April 20, 2018: Red Sox improve their record to 17-2 with win at Oakland

With their 7-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on April 20, 2018, the Boston Red Sox improved their season record to 17-2 – the best start in franchise history. It was their eighth win in a row, with only one intervening loss following a prior nine-game winning streak.

The Red Sox had lost on Opening Day to the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-4. They had then won their next nine games, dropped one home game to the New York Yankees on April 11 and then won eight more in succession, including this game to open a three-game weekend series in Oakland.

From April 17 to 19, they had outscored the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, 27-3. It wasn’t as though the Angels were a weak team. They had been 13-3 before the Red Sox came to town and had outscored their opponents, 103-55. They had the major leagues’ best runs differential to that point – plus-48 runs. But Boston rolled over them, 10-9, 9-0, and 8-2. The Red Sox hit 11 homers in the three games, only the third time in franchise history they’d hit more than 10 home runs in a three-game set.1

The Athletics had started slowly, but had improved to 9-10, and were riding a four-game winning streak.  

For the first game at the Coliseum in Oakland, manager Bob Melvin’s Athletics started right-hander Kendall Graveman. The 27-year-old Graveman didn’t appear to be an imposing opponent; he was 0-3 with a 9.87 ERA. He got through the first inning, giving up only a two-out single to Hanley Ramírez, who was promptly thrown out trying to steal second.

Alex Cora and the Red Sox countered with Drew Pomeranz, a left-hander in his first appearance of the season. He had strained his forearm in spring training; this was his first game after being reactivated.

The A’s got to Pomeranz for three first-inning runs. With one out, right fielder Steven Piscotty walked and second baseman Jed Lowrie slapped a double into the right-field corner, driving in Piscotty. Pomeranz struck out the next two batters, but when third baseman Matt Chapman swung at strike three, the pitch hit the dirt and went wild and, instead of the inning being over, Chapman reached first base. Matt Olson singled to left, driving in Lowrie, and Mark Canha singled to right, driving in Chapman.2 Pomeranz had thrown 45 pitches in the first inning.

The Red Sox matched those three runs in the top of the second, likewise all after making the first out. Rafael Devers dropped a single into the opposite field in left. Eduardo Núñez hit a single past Chapman, fielded by shortstop Marcus Semien, who was unable to make a play. On a 2-and-2 count, Jackie Bradley Jr. tied it up with a three-run homer several rows deep and over the 388-foot mark on the right-center-field fence.

The Athletics got two on base in the bottom of the second but could not score. Pomeranz struck out the side in the third. Graveman struck out three of the Red Sox batters he faced in the third and fourth innings. Indeed, after Bradley’s home run, he retired 11 batters in a row.

In the bottom of the fourth, Oakland’s Chad Pinder doubled over Bradley’s head in center field but Pomeranz retired the next two Athletics. Cora then called on reliever Héctor Velázquez to pitch to Piscotty, who lined out to short.

Lowrie led off the A’s fifth with his third hit of the game, a single off Velázquez, but a double play cleared the bases. A Chapman single followed, but then Olson lined out. The score remained tied 3-3 through five.

Graveman, though, gave up three consecutive singles to Boston batters in the top of the sixth inning. Mookie Betts led off skipping a single between third and short and into left. Andrew Benintendi followed with another single to left, and Hanley Ramírez also singled to left. This loaded the bases and prompted Melvin to call in Emilio Pagán from the bullpen. First baseman Mitch Moreland was due up; he had struck out and grounded out.

Swinging at the first pitch from Pagán, Moreland hit it to straightaway right field, over the scoreboard, above the high wall, and several rows deep into the seats. It was a grand slam and broke the 3-3 tie, giving the Red Sox a four-run lead.

Pagán then got three of the next four batters to make outs, interrupted only by a double to center by Núñez.3

The A’s picked up a single in the bottom of the sixth, but no more.

Josh Lucas – appearing in his first game for Oakland – took over from Pagán and faced three batters in the top of the seventh. Brock Holt hit a leadoff single, Betts grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, and Benintendi flied out to left.4

With one out in the A’s seventh, Lowrie collected his fourth hit of the evening, a double that bounced all the way to the wall in right-center.5 Velázquez hit the next batter, then struck out Chapman. Brian Johnson came on in relief to face Olson, who singled to Núñez, playing a very deep second base. That loaded the bases. Cora made another switch, and summoned Matt Barnes to try to get an out from pinch-hitter Matt Joyce. It took him seven pitches, but he struck out Joyce swinging on a 94-MPH fastball.

