Mar 29, 2019; Seattle, WA, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi (17) throws against the Seattle Mariners during the fourth inning at T-Mobile Park. Photo Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Red Sox already have done something this season that they didn’t do once during last year’s World Series-winning campaign.
It’s a dubious accomplishment, however. The Red Sox have lost four straight games.
Boston will look to halt that slide on Wednesday, as well as figure out how to score against Oakland pitching as they enter the third contest of a four-game series in Oakland.
The Athletics shut out the Red Sox in each of the first two games while posting 7-0 and 1-0 triumphs.
“Honestly, after tonight, I feel better,” Boston manager Alex Cora told reporters after Tuesday’s setback. “It was a game. One-nothing, we had a chance. We competed. It’s not that we haven’t been competing but most of the games we were out of it right away.”
The Red Sox struggled to create scoring chances in the first two games of the series and also were stymied by the powerful throwing arm of Oakland center fielder Ramon Laureano on both nights.
Laureano gunned down Boston’s Xander Bogaerts at home with a rifle-like throw on Monday and then delivered a pivotal dart to third base in Tuesday’s one-run contest.
Bogaerts barely missed a homer in the ninth inning and hesitated just slightly after rounding second base on his way to third. That split-second indecision provided just enough time for Laureano’s one-hop howitzer throw to arrive in time to retire Bogaerts for the second out of the inning.
“Ramon came up and fired that thing, man. He makes some unbelievable throws,” Athletics third baseman Matt Chapman said in a postgame interview with NBC Sports Bay Area. “For a second, I thought the ball was going to hit him. I was trying to hang in there and make a good tag and it was bang-bang.”
While Laureano’s laser throw was the key play in saving the game, Chapman’s bat provided the game’s lone run.
He was the second hitter against Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale and drilled a full-count fastball over the fence in left.
“I got to 3-2 and I wasn’t going to get beat by a heater,” Chapman said in the postgame interview. “I was just trying to get ready early so I could cover it.”
That run was enough for a victory against a Boston team that at 1-5 is struggling out of the gate.
“We haven’t been playing our best baseball,” Bogaerts told reporters afterward while expressing disbelief at Laureano’s throwing arm. “We know the type of team we are once we’re going good. And we’re so close, man. We’re so close. Just that one clutch hit. We just haven’t been able to get it. And I know once we get that one, I think we’ll go on a nice roll.”
Red Sox right-hander Nathan Eovaldi will look to bounce back from a poor first outing when he takes the mound Wednesday against the Athletics.
Eovaldi served up three homers while allowing six runs and eight hits in five innings against the Seattle Mariners last Friday. He received a no-decision as Boston prevailed 7-6.
Eovaldi is 1-2 with a 4.11 ERA in six career starts versus Oakland.
Right-hander Marco Estrada, who has a 2.45 ERA, will be making his third start for the Athletics. He received no-decisions in each of the first two while allowing just seven hits and two walks in 11 innings.
Estrada is 4-8 with a 4.68 ERA in 17 career appearances (15 starts) against the Red Sox. He has enjoyed success against Mookie Betts (4-for-29) and Bogaerts (5-for-31, one homer).
