The Oakland Athletics are a .500 ballclub going into Wednesday’s game after beating the Boston Red Sox in 12 innings on Tuesday night. They roughed up Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka for 5 runs in just an inning of work — the shortest performance of Dice-K’s career. Although the Red Sox bullpen pitched admirably and the Sox bats fought back to tie the game, the A’s managed to patiently wait for their pitch in the 12th inning. The first 3 hitters earned walks against Javier Lopez, who was pitching for the third consecutive night. Then Jack Cust stepped up to the plate and belted a pitch hard into the dirt in front of home plate. The ball bounced over Lopez’s head and was fielded by reigning AL MVP Dustin Pedroia, whose flip to first was too late to nab a hustling Cust as the runner from third base crossed the plate, ending the game.

Tags: baseball, boston red sox, daisuke matsuzaka, dustin pedroia, jack cust, oakland athletics