Red Sox 5 - 4 Athletics
Final/11
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Struggling A's return home to face Red Sox

May 11, 2015 - 2:43 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Oakland Athletics are back home after a lengthy sojourn and will begin a three-game series with the Boston Red Sox Monday.

The Athletics went 3-7 on their trip through Texas, Minnesota and Seattle, and are mired in a five-game slide.

Oakland suffered a 4-3 loss to the Mariners in Sunday's finale of a three-game series and Seattle ace Felix Hernandez passed 2,000 strikeouts in his career. He gave up two runs on five hits with a walk and six strikeouts in seven innings to stay undefeated over seven starts this season.

Marcus Semien hit a pair of solo home runs and Stephen Vogt also had a solo homer for the Athletics. Jesse Chavez allowed four runs on five hits while walking two and striking out seven to suffer the loss.

"It's Felix Hernandez -- he's going to do that to a lot of teams this year," Vogt said of Hernandez's dominant outing.

Scott Kazmir draws the start for the A's Monday and he is 2-1 with a 2.75 earned run average. Kazmir lost his last outing on May 6 at Minnesota and was roughed up for six runs in six innings.

Kazmir has made 27 career starts against Boston, going 9-8 with a 3.98 ERA.

The Red Sox lost two of three games in Toronto this weekend to start a 10-game road trip, but salvaged the set with the Blue Jays in Sunday's 6-3 triumph.

Mike Napoli crushed a three-run homer and Pablo Sandoval hit a two-run blast and scored twice for Boston, which halted a three-game slide and won for only the second time in nine tries.

"Four runs in the first certainly gives you a boost coming out," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "The biggest thing is maintaining the momentum."

Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz allowed just three runs on seven hits with three strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings, ending a string of four straight losing decisions.

Rick Porcello gets the call for the Red Sox Monday and is 3-2 with a 4.38 ERA in six starts. Porcello has won two straight starts and tossed seven shutout innings in a 2-0 win over Tampa Bay on May 5.

Porcello is aiming for a third straight win and is 4-5 with a 3.73 ERA in 11 career games (10 starts) against Oakland.

Boston and Oakland are meeting for the first time this season. The A's went 4-3 against the Red Sox last season.






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