Jackie Bradley Jr. Homers Twice, Red Sox Beat A's 13-3
BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox finished off a dazzling three-game demolition of the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night.
Sizzling Jackie Bradley Jr. hit two more home runs, and he drove in six runs for the second time in the series, and Dustin Pedroia also homered to power Boston to its third straight blowout of the A's, a 13-3 rout that ran Oakland's losing streak to five games.
The Red Sox, winners of four straight, remained percentage points behind the Baltimore Orioles for the American League East lead.
Boston reached double figures in runs in three consecutive games for the first time since running off four in a row at the Chicago White Sox from Aug. 24-26, 2007.
Bradley extended his hitting streak to 17 straight games and recorded his second career two-homer game. He drove in 13 runs in the series.
Christian Vazquez and Xander Bogaerts both collected three hits, Chris Young had a pair of doubles and Hanley Ramirez ripped a two-run double in the season-high 17-hit Red Sox attack. Boston ran up 40 runs on 48 hits in the three games.
It is the first time since 1999 and the seventh time in the last 100 years a team scored 13 runs three games in a row. The Red Sox have homered in 12 straight games and have 27 homers in the past 16 games.
The A's gave up at least 11 runs in four straight for the first time in Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland history. It is the third time they allowed double figures in four straight (1930, '99). They have been outscored 56-20 during their five-game losing skid.
The 1929 Philadelphia Phillies allowed at least 11 runs in six straight, and the A's joined the 1951 Pittsburgh Pirates, the 1986 Milwaukee Brewers and 2007 Astros as the only teams since with four in a row.
Boston starter Rick Porcello wasn't as good as he has been, but made it through 6 2/3 innings with the major run support and raised his record to 6-1 in seven starts. He allowed three runs on six hits.
Oakland starter Eric Surkamp, recalled to start the game, lasted 2 2/3 innings and dropped to 0-3 in five big league starts this year. He gave up four runs on four hits.
Just as they had done in the opener of the series, the A's scored first, taking a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a two-out RBI double by Yonder Alonso. Bradley wiped that with one swing, his three-run shot making it 3-1.
Khris Davis' two-out, two-run single tied the game in the third, but Young's second double untied it and chased Surkamp, who has a big-league ERA of 6.55 after his fifth start.
In the fourth, Pedroia, who walked, stole second and scored in the third, followed a Mookie Betts single with his sixth homer of the year, off righty Ryan Dull.
The A's loaded bases against Porcello with two out in the fifth, but Stephen Vogt grounded out on Porcello's 96th pitch to kill the threat.
In the bottom of the inning, Travis Shaw singled off reliever Marc Rzepczynski, stole second (no one covered) and took third on a Christian Vazquez single. Bradley then hit a deep fly to center that Billy Burns misjudged for an RBI double. Betts bounced the ball to shortstop Marcus Semien, who looked toward home and lost the play at first as another run scored -- but the A's challenged the call at first and won.
It didn't help -- as the Sox loaded the bases with two out and Ramirez doubled home two to make it 10-3.
NOTES: Maverick Schutte, a 6-year-old from Cheyenne, Wyo. with a congenital heart defect, threw out a ceremonial first pitch Wednesday. Ortiz sent a video message to Schutte on April 29, promising to hit a home run for him that night against the New York Yankees. Ortiz made good on his promise, homering in the eighth inning. Schutte accompanied Red Sox DH David Ortiz to batting practice before the game. ... A day after making six roster transactions, the banged-up A's made five more. They recalled LHP Eric Surkamp to start the series finale against the Red Sox and summoned longtime minor-league RHP Zach Neal from Nashville, placed INF Jed Lowrie (shin contusion) on the 15-day disabled list, moved 2B Eric Sogard from the 15- to the 60-day DL and optioned RHP Daniel Coulombe to Triple-A. Lowrie, who fouled ball off his leg Monday night, hit the DL for the ninth time. ... According to Baseball America, the Red Sox are being investigated by Major League Baseball for their 2015 signings in Venezuela, claiming they might have manipulated the system.