A's Offense Falls Short As Pitching Finally Struggles

Today's game started promisingly enough, as Gio Gonzalez neatly retired the Red Sox in the top of the first, and Coco Crisp did his best Rickey Henderson impression with a lead-off homerun to give the A's an early 1-0 lead. However, the second inning would hint at a rough outing for Gio; he gave up three singles, and only a strike-him-out-throw-him-out double play (nicely done by Powell) would get him out of the inning, with Boston merely tying the game.

Coco's homerun aside, the A's would do what they do best; put runners all over the bases and leave them there; to the tune of 2 LOB in the second, 1 in the fourth, 2 in the fifth, 3 in the sixth, 1 in the seventh, 3 in the eighth, and 2 in the ninth. Meanwhile, the Red Sox hit three homeruns to increase their run total to five. The A's finally broke through on a single by Coco in the eighth and a single by Powell in the ninth, but they certainly failed with RISP more than they succeeded. And with twelve hits, five walks, and a HBP, they really should have been able to do more damage.

Four runs were pinned on Gio (the runs were bad, but not his BB/K ratio; a lone walk against nine strikeouts over six innings), and one on Blevins, but new addition Purcey pitched two scoreless innings.

And great news from Rotoworld.com:

Dallas Braden was diagnosed with left shoulder inflammation after a visit with Dr. Lewis Yocum.

No structural damage.

So the A's split with Boston and welcome in Seattle for a four-game weekend series. The A's need to do the reverse of Opening Weekend and actually win this series.