The Boston Red Sox officially have won their first series at Fenway Park in 2019.
Boston completed its first series win with a sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field earlier in April, and took its second game against the Oakland Athletics 5-1 on Tuesday night at Fenway Park.
Rick Porcello was marvelous, tossing eight shutout innings with just two hits, two walks and eight strikeouts. The righty did not allow a runner past second base and was in control all night.
Tyler Thornburg gave up the lone Oakland run in the ninth on a solo home run to break up the shutout bid, but that’s as close as the A’s would come.
Mookie Betts and Mitch Moreland each homered in the win, while Rafael Devers and Sandy Leon also drove in runs for the Red Sox.
With the win, the Red Sox climbed to 13-17, while the Athletics dropped to 14-18.
Here’s how it all went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Dominant.
Porcello was sharp and the offense came up big with five runs (two home runs) in the win.
ON THE BUMP
— Porcello started strong with a 1-2-3 first inning before working around a single and walk to get out of a jam in the third inning.
The right-hander continued his strong outing with a 1-2-3 fourth with two strikeouts and worked his way around a two-out double with his seventh strikeout of the night.
Porcello was dealing all night, giving up a single in the third and a double in the fifth and giving the bullpen a rest after tossing eight shutout innings.
— Thornburg gave up a leadoff solo home run to Robbie Grossman to put the A’s on the board in the ninth.
Robbie's not going down without a fight 👊#RootedInOakland pic.twitter.com/OZZ0mrsNla
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) May 1, 2019
The right-hander surrendered a one-out walk, but got Stephen Piscotty to strike out swinging before getting Kendrys Morales to ground out to end the game.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— It didn’t take long for the Red Sox to get on the board when Betts sent a solo shot into the center-field seats for an early 1-0 lead in the first.
There he goes again… 🔥 pic.twitter.com/OzdAhctQxy
— Red Sox (@RedSox) April 30, 2019
— Boston extended its lead the following inning when Michael Chavis hit a one-out single and Moreland drew a walk. Jackie Bradley Jr. grounded into a fielder’s choice to move Chavis to third before Leon smacked a single to right to double the advantage 2-0.
— Moreland added some insurance in the fourth for the Sox when Chavis beat out an infield single, paving the way for his teammate to hit a two-run shot to center for the 4-0 edge.
Mitch taking his eighth trip around the bases this season. pic.twitter.com/7q2kmspweB
— NESN (@NESN) May 1, 2019
— The runs kept coming for the Sox when Ramon Laureano made a costly error on a ball hit by J.D. Martinez that landed him at second. Xander Bogaerts drew a walk before Devers torched a double down the right field line to plate Martinez and make it 5-0.
— Betts and Chavis each had two hits for Boston, while Devers, Moreland and Leon each had one. Martinez, Andrew Benintendi, Xander Bogaerts and Bradley went hitless.
TWEET OF THE GAME
Mookie Betts: Good at baseball.
Fewest games needed to reach 500 runs scored (active players):
1. Albert Pujols – 629
2. MOOKIE BETTS – 674 (tonight)
3. Mike Trout – 690Prior to Betts, the last Red Sox to score 500 runs within their first 700 games were Nomar Garciaparra, Johnny Pesky, and Ted Williams.
— J.P. Long (@SoxNotes) April 30, 2019
UP NEXT
The Red Sox close out their three-game set with the A’s on Wednesday afternoon when they send Hector Velazquez to the mound. First pitch from Fenway Park is set for 1:05 p.m. ET.
