Red Sox Squander Hot Streak Chance in 4-3 Loss to Athletics

The Boston Red Sox went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, hit into three double plays and stranded the tying runs in the eighth in a 4-3 loss to the Athletics on July 28 at Sutter Health Park. A club that had won 18 of 20 and owned a 10-game road winning streak left Sacramento with a series split after one more night of wasted chances.

Baseball turned cruel again for a team that had looked unstoppable. The same offense that thrived for weeks reverted to early-season form against a club that entered having lost 24 of 30.

Four of the First Five Reached, Then Nothing

The eighth inning laid it bare. Masataka Yoshida pinch-hit a leadoff single. Anthony Seigler followed with a pinch-hit walk. Four of the first five Red Sox batters reached base. It was the exact frame a team like the Athletics should have folded and the exact frame a surging Red Sox club should have seized.

Romy Gonzalez grounded into a double play. Three batters later Ceddanne Rafaela chased a pitch that looked outside the zone with the tying runs on base. The inning died. Boston had wasted six walks on the night. Not one scored.

• 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position
• Three double plays
• Six walks, zero of them scoring
• Only one run on the board entering the ninth in a park that plays lively

Connor Wong’s two-run homer in the ninth made it 4-3 and put the tying run at the plate. Seigler then flied out to the wall in center for the final out. The near-miss only sharpened the sting.

The final score and scoring summary show how close Boston stayed without ever quite breaking through.

A Skidding Club That Suddenly Looked Dangerous

Gage Jump, a 2024 second-round pick, threw six scoreless innings. He allowed three hits, walked four, struck out seven and generated 19 swings and misses. Tommy White went 4-for-4 and scored twice. Henry Bolte drove in the first run. Brian Serven, batting ninth, hit his first major-league home run since August 21, 2022, a two-run shot in the seventh that made it 3-0 and chased Jake Bennett.

The Athletics improved to 45-62. They had lost three straight and five of six entering the night. For one evening the bottom of their order and a rookie starter looked every bit the part of a team that could spoil a hot club’s road trip.

Boston’s own recent dominance made the result feel heavier. Fans on X called it one of the more frustrating losses in weeks precisely because losses had become rare. Three GIDPs and the Rafaela chase felt like a surrender of the night’s leverage.

The Empty Spot Where Mead Was Supposed to Hit

Curtis Mead’s absence loomed large. The newly acquired infielder suffered a fractured left wrist after HBP in his Red Sox debut the night before. Initial X-rays were negative. An MRI the next day confirmed the break. He headed back to Boston to see a hand specialist, with surgery still possible and a timeline unclear. Interim manager Chad Tracy called it tough on the player and the club.

The second spot in the lineup carried an average leverage index of 1.54. Gonzalez went hitless from it. There is no way to know whether Mead changes the outcome. The hole was real and the timing was poor after the club had just traded for him to add right-handed thump.

Nick Sogard was recalled from Triple-A Worcester but did not arrive in time for activation. The depth chart already looked thin. This made it thinner.

Why Bennett Stayed Out There for the Seventh

Bennett worked 6.1 innings and allowed three runs on six hits. Early velocity sat at 96 mph. It ticked down later. He has hit a wall past 75 pitches at times this year. Tracy still sent him back out. Serven made him pay.

The high-leverage arms had worked the night before. Tracy did not want them again in a game Boston trailed. The drop-off after Aroldis Chapman, Garrett Whitlock, Justin Slaten and the top tier remains steep. Ryan Watson later allowed the insurance run that became the difference after Wong’s homer.

That gap is exactly why the front office is shopping before the Aug. 3 deadline. The loss did not create the need. It underlined it in bright lights.

Pinch Hitters Nearly Salvaged the Night

Tracy’s late moves almost erased the deficit. The three studs belonged to the bench and the defensive replacements:

• Masataka Yoshida led off the eighth with a pinch-hit single
• Anthony Seigler drew a pinch-hit walk and later nearly tied it with a long fly to the wall
• Connor Wong, in for defense, hit the two-run bomb that made it a one-run game

The duds were clearer. Rafaela’s chase. Gonzalez’s hitless night and the costly double play. Watson’s eighth-inning run. The offense that could not buy a big hit for the first two and a half months of the season briefly resurfaced when the stakes were highest.

How Far the Sox Have Climbed, and What One Loss Costs

Context still favors Boston. They sat at 55-51, third in the AL East and seven games behind the Rays. The turnaround from 32-46 remains one of the storylines of the season. They had already tied the 15-game franchise-record streak earlier in the month and kept winning after it ended. A separate franchise-record win streak chase earlier showed how quickly momentum can build and how fragile it can feel when it stalls.

One loss does not erase the surge. It does cost a chance to pad the wild-card cushion and it ends the 10-game road winning streak on the first stop of a California trip that still includes the Dodgers. Rival executives say the Red Sox continue looking for a shortstop even after the Mead deal. Bullpen depth sits right beside that need.

Sandoval Takes the Ball With the Series Tied

Patrick Sandoval starts the series finale against Jacob Lopez. The bats have looked cold at stretches lately. A win restores some of the lost ground before the weekend. A loss leaves the trip open to more damage.

The Red Sox remain a different club from the one that sat 15½ games out in late June. Tuesday night simply reminded everyone that the old version can still show up for an inning or two when the lineup needs a hit most. The deadline clock is running. The Dodgers are next. One golden opportunity is already gone.