There is no rest for the weary in the middle of a major league season.
After refusing to lose an incredible 13-inning game en route to a sweep of the Chicago White Sox, the Boston Red Sox will be back at it on Friday night, hosting the Athletics in the opener of a three-game series.
On Thursday, Caleb Durbin’s walk-off single gave the Red Sox the only lead they needed in a game in which they banged out 16 hits and scored in each of the final five innings.
“Everybody’s exhausted,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said after the 4-hour, 23-minute marathon. “And it feels much better to be exhausted with a win than it does if you lost.”
Especially in that type of win, which was Boston’s eighth straight and 10th in 11 games.
Although Durbin was 3-for-6, Friday’s victory was on more than the gritty third baseman’s shoulders. It was a microcosm of an incredible season turnaround from 14 games under .500 to 12 games over in less than two months.
Tracy’s club trailed 4-0 early and was down to its final strike when Wilyer Abreu hit a game-tying single to force extra innings. Tracy used nine pitchers, with Brayan Bello picking up the win for two innings of relief only two days after a three-inning stint.
“We’re so deep right now. We trust everyone,” Durbin said. “It’s special. A fun group to be a part of.”
Payton Tolle (6-6, 3.30 ERA) will start for the Red Sox on Friday. They have won five straight games in which he has started. The left-hander has struck out at least six batters in each of those games, including seven in a six-inning, two-run outing Saturday in his team’s 3-2 victory at the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Tolle streak also includes a July 27 win over the Athletics in which he struck out seven in 5 1/3 frames of two-run ball. He is 1-0 with a 4.91 ERA in two career starts vs. the A’s.
Meanwhile, the Athletics are looking to curb an eight-game losing streak. It began with back-to-back losses to complete a four-game series against the Red Sox in West Sacramento, Calif., last week and continued with three straight one-run losses at the Cincinnati Reds through Thursday afternoon.
The series in Boston will mark the second leg of a six-game trip for the A’s, who were just swept for a seventh time this season despite holding a lead at one point in each game in Cincinnati.
“You better go in there (to Boston) ready to play,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said.
On Thursday, Tyler Soderstrom’s two-run single in the fourth inning gave the Athletics a 2-1 advantage, and Brian Serven hit a two-run homer in the ninth to trim their deficit to one run.
“Missed opportunities,” Kotsay said of his team’s downfall in Cincinnati. “Again, it’s about executing. Being able to make big league plays, make big league pitches and win ballgames. We’re struggling with that. Until we figure that out, we’re going to have to continue to grind.”
Right-hander Jack Perkins (2-7, 6.72 ERA) will start on Friday for the A’s, as he remains winless since moving into the rotation regularly in early June.
In his only career start against the Red Sox, the 26-year-old faced Tolle and took a 4-2 loss on July 27 despite throwing no-hit ball for the first five of his 5 2/3 innings. His only two runs allowed came on a Ceddanne Rafaela homer after he left the game.
However, Perkins had a head-scratching Saturday against the Detroit Tigers, piling up a career-high nine strikeouts while being tagged for six runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 frames of an 8-6 loss.
–Field Level Media
