Red Sox Use The Long Ball (Grand Slam, 3-Run HR) To Beat A's 9-6

The Red Sox probably won't be one of the American League leaders in home runs this season but tonight, they couldn't have asked for much more timely power. Mike Napoli hit a grand slam and Will Middlebrooks added a three-run shot as Boston beat Oakland 9-6 in the series opener at chilly Fenway Park.

Boston (13-6 overall, 9-4 home) had lost both games in a day-night doubleheader on Sunday to Kansas City so this was a nice way to bounce back against a quality opponent. The A's were swept in Tampa Bay last weekend so they have now lost four games in a row.

Felix Doubront (2-0) threw a career-high 113 pitches in 6.2 IP. He allowed three earned runs on three hits with eight strikeouts and five walks. Oakland (12-8 overall, 6-4 road) scored a pair of runs in the second inning on a wild pitch and former Red Sox great Josh Reddick's RBI single.

Napoli (who leads the AL with 25 RBIs, seriously) got the Red Sox on the board with an RBI double in the second then Middlebrooks crushed his homer (5th of the season) over the Monster in the fourth off A.J. Griffin (2-1). After Chris Young's sacrifice fly in the fifth, Napoli responded with his grand slam (fourth homer of the season) in the home half to end Griffin's night and Jarrod Saltalamacchia added an RBI double for the 9-3 lead.

Boston appeared to be on their way to an easy win but Clayton Mortensen allowed a two-run double to Josh Donaldson in the eighth and Reddick chased him with an RBI double of his own. This meant that Junichi Tazawa had to come in and get the last two outs of the eighth (no problem) for his fifth hold of the season. Working his third day in a row (meaning that he won't possibly be available tomorrow), closer Andrew Bailey pitched a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts for his fourth save of the season.

If the rain holds off enough to play a baseball game, Alfredo Aceves (1-0) is scheduled to face Bartolo Colon (2-0) tomorrow night (6:35 p.m., NESN). The game-time temperature was 45 tonight and it's expected to be even colder tomorrow with rain all day.

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Red Sox West Coast Tour Of Pain Continues, A's Win Their 8th Straight Game

Who would have ever thought that Oakland would be playoff contenders in 2012? However, the more time goes by, we realize that they are legit and after a long drought (six years), Billy Beane has constructed another dangerous winner.

The A's (75-57, 41-27 home) easily dismissed the Red Sox (62-72, 30-34 away) 7-1 tonight at O.co Coliseum. Boston has now lost five in a row, all in California while Oakland has won eight straight games.

Rookie A.J. Griffin (4-0) was excellent, he went seven innings and allowed one earned run on three hits with five strikeouts and no walks. Pat Neshek wrapped it up with two scoreless frames as Boston managed only four total hits.

Felix Doubront's (10-7) promising season like everything associated with this team has quickly grown sour and for his sake, I hope the Red Sox shut him down before he does more damage to his confidence. He is a key piece in the future. He was gone after three innings, he was knocked around for five earned runs on six hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

He didn't go deep along with the three other former Red Sox (Brandon Moss, Josh Reddick, George Kottaras) last night so Coco Crisp blasted a solo homer (10th of the season) to lead off the home half of the first inning this evening. Yoenis Cespedes (2 runs, 2 stolen bases) and Derek Norris had RBI singles in the third sandwiched around a two-run double from Brandon Inge (who later hurt his shoulder; he's probably done for the season).

Norris added another RBI single in the fifth before Dustin Pedroia's RBI single cut it to 6-1 in the sixth. Chris Carter's solo homer (his 13th of the season) in the seventh made it 7-1.

The A's go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon (4:05 p.m., NESN) as Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-3) takes on Brett Anderson (2-0). I've already started to tune out since today was the first college football Saturday of 2012 and t-minus one week until NFL Week 1 next Sunday.

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