OAKLAND, Calif. _ Mark Canha opened the bottom of the 10th inning by lining a 2-0 pitch from Heath Hembree over the left field wall to give the Oakland A's a 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox Friday.
For Canha, who had doubled and tripled earlier in the evening, it was the second homer of the year as Oakland has won the first two games of the homestand after having gone 1-6 on the previous road trip.
The pitching win went to Ryan Dull, who pitched the top of the 10th. In all, the relievers pitched four scoreless innings and have thrown 21 consecutive scoreless innings at home dating back to May 7.
After Oakland starter Kendall Graveman left having allowed just a two-run homer to Mitch Moreland in his six innings, the A's bullpen took over and turned in some stellar work. Ryan Madson, Liam Hendriks and Santiago Casilla each pitched a scoreless inning to get the game through the top of the ninth.
The A's bats cooled considerably after Khris Davis' game-tying double off Chris Sale, who was 2-0 with a 1.60 ERA against the A's a year ago.
After getting Sale out of the game after seven innings, Oakland thought the night was over when Ryon Healy, matched up against Boston closer Craig Kimbrel, simply slaughtered a ball to center field. But the Red Sox's Jackie Bradley Jr. got his glove above the wall to keep the ball from carrying out, forcing extra innings with the game still tied at 2-2.
Graveman has had a good season to date, but not even he is beyond the spell Mitch Moreland has Oakland pitching. The A's starter pitched with runners in scoring position in the second and third inning without allowing a loud out.
But in the fourth with two out and a man on second, Moreland hit a monster shot to right field, good for a Boston 2-0 lead. Moreland only has four home runs this year, but two have come against the A's in the last two days.
And there's some history. He has 18 career homers against Oakland pitching, but is in double digits against just two other Major League teams, the Mariners at 13 and the Royals at 10.
For much of the early going those two runs seemed as if they would be enough. The A's put just two men on base against Sale, who came into the game with a 4-2 record and 2.15 ERA.
Healy delivered a one-out single in the fifth, however, and raced around to score when Canha lofted a fly ball down the right field line that hit fair and kicked into the corner for a one-out triple. The A's couldn't get the run home from third, however, and came out of the inning down 2-1.
An inning later, Rajai Davis opened with a single, took second on Jed Lowrie's hit and was able to score easily when Khris Davis whacked a double off the base of the wall in left-center. Lowrie held at third _ it would have been dicey at the plate _ and Sale came back to strike out Trevor Plouffe and Healy to keep the game tied at 2-all.
