Athletics avoid sweep with 9th-inning rally against Red Sox

Lawrence Butler’s walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth gave the host Athletics a 5-4 win over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday in West Sacramento.

BY FIELD LEVEL MEDIA

Sep 11, 2025, 8:35 AM Updated: Sep 12, 2025, 9:20 am

Follow on Google News

Watch: Dusty Baker On His New Book and Baseball in Sacramento | 12 mins

Lawrence Butler’s walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth gave the host Athletics a 5-4 win over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday in West Sacramento.

The Athletics (67-80), who avoided a sweep in the three-game series, got homers from Shea Langeliers and Nick Kurtz and snapped a three-game losing streak. Brent Rooker was 3-for-5 with two doubles, his 39th and 40th.

The Red Sox (81-66) had their three-game winning streak halted. Nate Eaton was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

Boston tied the game 4-4 with two outs in the top of the ninth on Rob Refsnyder’s RBI double off Elvis Alvarado. It scored pinch runner Ceddanne Rafaela from first.

Butler’s game-winning single scored Langeliers, who had doubled, from third.

Both hits came off of loser Aroldis Chapman (4-3), who had not allowed a hit to his previous 50 batters.

Hogan Harris (2-1) got the win.

Kyle Soderstrom’s pinch-hit two-run double with the bases loaded in the fifth gave the Athletics a 4-3 lead. Butler, who was on first, also tried to score but was thrown out at the plate.

Athletics starter Mason Barnett allowed three runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings with a walk and four strikeouts.

Boston tied it 2-2 on Trevor Story’s run-scoring double in the third. Jerran Duran’s groundout gave the Red Sox a 3-2 lead in the fourth.

Kurtz’s 30th homer, leading off the second, made it 2-1 Athletics. He drilled opener Payton Tolle’s pitch to the opposite field, down the left-field line and over the wall.

Eaton’s RBI double in the second tied the game 1-1 for Boston. It was a short popup down the right-field line, on which first baseman Nick Kurtz and second baseman Zack Gelof collided as they tried to catch it. The ball actually bounced off of Kurtz’s glove

Langeliers’ one-out home run in the first gave the Athletics a 1-0 lead. His drive barely eluded a leaping Duran, who lost his glove over the fence, at the left-field wall. It was Langeliers’ 30th homer.

–Field Level Media

More Athletics coverage on Sactown Sports

Connelly Early struck out 11 to match the franchise record for a pitcher in his major league debut, tossing five shutout innings as the Boston Red Sox notched a 6-0 victory over the A’s on Tuesday in West Sacramento, Calif.

The 23-year-old left-hander, promoted from Triple-A Worcester earlier in the day, allowed five hits and one walk. Early (1-0) matched the team strikeout record set by Don Aase in his first start for Boston on July 26, 1977.

Rob Refsnyder had a three-run homer among two hits and Romy Gonzalez added a homer, a double and two RBIs as the Red Sox recorded their third straight victory.

Boston (81-65) is in a virtual tie for second place with the New York Yankees (80-64) in the American League, three games behind the Toronto Blue Jays (83-61). The Red Sox and Yankees also share the top two AL wild-card positions.

Read More: