Eric Chavez ended the Boston Red Sox (37-19) night much like Alex Rodriguez did yesterday only Chavez (8) got to walk-off with this one in the bottom of the 11th inning.
Kyle Snyder gave up the bottom of the 11th homerun with two outs in the inning to Chavez picking up the loss in a game.
The Sox battled to catch Oakland all night and tied it in the ninth inning only to lose to the Athletics (29-27) in extra frames.
Jason Varitek hit a weak flare for a RBI single in the ninth to make it 4-3 and Wily Mo Pena added another RBI single that tied the game up at 4-4 against makeshift closer and former Red Sox player Alan Embree.
Pena also homered in the seventh to inch the game closer for the Red Sox to a score of 3-2.
The comeback completed, the Sox had to finish the bottom half of the inning. It was a drama filled inning finished on a bases loaded double-play to force extra innings.
A 5-2-3 double-play ended the ninth for the Athletics and allowed the Red Sox to escape out of the jam.
David Ortiz had a chance to win it in the top of the tenth but his double fell just short. Ortiz ripped a double off of Ron Flores that hit the top of the wall but with a good relay Dustin Pedroia was thrown out at home about 10 feet away from the plate.
Ortiz just missed a homerun by a few feet that would have made it 6-4 if it left the yard.
Throughout all the Red Sox drama Mark Ellis was attempting to hit for the cycle.
Ellis tripled in the bottom of the second, homered in the fourth, and doubled in the sixth to pick up three of the four hits needed for the cycle.
Extra innings gave Ellis the “second chance” and Ellis came through with a single off of J.C. Romero in the bottom of the 10th to complete the cycle. This was the first cycle against the Red Sox since 1978.
Notes
The Boston Red Sox have lost four out of their last five.
Julian Tavarez went 5 2/3 innings, on nine hits, three earned runs, two walks, three strikeouts, and one homerun.
Tavarez threw 107 pitches in the outing.
Daisuke Matsuzaka (7-3, 4.83 ERA) will face Lenny Dinardo (1-2, 1.80 ERA) tomorrow at 10:05 p.m. ET.
