Red Sox vs Athletics: Blown Leads, Ejections & A 14th Inning Walk-Off
BOSTON (CBS/AP) -- J.D. Drew singled home Carl Crawford from second with two outs in the 14th inning Saturday, lifting the Boston Red Sox to a 9-8 win over the Oakland Athletics after closer Jonathan Papelbon blew a four-run lead in the ninth.
Crawford had four hits and drove in three runs and Adrian Gonzalez had a solo homer and three hits for the Red Sox, who posted their 15th win in 20 games.
Conor Jackson had a tying, pinch-hit two-run single in the ninth and a key double in the 11th as Oakland grabbed the lead, but Andrew Bailey couldn't hold it. The Athletics lost their fifth straight.
Alfredo Aceves (3-1) pitched four innings for the win.
Crawford doubled into the left-field corner against Guillermo Moscoso (2-1). After Jed Lowrie was intentionally walked, Drew lined a single to right-center to end the 5-hour, 17-minute game.
Landon Powell, who struck out four times and went 1 for 7, grounded out with runners on first and second to end the top of the 14th. After that, the crowd -- that was left -- cheered when `Take Me Out To The Ball Game' was played for a second time.
Oakland had taken an 8-7 lead in the 11th inning on Ryan Sweeney's sacrifice fly against Aceves. Cliff Pennington walked and Jackson doubled off the wall. Sweeney then lofted his fly to the left-field warning track.
Boston tied it with two outs in the bottom half. Jarrod Saltalamacchia doubled high off the left-field wall against Bailey and scored on Jacoby Ellsbury's double down the right-field line.
Oakland, which entered the day scoring the second-fewest runs in the AL, scored four runs in a wild ninth against Papelbon after second baseman Dustin Pedroia booted a potential game-ending double play grounder. Both catcher Jason Varitek and Papelbon were ejected by home plate umpire Tony Randazzo in the inning.
Mark Ellis singled leading off and Daric Barton walked. After Powell struck out, Pedroia had pinch-hitter Coco Crisp's grounder go through his legs, scoring a run. Pennington's RBI double made it 7-5 and Varitek was ejected while arguing during the hit.
Jackson then tied it with his two-run single. Papelbon was ejected after throwing the first pitch to the next hitter, Sweeney, and had to be restrained by manager Terry Francona. He appeared to bump Randazzo before being shoved out of the way by Francona.
Bobby Jenks got out of the inning when he struck out Hideki Matsui with runners on first and third with a pitch in the dirt that bounced away. Jackson would have scored from third on the play, but catcher Saltalamacchia fired to first just in time.
The Red Sox had opened a 5-2 lead against starter Trevor Cahill in the sixth inning on RBI hits by Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and Crawford.
Crawford's two-run double made it 7-3 in the eighth. The late blowup spoiled another solid start by Josh Beckett.
Beckett gave up three runs, four hits, walked three and fanned four over six-plus innings. It was just the third time in 12 starts that he's given up more than two runs.
Cahill, coming off his worst consecutive starts of the season, gave up five runs on eight hits, striking out eight and walking one. He had given up a combined eight runs --seven earned -- over 12 2-3 innings.
Gonzalez homered for Boston into the second row of the Green Monster seats in the first.
NOTES: Francona said before the game that RHP Clay Buchholz's next start may be moved back few days because the pitcher was worried about how his back felt in Friday's start. ... Red Sox RHP John Lackey is scheduled to start the series finale on Sunday in his return from the 15-day DL after being sidelined with strained right elbow. ... Oakland manager Bob Geren had said before the game that RHP Guillermo Moscoso, who worked 2 1-3 innings of scoreless relief in Friday's loss, was still expected to start on Tuesday at
Baltimore. That likely changed with his work Saturday. ... Boston SS Marco Scutaro, on the DL since May 8 with a strained left oblique, was expected to start a rehab stint with Triple-A Pawtucket on Saturday night againts Durham. The plan is for him to play short, second and DH over three games, in no particular order. "If he feels good, he'll join us in New York on Monday," Francona said. ... The game was originally scheduled for 7:10, but moved to 1:10 after an online fan vote earlier this week because the Bruins
were playing Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals on Saturday night. ... Matsui snapped a career-worst 0-for-19 slump with an 11th-inning single.
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