The Red Sox may have just wasted their chance to really get back in the game.
Gio Gonzalez entered the sixth inning falling apart, and for all appearances continued to do so as the frame went on. After striking out Jed Lowrie, Gonzalez walked both Mike Aviles and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, putting the tying run in the hole.
It would, unfortunately, stay there. Darnell McDonald got ahead in the count 2-0 before swinging at a low pitch for a strike, taking ball three, and then popping up the fifth pitch of the at bat in pathetic fashion. Up came Jacoby Ellsbury, but with Gonzalez being pulled for a reliever, he fell behind 0-2 and met a similar fate, popping out to third in foul territory.
It’s the sort of thing that really shifts momentum in the wrong direction. Where once the game had the feel of a comeback in the making—especially against an A’s pen that had just imploded in spectacular fashion against the Yankees—now it seems like the Sox are ready to go away.