Martinez Tribune The website of the Martinez Tribune.
BY DANIEL GLUSKOTER
Nick Pivetta and two Boston relievers combined to shut out the Athletics 1-0 Sunday afternoon, winning a pitchers duel with James Kaprielian and helping the Red Sox take their three-game holiday weekend series at the Coliseum two games to one.
Pivetta (7-3, 4.09) threw a gem, limiting Oakland to a pair of hits in seven innings while striking out a season-high ten batters. Kaprielian (4-3, 2.84) was nearly as brilliant, also striking out a career-high ten in seven, but taking the hard luck loss after inducing Rafael Devers to ground into a double play in the sixth allowing Alex Verdugo to score the only run of the game two batters after he led off with a double.
Boston’s Nick Pivetta follows thru on a pitch during the Red Sox 1-0 win over the A’s Sunday afternoon.
“That’s just the type of player I want to be,” Kaprielian said. “You watch a lot of these frontline starters around the league, and even when they don’t have their best stuff they’re able to keep their guys in the game and at least give them a chance. I want to be that for this team. I want to be somebody these guys can rely on in a big game.”
The A’s made it interesting in the ninth, working Boston’s newly christened All-Star closer Matt Barnes for 33 pitches before he struck out Seth Brown stranding runners on first and third for his 19th save.
Earlier in the day, Matt Olson was named Oakland’s lone representative on the American League All-Star team. Olson, who will be making his first appearance in the mid-summer classic, is tied for fourth in the AL with 20 homers while leading the A’s with 53 RBI’s. While disappointed with the loss, Olson did express happiness with the news, “It’s definitely something you dream about as a little kid, being in the All-Star Game one day. It’s a special moment.”
With Houston completing a four-game sweep in Cleveland, the A’s fell 3.5 games behind the Astros in the AL West. The two teams open a three-game series at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday, with Chris Bassitt (9-2, 3.04) scheduled to face Framber Valdez (5-1, 2.18) in the opener.
“It’s a big series for us,” Athletics manager Melvin said. “We’ve been in first place for a lot of the year but they’ve been in first recently. It’s a good opportunity for us to catch up.”
GAME NOTES:
The loss ended an eight-game winning streak for the A’s on the Fourth of July, dropping them to 31-20 since moving to Oakland in 1968.
Matt Chapman’s first inning single extended his on base streak to 21 consecutive games.
Saturday’s walk-off win gave the A’s 90 in the Bob Melvin era, the most in the majors over that span.
The A’s finished the six-game homestand 2-4, going 1-2 against both Texas and Boston.
