The Athletics’ August slide showed no signs of slowing Friday night. This time, there was little suspense.
Boston scored five runs in the second inning and four more in the fourth, handing the A’s a 13-1 loss at Fenway Park. The defeat extended the Athletics’ losing streak to nine games and marked their fifth straight loss to the Red Sox.
The A’s fell to 45-71 and are 4-16 since the All-Star break. They also moved into a tie with the Angels for last place in the AL West.
Over almost immediately
Jack Perkins escaped the first inning without damage, but Boston overwhelmed him in the second.
Jarren Duran opened the scoring with a two-run homer. Anthony Seigler and Jake Rogers followed with doubles before Wilyer Abreu drove in two more with another double.
By the end of the inning, Boston led 5-0.
Perkins lasted three innings and allowed five runs on five hits. He walked three, struck out three and fell to 2-8 as his ERA climbed to 7.04.
Hayden Juenger replaced him in the fourth, but the game only got further away. Boston collected five hits and scored four more runs, while Juenger also committed a pickoff error.
Juenger was charged with four runs in one inning.
Soderstrom breaks through
The Athletics had almost nothing going offensively against Payton Tolle.
Tolle retired the first 12 batters and struck out nine of them. Then Tyler Soderstrom led off the fifth by driving a solo homer to right-center.
The 387-foot shot was Soderstrom’s 18th homer of the season. It also ended Tolle’s no-hit bid and accounted for the A’s only run.
Max Muncy singled in the sixth for their other hit.
Overall, the Athletics finished with two hits, no walks and 16 strikeouts. Tolle struck out 14 over six innings before Raymond Burgos retired all nine batters he faced across the final three frames.
Boston keeps piling on
Luis Medina provided one scoreless inning in the fifth, one of the few clean relief appearances of the night.
Boston added two runs against Scott Blewett in the sixth and two more in the seventh. The Red Sox finished with 15 hits and went 7-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
Blewett was charged with four runs, two earned, over 1 2/3 innings. José Suarez recorded the final out of the seventh.
Then Carlos Cortes moved from left field to the mound for the eighth. Cortes retired Boston in order on three fly balls, completing a scoreless inning on 12 pitches.
Another ugly stretch
The loss dropped the Athletics into a tie with the Angels at 45-71 for last place in the AL West. They also remain among the teams fighting to avoid the worst record in baseball.
Their current nine-game skid remains well short of the franchise record. The Philadelphia Athletics lost 20 consecutive games in 1916.
Still, the broader stretch has become increasingly difficult. The A’s finished July 5-19 and remain winless in August.
Change above the field
The loss came on the same day the Athletics announced a major change atop their baseball operations department. The organization and longtime general manager David Forst mutually agreed to part ways Friday, ending his 27-year run with the franchise.
Forst had served as general manager since after the 2015 season. During his tenure, the A’s reached the postseason three straight years from 2018 through 2020 and won the AL West in 2020.
Assistant general manager Dan Feinstein will serve as interim GM for the remainder of the season while the organization searches for a permanent replacement.
Up next
Gage Jump gets the ball Saturday as the Athletics try to stop the skid at Fenway Park.
The left-hander enters at 4-7 with a 4.59 ERA and 73 strikeouts. Boston counters with Jake Bennett, who is 7-4 with a 2.90 ERA and 50 strikeouts.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. PDT.
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Las Vegas Aces, Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
