Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Oakland 3, Boston 2
When: 10:05 PM ET, Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Where: O.co Coliseum, Oakland, California
Temperature: 65°
Umpires: Home - Brian O'Nora, 1B - Jordan Baker, 2B - Chad Fairchild, 3B - Alfonso Marquez
Attendance: 35067

Athletics 3, Red Sox 2:
Coco Crisp homered on the first at-bat and hit a walk-off sacrifice fly on the last at-bat as host Oakland came from behind to stun Boston.

The Athletics put a pair of runners on with one out in the ninth inning and sent Brandon Moss up to pinch hit. Boston closer Alfredo Aceves (0-6) got the left-handed hitter down 0-2 but could not get a changeup out of the zone. Moss sent it into center for an RBI single, knotting the contest at 2-2.

Center fielder Ryan Kalish, who was thrown out attempting to steal to end the top of the ninth, bobbled the ball, allowing the runner to move up to second and third on the error. Crisp followed and sent a fly ball to deep center, easily scoring Cliff Pennington from third.

Jerry Blevins (2-0) got credit for the win in relief.

The bullpen meltdown squandered a strong start by Jon Lester, who struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings and left with a 2-1 lead.

Lester’s lone blemish came on the first batter, when Crisp sent his third home run out to left for a 1-0 edge.

Bartolo Colon (6-8) was nearly as sharp for the Athletics, but ran into trouble in the second. The burly right-hander left a 2-1 changeup over the plate to Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who belted the offering into the right field bleachers for his 16th home run, matching a career high.

Boston grabbed the lead on an unearned run in the fourth. With two outs and runners at the corners, Saltalamacchia smashed a grounder to first that Chris Carter could not handle. David Ortiz easily crossed with the go-ahead run.

The Red Sox have had three walk-off losses on the current road trip.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Red Sox reached a contract termination agreement with RHP Bobby Jenks and placed him on unconditional waivers. … Boston placed RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka (neck) on the 15-day disabled list and recalled 1B Mauro Gomez from Class AAA Pawtucket. … Oakland designated LHP Brian Fuentes for assignment. … The A’s have allowed two runs or fewer in 12 of their last 19 games.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Boston   Oakland
Jon Lester Player Bartolo Colon
No Decision W/L No Decision
6.2 IP 6.0
9 Strikeouts 3
4 Hits 5
1.35 ERA 1.50
Hitting
Boston   Oakland
Adrian Gonzalez Player Kurt Suzuki
2 Hits 2
0 RBI 0
0 HR 0
2 TB 2
.500 Avg .667
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Boston 7 1 10 .219 17 6 1 4 1 1
Oakland 9 1 12 .273 14 12 3 2 0 1