A's 13, Red Sox 0
BOSTON - A miserable night at Fenway Park turned out to be truly miserable only for the home team Tuesday night.
With a blowing heavy mist cascading from the start of the game, the visiting Oakland A's ended a four-game losing streak with a rain-shortened 13-0 pasting of the Red Sox.
Seth Smith drove in three runs, two with his second homer of the season, and Crisp, John Jaso (three hits), Brandon Moss (also three) and Josh Reddick brought home two runs apiece to back the strong pitching of the seemingly ageless Bartolo Colon in the easy seven-inning win.
Colon, off to a 3-0 start (with a 2.42 ERA), yielded just three hits and struck out seven in seven innings. He struck out the side in the seventh.
The A's (13-8) scored six runs in a disastrous Boston third inning en route to chasing Alfredo Aceves (1-1), who gave up eight runs, seven earned, in 3 1/3 innings in suffering only the second loss by a Red Sox starter this season.
The tarp was called out onto the field before the Oakland eighth and the game was called after the mandatory 30 minutes.
Boston fell to 13-7 with the loss but remained in first place in the AL East.
"In appreciation" of their fans who braved the terrible elements, the Red Sox invited people with ticket stubs to Thursday night's game against Houston.
The A's batted .175 with 10 runs and 22 hits during their losing streak, but they struck for 13 hits and the 13 runs Tuesday night. They gave up 26 runs in the previous four games, nine to the Red Sox Monday.
With the heavy mist blowing across Fenway Park, the A's scored six runs, with three hits, three walks, two errors and two Aceves balks to break a scoreless tie.
Two walks and a single loaded the bases and Smith walked to drive in a run. Jed Lowrie struck out but Moss singled in two runs and Josh Donaldson made it 4-0 with a sacrifice fly, following the first balk. Josh Reddick then grounded one to the right of first baseman Mike Napoli, who speared the ball with a dive. But Aceves was late covering first and Reddick had a hit; and, meanwhile Moss rounded third and kept going. Aceves hastily threw home and threw it away, Reddick taking second.
The second balk moved Reddick to third and third baseman Will Middlebrooks then made a bad throw to first after fielding Chris Young's grounder; Napoli unable to come up with the throw as the sixth run scored.
Coco Crisp was called safe on what would have been a Dustin Pedroia throwing error to start the fourth, but the call was reversed; and John Jaso doubled and Smith hammered a two-run homer into the Red Sox bullpen to make it 8-0. When Lowrie singled up the middle, Aceves was gone and Steven Wright came on to make his major league debut.
Wright got a double play to get out of the fourth but gave up four in the fifth. An infield hit and two walks loaded the bases and Crisp doubled home two runs before Smith singled in two more.
NOTES: OF Casper Wells, acquired from Toronto for cash consideration, joined his new team Tuesday but could be gone by Sunday, when Yoenis Cespedes reruns from the disabled list. To make room for Wells, who pinch-hit on Monday, OF Michael Taylor was sent to the minors. Cespedes, out with left hand muscle strain, is hitting and will return Sunday, the first day he's eligible to come off the DL. He is likely to play minor league rehab games Friday and Saturday. He's kind of champing at the bit to get out of here right now and go play," said manager Bob Melvin. ... Red Sox DH David Ortiz, who played three straight days making his season debut after Achilles and heel trouble, got the night off in the cold and rain Thursday. ... RH John Lackey, on the disabled list with a right bicep strain, is on target to start Sunday against the Astros. He worked 3 2/3 effective innings in a Double-A rehab assignment Monday and will pitch Sunday if he has no troubles when he throws Thursday. ... Boston's Jon Lester brings a 3-0 record 1.73 ERA into Wednesday night's series finale, facing Brett Anderson (1-3, 5.95 ERA). Lester is 3-3 with a 4.15 ERA in 10 career outings against the A's, but has yielded two runs or less in five of the 10 starts.
