Red Sox use eight-run 2nd to power past Athletics

Jul 10, 2024, 7:15 AM | Updated: 7:15 am

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - JULY 09: Rafael Devers #11 of the Boston Red Sox hits a RBI double against ...

(Photo by Brian Fluharty/Getty Images)

Sactown Sports

Wilyer Abreu had four RBIs and Brayan Bello struck out a career-high 11 in 5 1/3 innings as the Boston Red Sox beat the visiting Oakland Athletics 12-9 on Tuesday to open a three-game series.

Abreu crushed a three-run home run before Dominic Smith followed with a solo shot to highlight Boston’s eight-run second inning.

Rafael Devers went 2-for-4 with a double, three RBIs and two runs, while David Hamilton, Masataka Yoshida and Ceddanne Rafaela also had multiple hits apiece as Boston won its seventh of eight to move to 10 games above .500.

Both teams had 13 hits.

Brent Rooker’s blast off the wall gets the A’s going early 💥 pic.twitter.com/fDVQOl0wlM

— A’s on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) July 9, 2024

Athletics vs. Red Sox recap

Oakland’s Zack Gelof was 3-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs. He and Lawrence Butler both hit three-run home runs.

Bello (9-5) set a Red Sox franchise record by recording his first 10 outs of the game via strikeout, but Oakland still managed to jump ahead 2-0 against him in the first. Bello wound up yielding five runs on nine hits and two walks.

After Miguel Andujar’s one-out single in the first, Brent Rooker doubled off the center field wall for Oakland’s first run before Shea Langeliers followed with a two-out RBI single two batters later.

The Athletics’ lead was short-lived as the Red Sox strung together four straight hits to go up 3-2 after just 11 pitches from Oakland starter Joey Estes (3-4). The right-hander was charged with eight runs on seven hits over 1 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out one.

Jarren Duran socked a leadoff double into the right-center-field triangle and scored on Hamilton’s single to bring Boston within 2-1. Tyler O’Neill continued the rally with a double that narrowly missed clearing the fence in deep center, and then Devers lined a go-ahead, two-run single into right.

The Red Sox scored early and often in the second, cashing in on Smith’s leadoff walk when Rafaela dropped a triple into the right field corner. Duran then made it a 5-2 game on a sacrifice fly before Devers’s RBI double.

Connor Wong’s ensuing infield hit chased Estes.

Oakland reliever Tyler Ferguson was greeted rudely. The home team’s lead ballooned to 11-2 when Yoshida hit an RBI single and Abreu and Smith hit back-to-back homers.

Oakland clawed back within 11-5 in the sixth inning when Butler crushed a 457-foot homer deep over the bullpens in right-center. Gelof hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Abreu added to Boston’s lead with an eighth-inning sac fly before Gelof’s three-run shot to center made the game interesting in the ninth.

–Field Level Media