A night of firsts fires up A's bats

OAKLAND -- When a team puts a 20 in the run column odds are there were some career-best performances involved. That was certainly the case on Friday night as the A's obliterated the Red Sox in a 20-2 rout.

It's a team game, so let's begin there. The A's 20 runs were the fourth highest offensive output in Oakland history. The A's have won a season-high tying seven games in a row, are a season-high 17 games over .500 (74-57), and have won six consecutive games against the Red Sox for the first time since 1969. Now for the individual performances Player of the game honors have to go to Brandon Moss. He tallied a career-best four hits and four RBI. "It feels great," Moss said emphatically. "I'm not going to lie."His two-strike, two-out, two-run second-deck homer in the fifth inning had the A's clubhouse buzzing after the game."That's about max distance for a human being right now," Jonny Gomes said. "If you want a ball further than that you are going to have to use some kind of machine or something."Second deck, home run, Oakland Coliseum, at night. You really don't see those words strung together often. That tells you what kind of night it was in Oakland. The A's sent 10 batters to the plate in the seventh inning scoring nine runs. The big inning featured another career first for an Oakland player as Josh Reddick clubbed his first career grand slam."For me I don't think it could be any more special," Reddick said. "Coming against your former team that you just got sent out from, any time you do that it's a special thing."Reddick's 28th homer is his third in as many days. Not to be outdone, Josh Donaldson has also homered in three consecutive contests -- something he has never done before. The young third baseman hit a two-run shot off the concrete facing of the left field bleachers in the second inning, and drove in his third run while reaching on an error in the seventh inning. "It feels good, obviously that's a first for me," Donaldson said. "It's nice to come up here and have some success because it has definitely been a roller coaster ride for me this year." The A's topped out at 20 runs when George Kottaras added a two-run homer of his own in the eighth inning. He also hit a solo homer in the sixth inning, and smacked a two-run bases loaded single in the seventh. The two home runs and five RBI -- you guessed it -- both career highs. Get the point yet? Notes:
Donaldson was removed from the game with a hip flexor strain. The A's say he is day-to- day. If he is forced to miss time the team won't skip a beat because Brandon Inge is with the team in Oakland and ready to be reinstated from the disabled list. "I've never been a guy that wants to miss a game," Donaldson said. "I felt a little tightness when I was trying to accelerate to go to second base. I really didn't want to come out of the game, I wanted to finish it." The A's have now won 74 games -- matching their 2011 win total.