Wilyer Abreu had four RBIs and Brayan Bello struck out a career-high 11 in 5 1/3 innings as the Boston Red Sox beat the visiting Oakland Athletics 12-9 in Tuesday’s three-game series opener.
Abreu crushed a three-run home run before Dominic Smith followed with a solo shot that highlighted Boston’s eight-run second inning.
Rafael Devers went 2-for-4 with a double, three RBI and two runs scored, while David Hamilton, Masataka Yoshida and Ceddanne Rafaela also had multiple hits apiece as Boston won its seventh of eight to move to 10 games above .500.
Both teams had 13 hits.
Oakland’s Zack Gelof was 3-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored. He and Lawrence Butler both hit three-run home runs.
Bello (9-5) set a Red Sox franchise record by recording his first 10 outs of the game via strikeout, but Oakland still managed to jump ahead 2-0 against him in the first.
After Miguel Andujar’s one-out single, Brent Rooker doubled off the center-field wall for Oakland’s first run before Shea Langeliers followed with a two-out RBI single two batters later.
The A’s lead was short-lived as the Red Sox strung together four straight hits to go up 3-2 after just 11 pitches from starter Joey Estes (3-4). The right-hander was charged with eight earned runs on seven hits over 1 2/3 innings.
Jarren Duran socked a leadoff double into the right-center field triangle and scored on Hamilton’s single to bring Boston within 2-1. Tyler O’Neill continued the rally with a double that narrowly missed clearing the fence in deep center, then Devers lined a go-ahead, two-run single into right.
The Red Sox scored early and often in the second, cashing in on Smith’s leadoff walk when Rafaela downed a triple into the right-field corner. Duran then made it a 5-2 game on a sacrifice fly before Devers’s RBI double.
Connor Wong’s ensuing infield hit chased Estes.
Oakland reliever Tyler Ferguson was greeted rudely. The home team’s lead ballooned to 11-2 when Yoshida hit an RBI single and Abreu and Smith hit back-to-back homers.
Oakland clawed back within 11-5 in the sixth inning when Butler crushed a 457-foot homer deep over the bullpens in right-center. Gelof hit a sac fly in the seventh.
Abreu added to Boston’s lead with an eighth-inning sac fly before Gelof’s three-run shot to center made the game interesting in the ninth.