Oakland 6
Boston 4
Oakland 6Boston 4
Tom Candiotti allowed two runs over six innings for his fifth win in six starts and Matt Stairs and Jason Giambi drove in two runs apiece as the Oakland Athletics defeated the Boston Red Sox for just the second time in 11 meetings, 6-3.Candiotti (10-14) scattered six hits with two walks and two strikeouts to improve to 9-8 lifetime against Boston. The knuckleballer has permitted 13 runs in his last 43 1/3 innings, spanning six starts.
"Candiotti gave us a big lift tonight at the right time," Oakland manager Art Howe said. "After you lose two tough games to these guys, playing tooth and nail, it was good to play them tough and finally come up with a win. Once we gave him the lead, with his ability we felt we would come up with the win."
"I was in a good groove," Candiotti said. "Those first three or four innings went pretty quick. I got them swinging a lot at the knuckleball. It was like they didn't hit anything really hard. The last month has been real satisfying for me."
T.J. Mathews pitched the seventh inning and Buddy Groom pitched the eighth but walked Darren Bragg to lead off the ninth and gave up a single to pinch-hitter Jason Varitek before giving way to Billy Taylor.
Taylor recorded the final three outs to notch his 27th save in 31 chances as the Athletics avoided a three-game sweep and won for the first time this year at Fenway Park.
Giambi had an RBI single and Stairs followed with a run-scoring double as the Athletics scored three times in the third to take a 4-0 lead. In the fourth, Giambi stroked a single, plating A.J. Hinch, and Stairs lifted a sacrifice fly to increase the lead to 6-0.
Pete Schourek (0-3) was tagged for four runs and seven hits over 2 2/3 innings in his second American League start for Boston. The Red Sox have still won seven of their last 10 and own an 8 1/2-game lead over Texas in the American League wild-card race.
"Obviously I'm not real happy with what I did tonight," Schourek said. "But I'm not going to get down on myself. I can see that even though the results aren't there, I'm making some progress. The quality of my pitches are improving."
Boston, which has not lost a season series to Oakland since 1992, has outscored the A's, 62-39, this year.
Oakland got on the board in the second inning. Mike Blowers smacked a one-out double and after Ben Grieve walked, Scott Spiezio delivered an RBI single, plating Blowers.
The Athletics scored three tims in the third. Hinch laced a leadoff double and Rickey Henderson singled to put runners on the corners. But Henderson was thrown out attempting to steal second and Ryan Christenson struck out swinging before Giambi came through with an RBI single to make it 2-0.
Giambi stole second and scored on Stairs' double and Stairs later scored on Grieve's single for a 4-0 lead.
Henderson's hit gave him 2,654 for his career, tying him with Ted Williams and Lave Cross for 58th place on the all-time list.
"The win tonight means a lot more than this milestone, but it's still good to be in that type of class," Henderson said. "Everybody in this ballpark knows what Williams did for the game. That's what means more than anything."
Henderson also played in his 2,589th career game, moving him past Willie McCovey into 31st place on the all-time list.
The A's scored a pair of runs in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead that held up until the Red Sox reached Candiotti for back-to-back solo homers by Nomar Garciaparra and Troy O'Leary to cut the deficit to 6-2.
"I'm not thinking about home run totals," Garciaparra said. "I'm just thinking about going out there and doing my job. I got a home run today but I wish I had gotten it the at-bat before with two men on."
Boston added a run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Darren Lewis.
AL FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - OAKLAND 0 1 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 6 13 1 BOSTON 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 3 8 0 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: OAK - TOM CANDIOTTI, TJ MATHEWS (7TH), BUDDY GROOM (8TH), BILL TAYLOR (9TH) AND AJ HINCH BOS - PETE SCHOUREK, CARLOS REYES (3RD), JOHN WASDIN (7TH) AND SCOTT HATTEBERG
WP - TOM CANDIOTTI (10-14) LP - PETE SCHOUREK (0-3) SAVE - BILL TAYLOR (27)
HOME RUNS: OAK - NONE BOS - NOMAR GARCIAPARRA (27) OFF CANDIOTTI IN THE 6TH, 0 ON TROY OLEARY (21) OFF CANDIOTTI IN THE 6TH, 0 ON
TIME: 3:06 ATT: 31,239
PROBABLES: OAK - MIKE OQUIST (7-10, 6.36) CLE - BARTOLO COLON (13-7, 3.18)
ANA - KEN HILL (8-5, 5.15) BOS - STEVE AVERY (9-5, 5.16)
Extended BoxOAKLAND (6) AT BOSTON (3) - FINAL
OAKLAND ab r h rbi bb so lob avg Henderson lf 4 1 1 0 1 1 2 .226 Christenson cf 4 0 0 0 1 2 2 .239 Giambi 1b 4 1 2 2 0 0 1 .287 Stairs dh 4 1 2 2 1 1 0 .314 Blowers 3b 4 1 1 0 1 0 4 .238 Grieve rf 4 0 2 1 1 0 2 .287 B Roberts rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .270 Spiezio 2b 5 0 1 1 0 1 5 .268 Tejada ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 3 .235 Hinch c 3 2 3 0 0 0 0 .234
Totals 36 6 13 6 5 6 19
BATTING: 2B - Blowers (21, Schourek); Hinch (7, Schourek); Stairs (28, Schourek); Giambi (27, J Wasdin). S - Hinch. SF - Giambi. RBI - Spiezio (47), Giambi 2 (86), Stairs 2 (91), Grieve (73). 2-out RBI - Giambi, Stairs 2, Grieve. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - Spiezio 3, Blowers 1, Henderson 1, Christenson 1. GIDP - Tejada. Team LOB - 10.
