The Red Sox have been swept by the Oakland Athletics after a 3-2 loss on Wednesday, leaving them facing the possibility of a return to the bottom of the AL East with a Toronto victory.
While Aaron Cook was not quite as dominant as he was against the Mariners earlier in the road trip, he had a solid night that at least kept the Sox in the game. Brandon Moss would put the Athletics on top with a second inning homer, but Cook would pitch through the end of the fifth without giving up another run.
David Ortiz, meanwhile, had single-handedly got the Sox back to even with the Athletics. A.J. Griffin left a fastball high in the zone and over the plate in the fourth, and Ortiz didn't miss it. The final destination of the long drive to right was never in doubt, and as the fans scrambled to grab the loose ball Ortiz began his 400th trot around the bases at the major league level.
Ortiz would score again in the sixth thanks to an error that allowed Jarrod Saltalamacchia to stay out of the third out, pushing Ortiz to second from where he would score on an Adrian Gonzalez single up the middle.
Unfortunately, the Sox would repay the favor of defensive ineptitude in the bottom half of the inning as neither Mike Aviles nor Mauro Gomez could field a pop-up behind third base, losing the ball in the sun and giving up a free double. With Brandon Inge hitting a gapper immediately afterwards, the Athletics tied it up at 2-2.
The equalizer would unjustly count as an earned run against Aaron Cook, but the go-ahead tally he would allow to happen in the seventh was more clearly his fault. Ahead of Coco Crisp 0-2, Cook gave Crisp a pitch to hit and paid for it with a triple. With Jemile Weeks singling off of Andrew Miller immediately afterward, the A's took a 3-2 lead they would not surrender, leaving the Sox at 2-5 on this frustrating road trip.