And it's on to Game 5! Lee Barnard wasn't bad in Game 4 but that was a steep, steep uphill climb. Who goes for this one for the A's, surprise Opening Night guy Nate Lancaster or Rick Shelton? I think I'm going to go with the latter player. At the end of the day, you've got to go with the guys who got you there. Shelton's a 30 year old who led the league in losses last year with 17 and who even this year kind of played a little above his weight, with 5 walks allowed per 9 innings and 144 of them the entire season, which is 3 more than the total that caused him to lead the league in that category last year (he'd have led this year, too, but teammate Roberto Ortiz had 164). The Red Sox counter with 20 game winner and 2-time Cy Young Award winner Michael Pesco, who wasn't quite at his normal Cy levels but then, the man missed almost all of 1970; what more do you want?
It's clear skies today but a lot cooler than it's been so far, with the temperature at 51 degrees. The wind is also blowing in from right, presaging a pitchers' duel (watch this game end in another 11-10 debacle).
Top 1st: Michael Pesco wipes out Alex Vallejo on a 2-2 change. Israel Gaytan slaps the first ball in play of the game in between 2B Brian Long and 1B Mike Miller for a base hit. Pesco misses way inside with a 2-1 curve that Jeremy Dolak is just able to keep from going to the backstop. He recovers to strike out C Josh Lewis but Gaytan, running on the pitch, sneaks into second with his first steal of October! Chase Jones hits a high fly towards deep right but the wind gets under it and turns it into a routine fly out. 0-0.
Bottom 1st: Jon Glynn grounds out to 3B Chase Jones to lead things off for the Sox today. Brian Long also hits it to third and Jones handles that one, too. Mike Miller hits one towards short right field that Richard Berman is easily able to track down for the out. 0-0.
Top 2nd: Pesco walks Adam Groves on 4 pitches. Groves is lowkey a very dangerous mistake hitter and Pesco's not the only guy in the league to nibble against him. That's also Groves' second walk of the series. The A's as a whole are pretty good at not striking out: they had the 2nd fewest Ks as a team to these Red Sox. For pitchers who rely on the whiff for outs like Pesco, that can be pretty huge. On the other hand, the Red Sox have 4 Gold Glovers in their lineup, including the greatest gloveman at short of all time in Oniji Handa. In any case, Ray Hawkinson flies to right. Richard Berman hits a one-hopper to Handa, who has to go the looooooong way to first to retire him. Groves moves into scoring position with 2 out. Matt Evenson goes down on strikes to retire the side. 0-0.
Bottom 2nd: Tom Brown grounds out 6-3 to lead off the inning. Kristian Schneider works a 7-pitch at-bat into a walk, the 2nd already for Rick Shelton. Shelton does strike out Jun Kim; that's 2. Oniji Handa hits it into the air in short right-center and Richard Berman makes a long run to chase it down for out number 3. 0-0.
Top 3rd: Richard Shelton flies to short center. Vallejo hits it between 2B Brian Long and actual second base. Long snags it on the outfield grass and throws it to Mike Miller in time. Alex Vallejo's now just 1-12 this series and I'm starting to wonder if I should have just let David Mesa stay in. Nah. Israel Gaytan slaps one that hits the dirt in front of the plate and kind of dies. Jeremy Dolak scoops it up and throws him out by a step to retire the side. 0-0.
Bottom 3rd: Jeremy Dolak flies to left. Michael Pesco pulls a 3 hopper to Ray Hawkinson, who takes it to first base himself for the 2nd out. Jon Glynn skips one to 2B Israel Gaytan and that'll do it in the 3rd. 0-0.
Top 4th: Josh Lewis gets underneath a 2-2 curve and pops up to short CF and Jon Glynn. He's 1-19 for the series now. Chase Jones hits it to Oniji Handa at shortstop with predictable results (2 down). Adam Groves grounds out 5-3 to end the inning. 0-0.
Bottom 4th: The A's needed something special tonight if they were going to get past Michael Pesco. Is this it? Well, I'm not going to say it out loud because it's bad luck but there is a lack of some certain thing through 3. Shelton walks leadoff hitter Brian Long. Mike Miller hits one at 1B Ray Hawkinson, who shoots the ball to shortstop Matt Evenson covering 2nd base but he can't relay it to first for the DP so it goes as a 3-6 forceout. Brown flies to left. Kristian Schneider dribbles it to 1B Ray Hawkinson, who races to the bag in time for the final out. 0-0.
Top 5th: Ray Hawkinson slaps a line drive over the head of 3B Kristian Schneider... which he leaps up and grabs! Hawkinson hits a hard grounder to Oniji Handa, who... what is this? He drops the ball for an error! He committed just 14 of those in more than 1300 innings in 1971 for a .980 average. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Matt Evenson flies out to right field and Jun Kim. Oniji Handa takes another shot, this time from the pitcher Rick Shelton, and converts this one for the final out. So... the A's do reset the lineup so that's a thing. 0-0 and both teams have 1 hit between themselves at the halfway point.
