Red Sox Wrap: Good Offense, Better Bullpen Help Boston Sweep Athletics

The Boston Red Sox are … back?

Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but it’s hard to not feel good about Boston’s three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics.

The Red Sox earned a 7-2 victory over the A’s at Fenway Park on Wednesday, completing their first home series sweep of the season. Hector Velazquez served as the “opener” and pitched well over two innings before handing the game over to a dominant bullpen, led by Marcus Walden.

Offensively, the Red Sox were led by Mitch Moreland (1-for-3, one homer, two RBIs), Christian Vazquez (1-for-3, solo homer) Andrew Benintendi (1-for-4, two RBIs) and Tzu-Wei Lin (2-for-4, one RBI).

Boston improved to 14-17 with the win, while the Athletics dropped to 14-19 with the loss.

Here’s how it all went down:

GAME IN A WORD
Refreshing.

The Red Sox pitched well (Tyler Thornburg notwithstanding), played solid defense and strung together good at-bats. They also earned their second sweep of the season.

ON THE BUMP
— Velazquez did his job as the “opener,” allowing one run on one hit over two innings while striking out three. The right-hander is 0-2 with a 3.93 ERA in nine appearances (four starts).

The only run charged to Velazquez came in the second inning, when he allowed a two-out RBI single to Ramon Laureano.

— Walden was the story out of the bullpen, pitching three scoreless innings while striking out three and allowing just one hit. The right-hander picked up the win and now is 4-0 with a 1.65 ERA. It’s early, but the 30-year-old Walden is looking like a legitimate, high-leverage reliever for the Red Sox.

— Brandon Workman pitched a perfect sixth while recording one strikeout and now has a sparkling 1.98 ERA.

— Colten Brewer worked around a two-out single to pitch a scoreless seventh. He now has a 6.00 ERA.

— Heath Hembree retired the side in order in the eighth, lowering his ERA to 4.30.

— Tyler Thornburg allowed back-to-back doubles to start the ninth, retired the next two batters and then gave up another run-scoring double. The struggling right-hander now has an ugly 8.53 ERA.

— Red Sox pitchers held the A’s to just seven hits.

IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— The Red Sox by no means pounded the Athletics, but Wednesday’s game was among the few examples of the 2019 Red Sox playing like the 2018 Red Sox. Working counts, timely hitting, solid baserunning — it all factored into an encouraging afternoon for Boston’s lineup.

— The Red Sox’s first run came in the second inning, which Rafael Devers (2-for-4) led off with a sharp single to right field off Oakland starter Mike Fiers. Devers moved to third on a (lucky) single by Michael Chavis (1-for-3) and came home on an RBI sacrifice fly by Moreland.

— Boston might have scored more runs in the inning if it wasn’t for this wild play:

— Moreland gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning with this solo homer over the monster:

Moreland, who has just six singles this season, leads the Red Sox with nine homers.

— Mookie Betts gave Boston a 3-1 lead in the fifth when he drove home Lin on a sacrifice fly. The star right fielder now has 16 RBIs.

— The Red Sox broke the game open in the six when they tagged A’s reliever J.B. Wendelken for three runs. Lin drove home a run with an RBI infield hit and Benintendi scored two more on a single to center field.

— Vazquez belted his fifth homer of the season in the ninth. The Red Sox catcher now is hitting .227 with 14 RBIs.

— Betts and J.D. Martinez were the only members of the lineup without a hit. Jackie Bradley Jr. finished 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored.

— The Red Sox finished with nine hits and stranded 14 runners on base.

TWEET (OR INSTAGRAM) OF THE GAME
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UP NEXT
The Red Sox will visit the Chicago White Sox on Thursday for Game 1 of a four-game set. First pitch at Guaranteed Rate field is set for 8:10 p.m. ET.