BOSTON — Mookie Betts hit two home runs and a two-run triple, and the Boston Red Sox rolled past the Oakland Athletics 11-1 on Tuesday night.
The Red Sox, winners of five of their last six, pushed their American League East lead back to four games over the Yankees following New York’s loss to 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay.
Betts went 3 for 5 with six RBI. He’s driven in three runs or more in a team-high 11 games.
Betts became the first player in Red Sox history to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases in consecutive seasons. Betts had 31 home runs and 26 steals last season when he finished second in the AL MVP voting. He has 20 home runs and 24 steals this season. The only other Red Sox player with two 20-20 seasons is Jackie Jensen in 1954 and 1959.
The loss snapped a five-game win streak for the A’s, who scored 41 runs in a four-game sweep of the AL West-leading Houston Astros. They managed just one run and one hit off Eduardo Rodriguez (5-5), who struck out nine over six innings. It was Rodriguez’s first win in 12 starts since May 26.
In his second career start at Fenway Park, Sean Manaea (10-10) was pulled after giving up seven earned runs on 11 hits in 32/3 innings. Last season, he allowed eight runs over 22/3 innings in Boston.
The Red Sox scored at least nine runs for the third time in four games.
Boston blew the game open with a five-run second inning, getting RBI singles from Xander Bogaerts, Christian Vazquez and Dustin Pedroia before Betts cleared the bases with his triple.
NOTES
Infielder Eduardo Nunez Farrell will be out “at least another week,” Manager John Farrell said.
Nunez suffered a bruised right knee on a headfirst slide on Saturday and has experienced tightness and swelling. An MRI revealed a sprain, but it was “not MCL or ACL-related,” Farrell said.
The Red Sox are planning to play the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. this weekend as scheduled.
MLB moved the Rays’ home series against the Yankees this week to Citi Field in New York in anticipation of Hurricane Irma.
But Irma didn’t create as much damage as expected with the Caribbean taking the brunt of the storm.
The Tampa Bay Times’ Mark Topkin reports that the Rays met Tuesday afternoon and planned to return home for the series against the Red Sox.
They are, however, awaiting an official OK from the city, as officials continue to restore power to traffic lights near the stadium.
“Everything right now points to us going there,” Farrell said Tuesday.
“We haven’t been directed otherwise.”
— Staff and news service report
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