OAKLAND -- After the Red Sox' 1-0 loss to the A's, @Athletics changed its Twitter name to "Ramon Laureano's Arm." Well played.
It was the arm belonging to A's outfielder Ramon Laureano after all that left Xander Bogaerts rubbing his face in disbelief well after being gunned down at third base in the ninth inning.
"I shouldn't have gone. I shouldn't have gone. Bad foot," Bogaerts could be heard repeating to himself while walking away from his locker following a four-minute media scrum.
The Red Sox shortstop added, "I’m like, there’s no way he’ll do that again. The night before, I mean, he was coming in. He had a lot of momentum. But, I mean, that ball hit and I didn’t even see the replay, but I knew right away once I dove into third, I felt (third baseman Matt) Chapman hit me before I got to the bag, so I already knew I was out. How can he do that two nights in a row? The next time, I won’t run."
As impressive as the throw home the night before was, this one by Laureano -- who has 11 outfield assists in 56 games, the most in MLB -- was better and more important.
To make the effort against the wall, bounce out, pick up the ball and fire it in on one bounce to a waiting Chapman was simply unworldly. And it also put fitting punctuation (for now) on what has been a dreadful 1-5 start to the season for the Red Sox.
"I didn’t feel it at all running," said Bogaerts of his leg ailment. "I think adrenaline and a will and want to get to third and do something for your team. We needed some type of energy, man. We’ve gotten guys at third with two outs and we just haven’t been the way we normally are, and I think a spark there would have been much helpful. But these two games, I mean, we’re that close and still getting out."
