TLDR: Boston was steamrolling everybody until Oakland crashed the party Saturday — now the Red Sox need a response before this homestand closes on a sour note.
−Rutschman, Casas, Crochet and Anthony all sidelined
Sunday's finale belongs to J.T. Ginn (8-6, 3.51 ERA) for the Athletics against Erik Miller (2-0, 2.57 ERA) for Boston, and Miller's the more interesting story here — he's a fresh trade-deadline pickup from San Francisco who's built his numbers out of the bullpen, now getting a look in a starter's role. Ginn's been the rare stable presence in a lost A's season; Miller's basically running an experiment in real time.
J.T. Ginn
(8-8)·3.60 ERA
Aug 4 @ Reds
ND
6.0IP
3ER
5K
2BB
91P
08/09 Lineup
Erik Miller
(2-0)·2.20 ERA
2026 · No starts yet
ND
—IP
—ER
—K
—BB
—P
08/09 Lineup
Boston's not walking into this one whole, either. Adley Rutschman is still working his way back from a wrist injury, Triston Casas just had wrist surgery and is done for the year, Roman Anthony remains shut down, and Garrett Crochet is out too — that's a chunk of a lineup and rotation missing from a team that just torched the White Sox. Oakland's banged up in its own right with Nick Kurtz, Zack Gelof and Brent Rooker all sidelined, but Boston's still a heavy favorite here, which tells you how far apart these two rosters have drifted.
That price gap is really just a referendum on the standings: Boston's chasing October at 64-52, Oakland's playing out the string at 46-71. Sunday's less about the odds and more about whether the Red Sox can shake off Saturday's mess before hitting the road.
Boston's last five reads 4-1 and includes a clean sweep of the White Sox, but the one loss in that stretch was the one that stings — a 3-7 defeat to an Athletics team that had lost four straight before that. Oakland, for its part, is 1-4 in its last five and still found a way to hang seven on Boston and take the second game of this set, so there's at least a little life left in a team that's been buried for months.
None of Boston's absences are the kind that show up and disappear in a day — Rutschman's easing back in, Casas is gone for the season, and Crochet and Anthony are both indefinite. Oakland's not walking in clean either. Whichever lineup finds a couple extra runs against an unfamiliar starter probably decides this one.
Athletics 4, Red Sox 3: Final Score & Odds Recap — Red Sox Look To Bounce Back After Getting Burned By The A's
