Red Sox rally and extend winning streak to five games with 4-3 victory over A's
BOSTON - Masataka Yoshida scored the tying run with good baserunning and then homered to give Boston the lead in the eighth inning to help the Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 4-3 on Sunday and head into the All-Star break on a five-game winning streak.
J.P. Sears took a no-hitter into the fifth for Oakland despite allowing an unearned run in the first thanks to one of three A's errors. Boston trailed 3-1 in the middle of the sixth before Adam Duvall hit a solo homer to lead off the bottom half, then Yoshida singled, stole second, took third on a bad throw from catcher Manny Piña and scored on Christian Arroyo's double to tie it.
Yoshida bounced one off the top of the Green Monster to make it 4-3 in the eighth - the only lead of the game for Boston. The Red Sox have won eight of their last nine games since falling a season-high 15 games back in the AL East. They remain in last place in the division, but head into the break just two games out of the wild-card race.
Brent Rooker had three hits for Oakland, including a 443-foot home run high off of the Green Monster light stanchion.
Chris Martin (3-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for the Red Sox, and Kenley Jansen - the lone Boston All-Star - pitched the ninth for his 19th save.
Ken Waldichuk (2-6) gave up Yoshida's homer.
HARD LUCK
Sears, who picked up his only victory of the season on June 11, took a no-hitter into the fifth inning and had a chance to snap a three-game losing streak when he was spotted to a 3-1 lead.
Sears did allow an unearned run to score in the first when leadoff hitter Rob Refsnyder walked, moved to second on a wild pitch, took third on a fielding error and scored on a shallow sacrifice fly to right.
In all, Sears gave up one unearned run on one hit, three walks, two hit batters and a wild pitch. He struck out four in five innings.
UP NEXT
Athletics: Host Minnesota to start a three-game series after the All-Star break.
Red Sox: Return from the break with three at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs.
