Red Sox Earn Sweep Over A's Behind Bats, Bullpen In 7-3 Win
BOSTON (CBS) -- The starting pitcher for the Red Sox lasted all of two innings on Wednesday afternoon at Fenway Park. That length of outing has generally spelled disaster for Boston this season. But not on this day.
The Red Sox got seven innings of work out of their bullpen after Hector Velazquez departed from the game, having thrown just two innings and allowing one run.
Marcus Walden pitched three scoreless innings, allowing one hit, before Brandon Workman pitched a clean sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, Boston tacked on three runs to increase their lead to 6-1 over the A's.
They'd go on to win 7-3, earning a series sweep over Oakland and returning the favor for the A's taking three of four from the Red Sox early in the season. Walden picked up the win for his work in relief.
Mitch Moreland got the scoring started for the Red Sox with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second, tying the game at 1-1. It was Moreland who later turned it into a 2-1 lead when he sent a solo home run to left-center field against Mike Fiers in the fourth.
Mookie Betts drove home Tzu-Wei Lin with a sacrifice fly in the fifth, before Lin and Andrew Benintendi delivered RBI hits to make it a 6-1 lead through six innings. A Christian Vazquez solo homer to left field in the eighth made it 7-1 in favor of Boston.
After Workman's sixth, the Red Sox got one scoreless inning each out of Colton Brewer and Heath Hembree. Tyler Thornburg pitched the ninth and allowed two runs before recording the final out.
With the win, the Red Sox improve to 14-17 overall, and they've now won five of their last seven games and eight of their last 12.
The Red Sox next get to work on Thursday in Chicago, kicking off a four-game series against the White Sox, before traveling to Baltimore for three games against the Orioles.
