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A's crush Red Sox, 20-2

Sep 1, 2012 - 5:46 AM Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - George Kottaras smashed a pair of home runs and finished with five RBI as the Oakland Athletics routed the Boston Red Sox, 20-2, in the opener of a three-game series at the Coliseum.

Brandon Moss went 4-for-5 with a two-run homer and four RBI, Josh Reddick blasted a grand slam, and Josh Donaldson also clobbered a two-run home run.

Jonny Gomes drove in a pair of runs and scored twice for the A's, who have won seven straight games. Stephen Drew and Cliff Pennington also had RBI in the blowout.

Brandon McCarthy (8-5) earned his second consecutive win with 6 1/3 solid innings on the mound. He allowed two runs on eight hits and no walks with one strikeout.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia clubbed a solo homer and Mauro Gonzalez added an RBI for the sliding Red Sox, who have lost four in a row and nine of their last 12 games.

Aaron Cook (3-8) started for the Red Sox, but lasted just 2 2/3 innings as he was hammered for six runs on seven hits.

Oakland jumped on top early, plating four runs in the second inning. Yoenis Cespedes started the frame with a single and came around to score on a double by Moss for the first run of the game. Gomes singled in Moss and Donaldson capped the big inning with a two-run shot off the concrete beyond the center field wall.

Reddick ripped a one-out double in the third and scored on a double by Moss. Gomes followed with a base hit up the middle, extending the A's lead to 6-0 and sending Cook to the clubhouse for the night.

Saltalamacchia got the Red Sox on the board in the fourth with a monster shot into the right field seats off McCarthy, making it 6-1.

The A's, though, widened the advantage to 8-1 in the fifth when Moss turned on a fastball from Alfredo Aceves and yanked it into the upper deck down the right field line.

Kottaras added to the rout in the sixth as he took Daniel Bard deep over the wall in right for his second home run in an Oakland uniform.

Gomez brought home Pedro Ciriaco with a groundout in the seventh, but the A's added to the blowout in the home half, putting up nine more runs.

Cespedes and Moss singled before Gomes walked to load the bases and Donaldson reached on an error by Gomez, which allowed Cespedes to score. Kottaras then plated Moss and Gomes with a single to right field.

Pennington doubled home pinch-runner Adam Rosales and Coco Crisp walked to load the bases and Drew singled in Kottaras before Reddick rubbed salt in the wounds of his former team by smashing a curveball from Mark Melancon over the wall in right.

Rosales pulled a one-out double down the line in right in the eighth and Kottaras capped the rout after taking Vicente Padilla over the right field fence for his second long ball of the game.

Game Notes

The A's scored 20 runs in a game for the fourth time in franchise history, and second time against the Boston Red Sox. Oakland last scored 20 against the Sox in a 21-7 rout on June 14, 1969 ... The 18-run margin of victory was the club's largest over Boston since a 24-6 triumph on May 1, 1929 ... The A's improved to 74-57 on the season, matching their win total for all of 2011 ... It was Moss' first career four-hit game ... Donaldson has homered in each of his last three games ... Oakland leads the season series between the team, 6-1 ...Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 11 games.