TOKYO — Rich Harden and Emil Brown helped the Oakland Athletics accomplish baseball’s newest tradition: a season-opening split in Japan.
Harden struck out nine over six innings and Brown hit a three-run homer to lead Oakland over the Boston Red Sox 5-1 Wednesday night.
“Last night we lost a heartbreaker. We won tonight. Now everyone’s looking forward to getting back to the Bay Area and recovering,” Oakland manager Bob Geren said.
Boston began its World Series title defense by winning Tuesday’s opener 6-5 in 10 innings after rallying in the ninth. The Red Sox headed to Los Angeles after the game for three final spring training games against the Dodgers, including one at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Saturday.
“We’ll take a step back tomorrow and have an optional workout,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “We tried to do our homework on what to expect from travel. We’re not going to talk ourselves into being tired, and will do what we need to do to get ready for the next start in Oakland.”
The Red Sox and A’s resume their regular seasons with a two-game series starting Tuesday in Oakland.
Harden (1-0) allowed three hits and three walks, throwing 95 pitches.
“I had some bad luck the past couple of years,” Harden said. “But, hopefully, I can put that behind me and do what I need to do to help the ballclub this season.”
Harden allowed his only run in the sixth on a homer by Manny Ramirez.
Ramirez’s home run deep into the left-field seats moved him within nine of joining the 500-home run club.
Santiago Casilla, Keith Foulke and Alan Embree followed Harden with a scoreless inning apiece, completing a five-hitter for Oakland.
Foulke threw a called third strike past Ramirez to end the eighth with a runner on second.
Lester gave up four runs, five hits and three walks in four innings.
“Emil got one pitch just a little bit over the plate and he hit it over the wall,” Lester said.
Notes: The crowd was much more subdued than it was during the
opener, when Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched in his homeland for the first time since signing a $52 million, six-year contract with Boston before last season. … Boston OF Brandon Moss was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket after the game. He went 2-for-8 with two RBIs in the series.
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