Gio Gonzalez, the surprising stud pitcher for the Oakland Athletics this season, went into Wednesday afternoon’s game against the Boston Red Sox with an MLB-leading 0.47 ERA. Six innings and one loss later, however, Gonzalez has a 1.80 ERA two homers in the A’s 5-3 loss in the rain.
Coco Crisp gave the A’s a one-run lead when he hit a pitch from Red Sox pitcher Clay Bucholz over the right field fence in the bottom of the first inning — his first of the season — but Boston answered by scoring five unanswered runs over the next six innings, four of them being charged to Gonzalez.
While Gonzalez’s outing wasn’t what the Oakland faithful had come to expect from him this season (despite striking out nine batters), the biggest problem for the Athletics was probably the fact that they left 15 runners on base and hit just 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
While the A’s are still a respectable 9-9, it marked just the first victory for the Red Sox away from Fenway to split the series.