Boston: Joe Kelly pitched six solid innings to earn his first win since his initial start of the season, Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run homer and the Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 4-2 on Saturday.
The teams played a day after a fan at Fenway Park was struck in the head by a broken bat and suffered life-threatening injuries. Boston Police said Saturday she is expected to survive.
There was a moment of reflection for Tonya Carpenter at the ballpark before Saturday’s game. Sitting a few rows back to the left of home plate between the screen and Oakland’s dugout Friday night, Carpenter was struck by a hurtling piece of Brett Lawrie’s broken bat.
She was wheeled from the ballpark on a stretcher and rushed to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Hospital. She was in serious condition Saturday, her family said in a statement.
Lawrie was out of the A’s line-up Saturday, but manager Bob Melvin said it was because of a back issue, not because of any psychological effects after the incident. Lawrie entered as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning.
Kelly (2-4) gave up one run and four hits, striking out six and walking two to snap his career-worst, nine-start winless stretch. His previous victory came on April 11 in an 8-4 victory over the New York Yankees.
Koji Uehara, the fifth Red Sox pitcher, worked the ninth for his 13th save.
Jesse Chavez (2-6) allowed four runs and 10 hits in five innings.
Ramirez also singled twice, David Ortiz hit an RBI double and Mike Napoli had a run-scoring single for the Red Sox, who won for the fourth time in six games.
Mark Canha hit a solo homer for Oakland, who lost for the third time in their last nine.
Ramirez’s 13th homer, a drive into the center-field bleachers, gave Boston a 2-0 lead in the first.
The Athletics cut it to 2-1 on Billy Burns’ RBI triple in the third before the slumping Ortiz snapped an 0-for-11 stretch with his double and Napoli followed with a single in the bottom of the inning.
Canha’s homer barely cleared the Green Monster in the seventh.
