Blackburn keeps Boston bats in check
8 baserunners stranded early to help salvage finale of series
BOSTON — With the All-Star Game a month away, Oakland Athletics starter Paul Blackburn is pitching his way into consideration for a potential spot.
And maybe, later, the interest of other teams.
Blackburn held a potent Red Sox lineup to one run over 51⁄3 innings Thursday to help the A’s salvage a 4-3 win in the finale of a series at Fenway Park. They averted becoming the first A’s team to go winless in a season series against the Red Sox, who outscored them 39-10 over six games.
Blackburn allowed a season-high eight hits but navigated traffic against a lineup that pummeled A’s pitching this year. The right-hander lowered his ERA to 2.26. Only six AL starters awoke Thursday with lower ERAs.
“In the past, I’ve struggled so much, and coming into this year I’ve really just used the mentality of ‘what do I really have to lose?’ ” Blackburn said. “I’m not looking at numbers, I’m not looking at that. I’m going out there and pitching pitch to pitch, and at the end of the year hopefully I look up and I’m happy with where I am.”
Blackburn entered eighth in opponent OPS allowed and stranding 80.5% of baserunners. He continued the latter trend, stranding eight Red Sox in his first four innings. All those baserunners drove up his pitch count but let him display his ability to work out of jams. Two of Blackburn’s first three batters singled; he induced two flyouts to escape unscathed. Two more singled in the second inning; Blackburn stranded them with a strikeout.
Blackburn mixed cutters and sinkers with a curveball that has emerged as a key pitch. A walk, single and error set up Boston’s lone run against him in the third, but he worked out of his tightest spot an inning later.
In the fourth, Oakland walked red-hot Rafael Devers to load the bases with two outs for J.D. Martinez, who entered hitting .345. Blackburn threw a first-pitch curveball that Martinez tapped weakly back to him for an inning-ending groundout.
“We see Paul as a workhorse for us this year thus far,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “He’s continuing to get better through the season, and that’s all you can ask. He’s put himself in a position to be in conversation as a top-line starter and he’s earned that right now.”
While Frankie Montas is expected to be a popular target at the trade deadline, Blackburn presents an interesting case. He saw little sustained major-league success before this year but has been perhaps the A’s most consistent starter. He also owns a 1.00 ERA in 45 innings on the road.
“There’s just something about coming into a place and quieting a crowd,” Blackburn said. “Just playing here, I know the fans are crazy, it’s a huge baseball town, they’re going to have this place packed. I know people are going to be chirping me in the bullpen as soon as I step in there. And just being able to hear those little comments and kind of essentially prove people wrong . ...
“Pitching on the road, it’s a different beast in this game. And I feel like if you’re able to quiet a crowd, it’s one of the better feelings in this game.”
A little help: Boston gave a struggling A’s offense multiple openings with miscues and it took advantage.
Trevor Story misplayed Cristian Pache’s pop-up to shallow center into a double in the third inning. Pache, back in the A’s lineup after three games off, sprinted from the batter’s box to reach second for the first of four straight hits off lefty Rich Hill. Chad Pinder hit an RBI single and Christian Bethancourt a two-run single.
The A’s entered with 35 total runs scored in their previous 14 games. They snapped a six-game streak hitting at least one home run but did not need one for just their second win in June. In the sixth, Seth Brown singled, took second on a passed ball and scored on an error by Devers.
Strong arm: Evidence of teams’ respect for Laureano’s throwing arm — and its use in right field when the A’s can play Pache in center — arrived in the first inning.
Red Sox leadoff man Jarred Duran stood on third base when Xander Bogaerts lifted a flyball that Laureano caught 266 feet from home plate.
Duran has excellent speed. He had dropped a drag-bunt single to reach base. Statcast put him in the 96th percentile in the majors in sprint speed last season.
Duran did not test Laureano. He represented a possible 1-0 lead for Boston. The A’s are 4-34 this year in games when their opponent scores first. The reputation of Laureano’s arm helped prevent a first-inning deficit.
“They’ve got guys with track records of driving in runs,” Kotsay said. “If you take an aggressive shot there, we do have an above-average arm in right field. So I could see either side of that decision being correct.”