Red Sox Live Blog: David Ortiz’s Homer Not Enough As A’s Take 3-2 Win, Sweep Sox

by abournenesn

Jul 4, 2012

Red Sox Live Blog: David Ortiz's Homer Not Enough As A's Take 3-2 Win, Sweep SoxFinal, Athletics 3-2: The West Coast road trip is over and it caps a lackluster offensive stretch for the Red Sox.

The team struggled against young pitcher A.J. Griffin and the hurler stifled the club.

The only encouraging note for the Red Sox was that David Ortiz unloaded his 400th career home run and Adrian Gonzalez extended his hitting streak to 15 games.

End 8th, Athletics 3-2: So I was wrong, Franklin Morales stayed in and continued to pitch.

But again, I still think it's the equivalent to a bullpen session for a starter on a typical off day since he tallied 19 pitches.

Now, it's up to the Red Sox offense to attempt to spearhead a run and avoid the sweep.

Mid 8th, Athletics 3-2: David Ortiz couldn't deliver any heroics here, striking out on three pitches.

Now, it falls on Boston's shoulders to try and reverse Tuesday's fate, when the bullpen and defense unraveled late in a loss. The Red Sox will be the ones looking to make that happen against Oakland.

End 7th, Athletics 3-2: Bobby Valentine shuffled around his relievers a bit, going from Miller to Matt Albers to Franklin Morales.

Morales only threw three pitches in this one, so it won't affect his starting status for Saturday's doubleheader.

I'd assume those pitches, plus his warm up pitches, equate to a bullpen session in between starts.

6:09 p.m.: Andrew Miller enters for Aaron Cook and immediately yielded an RBI single to Jemile Weeks.

Mid 7th, 2-2: Reliever Grant Balfour replaced Griffin, who allowed three hits and one run.

He walked two batters and struck out three. That was a pretty impressive performance from Griffin.

It looks like Aaron Cook could be due for one more inning, but we'll see what Bobby Valentine has in store.

End 6th, 2-2: Well, this one wasn't exactly Aaron Cook's fault. After inducting a pop up, Mike Aviles lost the ball in the sun.

It allowed Brandon Moss to get a double. Shortly thereafter, Cook surrendered a double to Brandon Inge that brought in the run.

The bright side was Mauro Gomez made some solid plays at third.

Mid 6th, Red Sox 2-1: Adrian Gonzalez extended his hitting streak to 15 games, hitting a single off Griffin.

In the process, he delivered the go-ahead run. That's eight RBIs for Gonzalez during this hitting streak of his to elevate the batting average to .276.

Although the power isn't there for Gonzalez, at least the hits and RBIs are climbing.

End 5th, 1-1: Cook has been fortunate that many grounders haven't been hit to third base.

Mauro Gomez, who is patrolling the position, has played first base and DH all season long in Pawtucket. He was signed as a third baseman, but hasn't played it since 2009.

The few times that he's fielded grounders, he's done fine — for now.

Mid 5th, 1-1: Griffin leaned heavily on his slider and fastball in that inning. Mainly using those two pitches, the pitcher struck out Cody Ross and Mike Aviles.

The offense's bats continue to be relatively silent in this one. Also, much credit to Coco Crisp for his job at center field.

He's patrolled it pretty well and moved Cespedes over to left field, partly because of Cespedes' injuries.

End 4th, 1-1: That's 59 pitches for Aaron Cook through four innings, a pretty high total.

The sinkerballer has typically been efficient with his pitches, but has been allowing a good amount of hits. Fortunately for him, they've mostly been singles.

Mid 4th, 1-1: Heading into this at-bat, Ortiz was 5-for-25 since hitting No. 399.

It appeared like he would be destined to reach the achievement at Fenway Park, but he delivered a solo shot to tie the game.

He moves past Andres Galarraga and Al Kaline and becomes the 49th player to ever hit 400 homers.

5:07 p.m.: David Ortiz just slammed No. 400. It was a mammoth shot to right field.

End 3rd, Athletics 1-0: Aaron Cook issued a rare walk in the third inning to Josh Reddick.

To think, the Red Sox once had Reddick and now he's blossoming into a star. It's still too early to gauge the Andrew Bailey trade because, well, the closer hasn't pitched at all yet.

But Aaron Cook managed to escape a jam by inducing grounders with his sinkers.

Mid 3rd, Athletics 1-0: A.J. Griffin has atoned for his lengthy first inning with a 13-pitch inning.

For an inexperienced pitcher, he's looking pretty sharp against the potent Red Sox lineup. But Billy Beane, of course, is a mastermind when it comes to discovering hidden gems.

End 2nd, Athletics 1-0: Brandon Moss smacked Aaron Cook's sinker over the wall for a solo shot.

That's the end of the mini-scoreless streak that Cook had after tossing a two-hit, shutout in his last start against the Mariners.

But keep in mind that Cook is still adjusting to pitching against American League competition.

Mid 2nd, 0-0: After going 0-for-2 in his previous stint with the Sox, Mauro Gomez just collected his first career major-league hit.

It was a double over Cespedes' head in the outfield. But Cody Ross couldn't bring him in, flying out to center field.

Still, Gomez was a standout in Triple-A earning honors to the All-Star game as the starting designated hitter.

End 1st, 0-0: Aaron Cook has already given up as many hits on Wednesday — two — as he did against the Mariners in his last start.

But Oakland outfielder Yoenis Cespedes has proven to be a good hitter and if it wasn't for stints on the DL, he'd likely get some All-Star consideration. As would Josh Reddick, who also collected a single.

Despite yielding runners, Cook escaped without a problem. 

Mid 1st, 0-0: Daniel Nava showed his ability to grind out at-bats, working a 10-pitch at-bat against A.J. Griffin.

Fortunately for Griffin, he didn't overly exhaust his pitch total too much with the next two batters. But that's 28 pitches for the first inning, meaning he'll need to be more efficient moving forward.

Also, David Ortiz struck out swinging as he continues to chase No. 400

1:30 p.m.: Here are the lineups.

Red Sox
Daniel Nava, LF
Ryan Kalish, CF
David Ortiz, DH
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Mauro Gomez, 3B
Cody Ross, RF
Mike Aviles, SS
Nick Punto, 2B

Aaron Cook, P

Athletics
Coco Crisp, CF 
Jemile Weeks, 2B 
Josh Reddick, RF 
Yoenis Cespedes, LF 
Seth Smith, DH 
Brandon Moss, 1B 
Derek Norris, C 
Brandon Inge, 3B 
Cliff Pennington, SS 

Derek Griffin, P

8 a.m. ET: The Red Sox suffered another heartbreaking defeat on Tuesday night, as Jon Lester's stellar outing was all for naught in a walk-off loss to the Athletics.

Alfredo Aceves gave up two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, allowing Oakland to walk off with the 3-2 win.

Aaron Cook is set to the take the mound in Wednesday's matinee, and he'll be looking to repeat his epic complete-game performance from last Friday's win over the Mariners. Cook needed just 81 pitches to blank Seattle, the fewest pitches thrown by a Red Sox pitcher in a nine-inning shutout since Roger Clemens.

Since returning from the disabled list on June 24, Cook is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA in two starts. He'll go up against Oakland starter A.J. Griffin, who hasn't allowed a run since the first inning of his first start. That's a streak of 11 scoreless frames.

For more analysis, follow NESN.com's live blog. Tune into NESN's pregame show at 3 p.m. First pitch is scheduled for 4:05.

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