Kennedy homers on first pitch and Oakland pounds Boston for second straight game, 8-6

Athletics keep hitting, beat Red Sox 8-6

BOSTON — The Oakland Athletics are hitting the way the once-powerful Boston Red Sox used to.

For the second straight night, the Athletics outslugged the Red Sox, winning 8-6 on Wednesday a night after they pounded out 21 hits for a 9-8 win in 11 innings.

“It looked like they didn’t finish hitting since (Tuesday) night,” said Mike Lowell, who had five RBIs for Boston. “I guess we ran into them at the wrong time.”

July has been the right time for the Athletics. They’re batting .297 this month but still last in the AL West. The Red Sox are hitting .242 in July and fell 3½ games behind the first-place New York Yankees in the East.

“Other than the very beginning of the season, we hadn’t really had too many scuffles,” said Boston’s Jason Bay, who struck out three times and is in a 9 for 52 slump. “Obviously, the second half of the season isn’t where you want it to happen.”

Brett Anderson (6-8) has been a bright spot in Oakland’s young rotation, especially at Fenway Park where he won a two-hit complete game on July 6.

On Wednesday, after Adam Kennedy homered on the game’s first pitch from Brad Penny (7-5) to begin a five-run first, Anderson allowed Lowell’s three-run homer in the bottom of the inning.

Then he gave up just two hits in his remaining five innings.

“A big key to the game was holding them off after the first inning,” Anderson said. “I was able to mix and match (pitches) early to get to two strikes to get to my slider.”

Kennedy had a career-high five hits on Tuesday, including a single that gave Oakland a 9-7 lead.

“It’s good to get the offense going a little bit and score some runs, especially in this place,” Kennedy said.

Oakland led 8-3 after six innings, but Boston scored single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth. The Red Sox had runners at first and second with two outs in the ninth, but J.D. Drew grounded out as Andrew Bailey earned his shaky 13th save in 17 chances.

The Athletics improved to 43-57 while the Red Sox dropped to 58-42.

“They just beat us right from the get-go,” Bay said. “Regardless of their record, they’re out there winning games right now. We’re not.”

Oakland had three hits on the first four pitches, led 1-0 and had the bases loaded on the first nine and finished the five-run first with Rajai Davis’ three-run double.

“Any time you get on the board early, it’s big,” Oakland manager Bob Geren said. “We’ve been swinging the bats better for a few weeks now.”

In Arlington, Texas, Curtis Granderson led off the game with a home run and connected again in the second inning, and Justin Verlander equaled a career high by striking out 13.

Miguel Cabrera had four hits and four RBIs, and Marcus Thames homered for Detroit. Andruw Jones homered twice for Texas.

Verlander (12-5) tied for the major league lead in wins. He boosted his AL-leading strikeout total to 172 while pitching seven innings.

At St. Petersburg, Fla., Joba Chamberlain pitched eight scoreless innings and Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano homered and drove in two runs apiece.

The Yankees won for the 11th time in 13 games since the All-Star break.

Chamberlain (7-2) limited the Rays to three singles while allowing only one runner to reach second base. The right-hander struck out five and walked two, both coming in the fifth inning.

At Minneapolis, light-hitting Alexi Casilla had two RBIs and Minnesota’s bullpen pitched four scoreless innings to help the Twins swept the three-game series.

Casilla, who entered the game hitting .161, broke a 2-2 tie with a run-scoring single in the sixth and the Twins beat the White Sox for the sixth time in seven games.

Joe Crede walked to lead off the inning, moved to second on a sacrifice and scored on Casilla’s two-out single off Jose Contreras (4-10), who lost his third straight.

At Baltimore, Adam Jones homered and drove in three runs and Nick Markakis added three RBIs for Baltimore.

Kansas City did not have an assist in the game. The last team to go a game without an assist was Tampa Bay on May 17, 2003, also in a loss — eight innings in the field — to Baltimore, according to STATS LLC. Only five teams in big league history have done it for at least nine innings.

Kansas City starter Zach Greinke pitched six innings of five-hit ball and left with a 3-2 lead.

Matt Albers (2-4) gave up one hit in 2 1-3 innings and Jim Johnson worked two innings for his second save.

At Anaheim, Calif., Howie Kendrick homered and drove in a career-high five runs hours after the Indians traded away reigning AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee.

Lee and outfielder Ben Francisco were sent to Philadelphia for a package of four minor leaguers.

John Lackey (7-4) gave up a run and three hits in seven innings. He struck out eight and walked four.

Aaron Laffey (4-3) gave up seven runs and seven hits in four-plus innings.

At Seattle, Ken Griffey Jr. doubled twice and drove in the decisive runs in the seventh inning, and Seattle tagged Roy Halladay (11-4) with a season-high 11 hits.

Ryan Rowland-Smith (1-1) carried a no-hitter into the seventh in his third start of the season, before Aaron Hill singled leading off.