Game Thread #84: A’s vs. Red Sox

The Oakland A’s went 17-9 in June, but the back half of the month was a bit of a bummer with a few heartbreaking losses, and July got off to a tough start with another defeat yesterday afternoon.

The A’s will look for a fresh start Friday night, as the Boston Red Sox come to town. The two contending clubs faced off in May at Fenway Park and the green-and-gold won two out of three games, and now they’ll get together again for three more at the Coliseum.

On the mound for Oakland is Frankie Montas, who is also looking for a bounce-back after allowing 10 runs total in just over 10 innings over his last two starts. He kept the damage to two runs against the Giants last time out, but the A’s still lost the game. The right-hander last faced the Red Sox in 2019, in a bizarre contest in which he allowed one earned run and six unearned runs thanks to one bad inning fueled by two errors — one of them by Montas himself.

A’s lineup (home)

1. CF Ramon Laureano (R)
2. SS Elvis Andrus (R)
3. 1B Matt Olson (L)
4. 3B Matt Chapman (R)
5. RF Chad Pinder (R)
6. 2B Jed Lowrie (S)
7. C Sean Murphy (R)
8. DH Frank Schwindel (R)
9. LF Tony Kemp (L)

• RHP Frankie Montas

Frank The Tank will bat as the DH in place of pitcher Frank The Other Tank.

Red Sox lineup (away)

1. CF Enrique Hernandez (R)
2. LF Alex Verdugo (L)
3. SS Xander Bogaerts (R)
4. DH Rafael Devers (L)
5. RF Hunter Renfroe (R)
6. 3B Marwin Gonzalez (S)
7. C Christian Vasquez (R)
8. 1B Danny Santana (S)
9. 2B Michael Chavis (R)

• LHP Eduardo Rodriguez

How To Watch

• Date: Friday, July 2
• Time: 6:40 p.m. PT
• TV (local): NBC Sports California
• Radio: 960 AM (more listings here)
• Streaming (watch): NBCS website (with cable sub)
• Streaming (listen): A’s Cast