BASERUNNING: SB - Giambi (2, 2nd base off Schourek/Hatteberg). CS - Henderson (12, 2nd base by Schourek/Hatteberg).
FIELDING: E - Hinch (7, drop foul).
BOSTON ab r h rbi bb so lob avg D Lewis cf 4 0 0 1 0 0 3 .271 John Valentin 3b 4 0 0 0 1 1 1 .260 Vaughn 1b 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 .332 N Garciaparra ss 4 1 1 1 0 1 3 .326 Oleary lf 4 1 1 1 0 0 3 .270 Stanley dh 4 0 1 0 0 0 3 .257 Bragg rf 3 1 2 0 1 0 0 .294 Hatteberg c 2 0 0 0 1 1 2 .280 a-Varitek ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .260 Sadler 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .244 b-Merced ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .278
Totals 34 3 8 3 3 3 17
a-singled for Hatteberg in the 9th; b-hit into fielder's choice for Sadler in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - Stanley (22, Candiotti). HR - N Garciaparra (27, 6th inning off Candiotti 0 on, 2 out); Oleary (21, 6th inning off Candiotti 0 on, 2 out). SF - D Lewis. RBI - N Garciaparra (102), Oleary (69), D Lewis (58). 2-out RBI - N Garciaparra, Oleary. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - D Lewis 2, Stanley 1, Hatteberg 1. Team LOB - 8.
FIELDING: DP: 1 (John Valentin-Sadler-Vaughn).
-------------------------------------------------- Oakland - 013 200 000 -- 6 Boston - 000 002 001 -- 3
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OAKLAND ip h r er bb so hr era Candiotti (W, 10-14) 6 6 2 2 2 2 2 4.52 Tj Mathews 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.37 Groom 1 2 1 1 1 1 0 4.59 Taylor (S, 27) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.16
BOSTON ip h r er bb so hr era Schourek (L, 0-3) 2 2/3 7 4 4 2 4 0 9.64 C Reyes 3 1/3 4 2 2 2 1 0 3.00 J Wasdin 3 2 0 0 1 1 0 4.98
Groom pitched to 2 batters in the 9th.
WP - C Reyes. IBB - Stairs (by J Wasdin). Pitches-strikes: Schourek 68-41; C Reyes 56-32; J Wasdin 52-33; Candiotti 95-59; Tj Mathews 11-7; Groom 25-14; Taylor 12-8. Ground balls-fly balls: Schourek 2-1; C Reyes 2-7; J Wasdin 5-3; Candiotti 10-6; Tj Mathews 1-2; Groom 1-1; Taylor 1-2. Batters faced: Schourek 15; C Reyes 16; J Wasdin 12; Candiotti 26; Tj Mathews 3; Groom 6; Taylor 3.
UMPIRES: HP--Rick Reed. 1B--Ed Hickox. 2B--John Shulock. 3B--Tim Tschida. T--3:06. Att--31,239. Weather: 80 degrees, clear. Wind: 5 mph, out to center.
How They ScoredOAKLAND (6) AT BOSTON (3) - HOW THEY SCORED
OAKLAND 2ND: Stairs struck out swinging. Blowers doubled to deep left center. Grieve walked. Spiezio singled to deep left, Blowers scored, Grieve to third. Tejada grounded into double play, third to second to first, Spiezio out at second. OAKLAND 1, BOSTON 0.
OAKLAND 3RD: Hinch doubled to shallow center. Henderson singled to shallow right, Hinch to third. Henderson caught stealing, catcher to second. Christenson struck out swinging. Giambi singled to shallow left, Hinch scored. Giambi stole second. Stairs doubled to deep center, Giambi scored. Blowers walked. Grieve singled to left, Stairs scored, Blowers to third. Grieve to second advancing on throw. Carlos Reyes relieved Pete Schourek. Spiezio flied out to left. OAKLAND 4, BOSTON 0.
OAKLAND 4TH: Tejada struck out swinging. Hinch singled to center. Hinch to second on C Reyes wild pitch. Henderson walked. Christenson walked, Hinch to third, Henderson to second. Giambi hit sacrifice fly to right center, Hinch scored, Henderson to third. Stairs singled to left, Henderson scored, Christenson to second. Blowers grounded out to third. OAKLAND 6, BOSTON 0.
BOSTON 6TH: John Valentin grounded out to first. Vaughn grounded out to third. N Garciaparra homered to left. Oleary homered to right center. Stanley doubled to deep left center. Bragg singled to left, Stanley to third. Hatteberg struck out swinging. OAKLAND 6, BOSTON 2.
BOSTON 9TH: Bragg walked. Varitek hit for Hatteberg. Varitek reached on infield single, Bragg to second. Bill Taylor relieved Buddy Groom. Merced hit for Sadler. Merced grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, Bragg to third, Varitek out at second. D Lewis hit sacrifice fly to right, Bragg scored. John Valentin flied out to center. OAKLAND 6, BOSTON 3.