Boston, MA – Bartolo Colon tossed a three-hit shutout as the Oakland Athletics routed the Boston Red Sox, 13-0, on Tuesday in a rain- shortened middle test of a three-game set at Fenway Park.
Colon (3-0) fanned seven and walked just one over seven stellar innings before rain forced the game to be stopped before the start of the eighth.
"If you're ever going to have someone on the mound on a night like tonight, it's a strike-thrower like Bartolo," A's manager Bob Melvin said of Colon. "He was the right man for the job tonight."
Seth Smith stroked a two-run home run and finished with three RBI, while Coco Crisp, John Jaso, Brandon Moss and Josh Reddick each plated a pair of runs for the A's, who pounded out 13 hits overall as they halted a four-game slide.
Alfredo Aceves (1-1) was tagged for eight runs -- seven earned -- on seven hits and four walks over 3 1/3 frames to absorb the loss, Boston's third in its last four games.
"The weather conditions weren't ideal, but to say that it was a major distraction, I don't know that we can go that far," Boston manager John Farrell said of his starter's poor outing.
Everything came unraveled for Aceves and the Red Sox in the third, as Eric Sogard and Jaso each worked walks around a Crisp single to load the bases with no outs.
Smith then earned a free pass to plate Sogard and after Aceves fanned Jed Lowrie, Moss scorched a single back up the middle to score Crisp and Jaso for a 3-0 lead.
Smith and Moss each advanced a base on Aceves' balk before Smith crossed the plate on Josh Donaldson's sacrifice fly to center.
Reddick followed with a sharp single to first that Mike Napoli made a diving stop on, but Aceves was late getting to the bag, allowing Moss to score as Aceves' throw to the plate sailed wide.
Reddick moved to second on the wild throw and found third on another Aceves' balk before scoring when Boston third baseman Will Middlebrooks' throw to first on a Chris Young grounder was off the mark.
The A's added to their lead in the fourth, as Jaso stroked a one-out double and Smith followed with a homer to right-center field for an 8-0 lead.
Aceves then served up a single to Lowrie before being removed in favor of Steven Wright, who induced a double-play groundout from Moss to end the frame.
Wright allowed a leadoff single to Donaldson in the fifth before Young and Sogard worked back-to-back one-out walks to load the bases for Crisp, who slapped a two-run double to left to push Oakland's lead to 10-0.
Jaso followed with a two-run single to right to make it 12-0 before Reddick added an RBI double in the sixth to account for the final margin.
Game Notes
Wright made his major league debut and allowed five runs on six hits and four walks while striking out four over 3 2/3 frames. He was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket following the game ... Oakland has taken nine of the last 10 meetings against Boston ... The A's went 6-for-15 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base ... Boston finished 0-for-3 with RISP and stranded four baserunners ... It was Colon's 33rd complete game and 10th career shutout.
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