Red Sox
BOSTON (AP) — All-Star pitcher Tanner Houck limited Oakland to 2 hits in six innings, and Connor Wong, Wilyer Abreu and Masataka Yoshida hit home runs to assist the Boston Red Sox to a 7-0 win over the Athletics on Thursday night.
The Red Sox have won eight of their last ten games to enhance their record to 51-41. They have won five of their six games against Oakland this season.
Houck (8-6) managed a no-hitter until the fifth inning and had six strikeouts in his first win since June 13. He turned 64 of his 103 pitches into strikes and lowered his ERA from 2.68 to 2.54.
Yoshida went 3-for-4 and scored 4 runs, Abreu also went 3-for-4, and Wong and David Hamilton each had two hits.
With two on base and two down within the sixth inning, Boston manager Alex Cora got here to the mound. He had Brennan Bernardino warming up within the bullpen, but Cora decided to keep on with Houck after he threw a wild pitch that put runners on second and third base in play. Houck brought Lawrence Butler in with a grounder to shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela for the last out.
Trailing by two in the primary, Yoshida scored two runs and Abreu followed with a run-scoring double to make it 3-0. Wong cleared the Green Monster for a solo home run within the fourth and Abreu went straight to center to make it 5-0 within the fourth. Yoshida capped off the scoring with a two-run home run within the sixth.
Chase Anderson followed Houck with three innings of 1 hit and 4 strikeouts en path to his third save.
Oakland starter Luis Medina (2-4) recovered from a shaky first inning to play five innings. The right-hander struck out seven players and allowed two of Boston's three home runs.
The A's are 13-35 on the road.
TRAINING ROOM
Athletics: 1B Tyler Soderstrom was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a bone bruise in his left wrist. The move is retroactive to Wednesday. OF/1B Seth Brown was optioned from Triple-A Las Vegas to that roster spot.
NEXT
Athletics: Travel to Philadelphia for a three-game series. LHP Hogan Harris (1-3, 3.22) was scheduled to start out for Oakland on Friday against LHP Ranger Suárez (10-3, 2.58).
Red Sox: Boston has not yet announced a starter for Friday's series opener against Kansas City at Fenway Park. LHP Cole Ragans (5-6, 3.28) was slated to start out for the Royals.
image credit : www.boston.com