Avoid the traffic... take the Ferry to Martha's Vineyard.
Avoid the traffic... take the Ferry to Martha's Vineyard.
BOSTON -- The Oakland A's came to Fenway Park last night with the most homers of any team in baseball, on a pace to eclipse the 1961 Yankees record of 240 in a season.
So deep and powerful are the A's that their No. 9 hitter, Mike Bordick, supplied a two-run blast in the seventh inning, snapping a 1-1 tie. They didn't need any power display from Mark McGwire or Terry Steinbach or Geronimo Berroa, their heavy hitters.
But the Red Sox, fourth in the American League in homers, flexed their home run muscle last and loudest.
Mo Vaughn drove a 1-and-0 pitch into the screen in left for a three-run homer in the eighth to lift the Sox to a 4-3 win over the A's.
"I was just looking to be aggressive," said Vaughn, who now has 36 homers. "I got the bat head out in the zone. I didn't want to top something (on the ground) and hit into a double play."
"I think Mo has been trying to do a little more than he has to lately," said Kevin Kennedy. "I think he feels with Jose (Canseco injured) and Kevin (Mitchell traded), he has to do it all. But when he's selective and lays off the bad pitches in the dirt, this is the type of hitter he is."
The victory moved the Sox to within two games of .500 (62-64) for the first time since April 3, when the Sox were 0-2. Boston is now 15-5 over the last 20 games, and their win, coupled with Chicago's loss, brought them to within 6 ½ games of the wild-card spot in the American League.
"The higher the situation," said Vaughn, "the higher you're going to be. We're getting closer and you want to go out and make things happen."
The Boston eighth began innocently enough when Jeff Frye hit a grounder off starter Willie Adams, Bordick gloved behind the second-base bag, but could not make a play on.
Tim Naehring followed with his third single of the night. Oakland manager Art Howe brought lefty Mike Mohler in to face Vaughn, but Vaughn crossed up the strategy by lifting Mohler's second pitch into the screen.
"What else can you say," said Kennedy of Vaughn. "He's going to surpass all of last year's numbers (when he earned MVP honors). He's the heart and soul of this club. I'm just glad to have him in the lineup every day."
Heathcliff Slocumb closed it out for his 21st save, and sixth in his last six chances.
Rich Garces, called up from Pawtucket earlier in the day, got credit for the victory with a scoreless eighth inning.
"I never thought we would be this close to .500," said a reflective Vaughn. "We've made it a respectable season. We didn't do it with any big trades, either. We scrapped and scraped and got ourselves back into this."
Until Bordick's two-run homer off Mike Maddux in the seventh, the two teams took turns squandering scoring chances.
In the third, fourth and fifth innings, the A's put a man on base with leadoff singles. But each time, Maddux immediately got the next Oakland batter to hit into a double-play, wiping out the leadoff hit.
Tony Batista singled to left to open the sixth, and looked sure to score when Jason Giambi hit a line drive ticketed for the right field corner. But Darren Bragg came racing across, sent himself airborne, and fully extended, grabbed the liner before a crash landing inches from the padded well near the foul pole.
The Sox had their chances, too. A two-out infield single by Lee Tinsley and a walk to Troy O'Leary gave them two on and two out in the second, but Frye hit a liner back to the box that Adams snared for the final out.
Naehring's leadoff single in the third was similarly wasted when Adams buzzed through the middle of the Sox lineup, striking out Vaughn, John Valentin, and Reggie Jefferson in succession.
The two teams had each pushed a run across in the first inning, then shut their offenses down for awhile.
For the A's, Batista drew a walk to start the game and promptly stole second.
Maddux struck out Jason Giambi for the first out, but Scott Brosius banged a double off The Wall, and Batista scored easily from second.
The Sox countered with a run in the bottom of the inning.
Frye hit a chopper behind the bag, and legged out an infield hit. Batista, the A's second baseman, thought he still had a chance to nab Frye, however, and sent a wild throw that got past McGwire at first, enabling Frye to take second on the error.
Naehring went down on strikes for the second out before the A's elected to intentionally walk Vaughn, with first base open. But Valentin's single through the shortstop hole into left scored Frye from second, tying the game.
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