Most of the focus around the A’s 7-4 loss to the Red Sox Sunday had to do with another bullpen implosion, Boston scoring seven times in the eighth inning to erase a 4-0 Oakland lead.
Six of the runs came against the bullpen, three each off Evan Scribner and Tyler Clippard, the two steadiest hands in the pen this season.
Just as significant, however, was the A’s inability to get runs home with runners in scoring position. The Red Sox proved you only have to do it one inning a game to break through, but seven of the nine men Oakland left on base were stranded either at second or third.