Lackey Wins Frustration-Off, Beats A's (9-4)

Sigh.

Yeah, it was that kind of game out in wet Boston tonight. Both starting pitchers were simply magic. And I don't mean that they were good--I mean that they both had a ridiculous ability to wriggle out of a jam in almost every inning. Gio Gonzalez burned through four shutout innings allowing eight baserunners. Meanwhile, Lackey allowed three singles, two doubles, a triple, a home run, and a walk in the same time frame. Only two runs scored, and they were all on a Daric Barton HR. In the fourth inning, the A's loaded the bases with no outs. Of course, they promptly laid down and refused to score, through a fielder's choice at home, a shallow fly out, and a pop out.

The A's did manage to break through in the fifth inning, as the A's were able to execute their patented bloop single offense, plating two additional runs. And in prime frustrating fashion, Gio picked the very next half inning to let his luck catch up to him. The home run he served up to Adrian Beltre was a rather nice cap to the deceptive, yet mediocre, outing. Tyson Ross was brought in and he made sure that Boston took and claimed the lead, which Boston never let go.