A Golden Chance Lost
The Red Sox had a massive opening to keep their hot streak alive. They entered the game having won 23 of their last 27 contests. The opponent, the Oakland Athletics, had lost 24 of their last 30 games. Per Over the Monster, this was exactly the type of game Boston should have won. Instead, they suffered a 4-3 loss in Sacramento that feels like a step backward. The team reverts to their early-season bad habits when it matters most. During this defeat, they managed only 1-9 with runners in scoring position. Six walks were wasted without a single runner crossing home plate.
That’s just not good enough.
When you’re 23-4 over your last 27 games, you don’t let a .333 team in Oakland walk all over you. It’s frustrating because the script was so clear: crush the weak opponent, build momentum, and keep rolling. But here’s the thing—they didn’t just lose; they choked. They managed only 1-9 with runners in scoring position. Six walks were wasted without a single runner crossing home plate. That’s the kind of inefficiency that makes a coach want to throw the clipboard. How do you sit there and watch six baserunners get stranded when your lineup has been humming for a month?
The Eighth-Inning Disaster
The game turned sour in the eighth inning with runners on base. Ceddanne Rafaela played the hero earlier with a grand slam to drive in all Red Sox runs. Nevertheless, he subsequently swung at a pitch possibly located outside the strike zone. This at-bat capped an extremely lamentable eighth inning for the Boston lineup. Three batters before that, Romy Gonzalez grounded into a double play. That play was not as infuriating but proved every bit as costly. Four of the first five batters in the frame reached base safely. The A’s team should have blown the game in that specific frame. The Red Sox should have closed it out given their recent form.
Wait, let’s look at the numbers again.
The A’s team should have blown the game in that specific frame. The Red Sox should have closed it out given their recent form. (Remember, they’re 23-4 over their last 27 games going into this mess.)
Four guys reached base. Four! And the inning just… stalled. It wasn’t a strikeout fest; it was a comedy of errors. Rafaela’s swing was the nail in the coffin, sure, but the damage was done before he even stepped in. Gonzalez grounding into that double play killed the rhythm. You can’t let a team that’s lost 24 of their last 30 walk out with a win because your own guys can’t finish the job. It’s like watching a UGA defense give up a field goal in the end zone when they’ve been shutting everyone else down. Just painful.
Lineup and Bullpen Questions
There are serious questions about the lineup and pitching decisions made by the coaching staff. Chad Tracy let Jake Bennett pitch the seventh inning, a move that invites second-guessing. Bennett gave up a home run to Brian Serven, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 3-0 hole. By launching his first home run in the major leagues in four years, Serven made things worse. The argument against Tracy is that Bennett tends to hit a wall after 75 pitches. His velocity dropped from an impressive 96 mph to several ticks off that mark. The team also missed having Curtis Mead in the lineup with his bat in the second spot. That spot had an average leverage index of 1.54, and Romy Gonzalez went hitless from it.
The drop-off in the bullpen is now a glaring issue for the front office. There is such a drop-off between the Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten, and Guerrero group and everyone else. The team needs more bullpen depth on their shopping list before the trade deadline. This loss underscores why they cannot rely on the current bench options. The group that could not buy a hit for months is showing up again. They hit into three double plays and only had one run on the board going into the ninth. This was a game they needed to win to build real momentum.
What do you think about Chad Tracy’s pitching changes in that seventh inning? Should they have pulled Bennett earlier? Tell us your take in the comments below.