Bottom 5th: Jun Kim hits a line drive on a 2-0 fastball just over the head of Matt Evenson at shortstop... but, like Kristian Schneider the inning before, he grabs for the out! There's no question about this one: Oniji Handa drops one down the left field line for an easy double, breaking up the NO HITTER and putting a runner into scoring position with less than 2 out. Jeremy Dolak smashes one in the ground to second base and this time it's the A's turn to bobble it. I guess the grass was extra dewy this morning. Dolak is safe at 2nd on the E-4 although Handa is unable to move up. It's a given that Pesco is staying in. He lays down a bunt back to the mound that I swear to god winds up as a fielders' choice to 3rd like 90% of the time it happens in late innings... but today, it's your bog-standard SH with both runners advancing and giving Jon Glynn a shot at coming through in the clutch. He's a .305 hitter with 2 outs this year but only .261 with runners in scoring position. 4-11 with runners on 2nd and 3rd though! Shelton strikes him out to retire the side. 0-0.
Top 6th: Top of the order due for the A's. Alex Vallejo pops out weakly to Schneider at 3rd. The other thing about Mesa is that he's also a lefty so there wasn't really a good choice for the platoon. The other choice would have been backup 1B/LF Dan Field (.240, 8, 47) but that would have meant doing something foolish like push Adam Groves into center. Gaytan K's; that's 4 strikeouts for Pesco now. Josh Lewis hits a line shot at Kristian Schneider, who makes a nice play to stab it for the final out of the inning. 0-0.
Bottom 6th: Brian Long leads off the 6th with a walk, Shelton's 3rd. You just get the feel that if the Red Sox make a couple of small adjustments, they can blow this game wide open. Mike Miller cracks one into right for the Sox' 2nd hit of the night. Brian Long, not exactly a speed demon, is able to get all the way to third base as the throw is cut off. Tom Brown flies to center, which doesn't look deep enough to bring Long home... except that he's running on it anyway and just beats the throw from Alex Vallejo! 1-0! The first pitch goes in low and away and Josh Lewis can't get to it. That was a catchable ball! The scoring booth agrees and calls it a passed ball. Mike Miller gets to 2nd and the A's lose the double play. Schneider walks unintentionally/intentionally, which makes some sense for this PA but it's also Shelton's 4th free pass. Jun Kim lines one into right but directly at Richard Berman for out #2. That brings up Handa, who's 7-17 for the series (.412) though he's yet to drive in a runner. He pounds one in front of the plate. Josh Lewis runs out to get it and Ray Hawkinson scoops up the low throw to retire the side. 1-0, Red Sox.
Top 7th: Chase Jones, #2 in the AL in HRs this year, hits a ball into right that gets held up by the wind and winds up being not even that deep for the first out. Pesco paints the inside corner and catches Adam Groves looking on a 1-2 cut fastball. Hawkinson grounds out easily to 2B Brian Long. 1-0, Red Sox.
Bottom 7th: Dolak hits one to 3B Chase Jones that he's able to pick up and throw 3 steps ahead of the runner for the out. Pesco's hurling a 1-hitter and is at 89 pitches through 7; needless to say, he's staying in. He flies out to CF Alex Vallejo. Jon Glynn, only 2-21 this series, whiffs to retire the side. 1-0, Red Sox.
Top 8th: Richard Berman hits a blooper into right that Tom Brown races in... and dives... and catches! That's out #1 and Berman kicks the dirt as he heads back to the dugout. Matt Evenson grounds to 2nd. With the bases empty and 2 outs and Rick Shelton pitching so well, I'm going to leave him in and take my chances in the 9th. He Ks and now the A's are down to one final inning to try and get something done. 1-0, Red Sox.
Bottom 8th: Brian Long flies to center. Rick Shelton by the way is sitting at 104 pitches. He completed only 6 of 36 starts in 1971 but that's primarily because he got himself in trouble with the bases on balls so much. When his control is there - which isn't necessarily the case today but isn't, like, not the case - he's more than able to finish what he started. Mike Miller singles past Matt Evenson. A league average SS would have gotten to that ball. Tom Brown drops one into right that's a single pretty much anywhere. Mike Miller cruises into 3rd on the play. Kristian Schneider, who's 3-19 for the series but a career .300 hitter against Shelton (in the regular season), works the count to full and then sends one deep to center. As it's already done a couple times, the wind pushes it back into fair territory but it's hit so deep that Mike Miller is able to tag up and score ahead of the Alex Vallejo throw. 2-0! Jun Kim grounds to Chase Jones, who goes to 2nd for the final out of the inning. 2-0, Red Sox.
Top 9th: This is it! The A's do get the top of the order here so there's that at least. Alex Vallejo hits a smash towards first - maybe his hardest hit ball of the series - but Mike Miller is able to get it over the bag and step on first for out #1. Israel Gaytan might be a PH opportunity... but the 24 year old hit .291 in the regular season and I don't think the A's actually have anyone better than that on the bench. He flies out and now, suddenly, it's up to Josh Lewis to break out of his slump... or is it? I'm going to bring in Kyle Kelver (.237, 6, 34), the former sort-of platoon mate for Ernesto Garcia in Cleveland, to take the cut here against the lefty Pesco. Kelver had a very disappointing season and lost the 1B job to Ray Hawkinson but this is what they hired him for. He grounds out towards the middle but also towards short and there's only so much you can expect a baseball to do when Oniji Handa is nearby. He throws to first in time for the out and it's over!
The Sox come back from a 2-1 deficit to win this one. Not gonna lie, I thought the A's were going to pull it out, if not in the last game than in the middle innings today. At the end of all of this, though, the fact of the matter is that the A's were never able to get through the Red Sox' starting pitching after the first game and now in retrospect it feels like they never really had a chance.