A’s outlast Red Sox 6-5 to take series

The Oakland Athletics got some early offense, but held on at the end to score a rare series win with a 6-5 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

Ken Waldichuk looked shaky to start the game, with his pitches missing away and walked leadoff batter Rob Refsnyder. Batting out of the three spot, Justin Turner turned on a fastball and hit a two-run home run to give the Red Sox an early lead.

The A’s answered right back as Tony Kemp singled to lead off the game and extended his hitting streak to seven-straight. JJ Bleday followed with a two-run shot to right that tied the game.

Waldichuk worked around a leadoff single by Kike Hernandez in the second and Oakland’s offense got back to work. Jace Peterson walked with one out and Cody Thomas followed with his first home run of the season to put the A’s in front 4-2.

Waldichuk retired the side in order in the third and then worked around a two-out walk in the fourth. The A’s added some insurance in the fourth as Shea Langeliers doubled before Peterson homered to push the lead to 6-2.

A leadoff walk to Connor Wong to start the fifth got Waldichuk in trouble. Wong moved up to second on an errant pick off thrown and then scored scored on a Rob Refsbyder single to make it 6-3. Masataka Yoshida followed with a double to right field to put runners at second and third. That would be it for Waldichuk as Mark Kotsay would summon Lucas Erceg. Erceg got Turner to ground out, but Refsnyder scored to cut the A’s lead to 6-4.

The Red Sox crept closer in the sixth as Adam Duvall singled to leadoff the inning and then moved to second on an errant pickoff throw by Erceg. After a strikeout by Alex Verdugo, Hernandez reached on a throwing error by Peterson. Duvall scored on the play to make it 6-5.

Angel Felipe entered replacing Erceg and struck out Wong and pinch-hitter Triston Casas to end the inning. Felipe stayed in and worked a scoreless seventh. The bullpen continued to do work in the eighth as Sam Long retired Rafael Devers, Duvall and Verdugo in order. Trevor May worked around a one-out walk to Wong to pick up the save.

With the win, the A’s improve to 27-71 on the season. They will continue their homestand on Thursday when the Houston Astros arrive for a four-game series.