Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez pitched the game of his life on Sunday against the A’s.
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With two out in the bottom of the eighth, Rodriguez stuck his foot out to block a comebacker from Marcus Semien up the middle and threw to first after searching for the ball.
Kimbrel (2-4) walked Valencia, the first batter he faced, before Davis hooked a shot toward the left field foul pole.
This marked a small victory for the last-place Athletics: They almost got no-hit for the first time in 2 1/2 decades, yet still held the mighty Boston Red Sox scoreless in their last matchup of the season after allowing 67 runs over the first five meetings. Semien was initially ruled out, but a replay review overturned the call and ended the no-hitter. But A’s manager Bob Melvin wasted no time in challenging the bang-bang play, and the replay showed Semien managed to beat the throw by a split second.
After scoring 27 runs in the first two games of the series, Sunday’s finale was a very different story for the Red Sox indeed. When he was giving up contact, it was often loud, but the Red Sox were hitting them straight at Athletics fielders, which has never proven the most effective of tactics.
Rick Porcello carried a ideal game into the sixth inning of an 11-2 victory Saturday. Rodriguez would then get Jake Smolinski to ground out to end the frame.
The last member of the Red Sox to toss a no-no was Jon Lester on May 19, 2008. Boring entered with two on and one out in the seventh and got Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts to hit fly-ball outs, and Madson pitched a scoreless ninth. Earlier in the game, Davis had gotten into a beef with home plate umpire Brian Knight after being called out on strikes, and he continued chirping at him from the dugout.
Oakland has not been held without a hit since four Orioles pitchers turned the trick on July 13, 1991 – the longest active streak in the majors. “He’s performing as well as he ever has”.
It was only the fifth time the Red Sox have been shut out this season, and it was a painful one, considering Rodriguez’s performance.
Oakland starter Kendall Graveman struck out seven in 6 1/3 sharp innings. They went 0-11 against Baltimore in 1978, 0-7 versus Cleveland in 1995 and 0-6 when facing the Indians in 1994.
“You know they’re going to put some good swings on you and today a couple of balls were hit hard right at people, and that helped us”, he said.
Davis appreciated Graveman hanging tough for everybody. “So I give him the credit”, Davis said.
Dustin Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in his second at-bat.
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“I definitely wanted to jump (Kimbrel) early because he’d just walked Danny, and I know he was just trying to get ahead, so I didn’t want to miss the first one”, Davis said. For the next out, Betts hustled down a liner by Billy Butler – another great play behind Rodriguez.
