight hits before Josh Donaldson capped it off with a two-run homer to make it 4-0. Two more would come across in the third before Cook was finally yanked for Junichi Tazawa.
Tazawa, for his part, would record four outs with no baserunners mixed in. He would be the only effective Red Sox pitcher of the night. After he left, Aceves gave up two in his inning on the loudest of Brandon Moss homers, Daniel Bard had an unsuccessful return when he offered up a solo shot in his, and then Craig Breslow and Mark Melancon went completelyoff the rails, giving up nine runs (eight earned) between them.
Shockingly, former Sox farmhands Josh Reddick, George Kottaras, and Brandon Moss combined for nine hits, including three doubles, and four home runs. Reddick was the only one of those who was ever more than a Quadruple-A type.
It's the biggest Red Sox loss in over a decade, and really just a shocking performance by everyone not named Junichi Tazawa.
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