The score remained 7-3. Boston’s two homers had accounted for all seven of their runs.

Lucas faced three Red Sox in the top of the eighth and got them all out. Barnes faced three Athletics in the bottom of the eighth and also got three outs.

Lucas returned to the mound in the ninth, looking to prevent Boston from adding any insurance runs. Núñez singled and Bradley walked, but Lucas got catcher Christian Vázquez to hit into a 5-4-3 double play and then Holt to ground out, third to first.

The Red Sox still had a four-run cushion. Joe Kelly came on to close. Piscotty grounded out, 4-3. Lowrie finally failed to get on base, though it was on a fly ball hit to deep center. Kelly then struck out Khris Davis.

A’s manager Melvin expressed positive feelings about a new windup Graveman had unveiled. “I thought he threw as well as we’ve seen him throw all year,” Melvin said. “I thought this was his best outing. He mixed his pitches better, he kept them off balance.”6

The Red Sox were averaging more than six runs per game. The first six in this game were all charged to Gravemen, but Melvin added, “We’re swinging the bats pretty well, too, hopefully we can slow them down a little bit. But right now they certainly look like the class of the American League.”7

The Red Sox did indeed improve to 17-2 on the season, though they were humbled the very next evening when Oakland left-hander Sean Manaea went up against Chris Sale – and threw a no-hitter, facing just three batters over the minimum.8 Oakland won, 3-0. It was the first time the Red Sox had been no-hit in 25 years, since Chris Bosio of the Milwaukee Brewers held them hitless on April 22, 1993.

Boston lost its next two games, too, and was a pedestrian 13-13 over the next 26 games, before getting back on track. The three-game losing streak was the Red Sox’ longest of the season (matched three other times) and they finished 2018 with a 108-54 record. They cruised through the playoffs, losing only one game in each of the three rounds for an 11-3 postseason record – and a World Series championship.9

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Carl Riechers and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Mitch Moreland, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK201804200.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2018/B04200OAK2018.htm

A condensed version of the game is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xCDwjZZ93I

Thanks to Giselle Stancic for supplying Bay Area newspaper accounts.

Notes

1 Peter Abraham, “Angels Were No Match for Sox,” Boston Globe, April 21, 2018: C 1.

2 It was Matt Chapman jersey giveaway night at the Coliseum.

3 After the game, Pagán said, “It was terrible pitch. When you make that kind of pitch in that situation, that’s one they’re going to jump on. It’s a shame because I thought Kendall threw a great game and if I did my job, his box score looks a lot better and we probably come out on top. It’s just frustrating. One pitch each of my last few outings has kind of crushed me.” Martin Gallegos, “Change Is Bad,” San Jose (California) Mercury News, April 21, 2018: C1.

4 Lucas pitched three scoreless innings. He had appeared in five games for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2017. He pitched in several other games for the A’s, then in nine games for Baltimore in 2019. He never had a win or loss in his major-league career, finishing with a 5.54 ERA.

5 Lowrie’s 32 hits and 22 RBIs led the major leagues.

6 Susan Slusser, “Another Rough Start for Kendall Graveman, Boston Ends A’s Winning Streak,” San Franciso Chronicle, April 20, 2018, https://www.sfchronicle.com/athletics/article/Another-rough-start-for-Kendall-Graveman-Boston-12853084.php.

7 Susan Slusser, “A’s Stephen Piscotty Moved Up against Red-Hot Red Sox,” San Franciso Chronicle, April 20, 2018, https://www.sfchronicle.com/athletics/article/A-s-Stephen-Piscotty-moved-up-against-red-hot-12852691.php.

8 Manaea walked Betts to begin the game and Benintendi with two outs in the ninth inning. The Red Sox had another baserunner on a Semien error.

9 Oakland made the postseason, too, finishing second in the AL West and playing the New York Yankees in the AL Wild Card Game, which they lost, 7-2. It was their 11th trip to the postseason since they last won the World Series, sweeping the San Francisco Giants in 1989.