Right-hander Aaron Brooks completed a brilliant run through the Oakland Athletics' five-man starting rotation Monday night, throwing six shutout innings in a 7-0 win over the visiting Boston Red Sox in the opener of a four-game series.
Khris Davis, Ramon Laureano and Chad Pinder homered off Red Sox starter David Price (0-1), and Matt Chapman teed off against the Boston bullpen as the A's won for the fourth time in five games at home after an 0-2 start in Japan.
Brooks (1-0) followed in the footsteps of Mike Fiers, Marco Estrada, Brett Anderson and Frankie Montas, dominating a Red Sox team that had scored 24 runs in its season-opening, four-game series in Seattle.
Making just his 11th career start, the 28-year-old gave up a double to Xander Bogaerts and single to Mitch Moreland consecutively in the second inning. But he got a break when center fielder Laureano threw out Bogaerts at the plate on Moreland's hit, preserving a scoreless tie.
Davis led off the bottom of the second with his fifth home run of the season, and the A's were never caught after that.
Further cushioned by Laureano's first homer, a solo shot in the third inning, Brooks didn't allow a hit after the second, completing his six innings with just two hits and one walk given up. He struck out six.
The five Oakland starters each pitched six innings on the homestand, and only Montas allowed a single run. The cumulative ERA was 0.30.
The A's tacked on a pair of runs after Brooks' outing ended, with Pinder following a two-out walk by Mark Canha in the sixth with his first homer of the year, giving Oakland a 4-0 lead.
Chapman's second home run of the year leading off the eighth against Heath Hembree ignited a three-run uprising. Pinch-hitter Kendrys Morales and Pinder had RBI singles later in the inning.
Price, who struggled through a winless spring with a 9.45 ERA, was pulled after six innings, charged with four runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out nine.
Left-hander Ryan Buchter and righties Liam Hendriks, J.B. Wendelken and Fernando Rodney completed the A's second shutout of the season, giving up two hits and one walk in three innings.
Pinder finished with two hits and three RBIs for the A's, who won two of three from the Red Sox in an April home series last season.
After signing a six-year, $120 million extension earlier in the day, Bogaerts collected a double and a single for the Red Sox.
Oakland out-hit Boston 9-4.
--Field Level Media
Boston | Oakland | |
David Price | Player | Aaron Brooks |
Loss | W/L | Win |
6.0 | IP | 6.0 |
9 | Strikeouts | 6 |
5 | Hits | 2 |
6.00 | ERA | 0.00 |
Boston | Oakland | |
Xander Bogaerts | Player | Chad Pinder |
2 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 3 |
0 | HR | 1 |
3 | TB | 5 |
.667 | Avg | .500 |