On a rain-soaked day at Fenway Park, the Red Sox manage to complete a doubleheader sweep of the A’s, 9 – 3 and 4 – 0, in spite of a series of rain delays totalling over three hours. The Sox jump on Guillermo Moscosofor 8 runs in 4 innings in the opener, including a two-run homer by Jason Varitek as Jon Lester is the winner. David Ortiz, who is 5 for 8 on the day, smacks a 2nd-inning homer off Graham Godfrey in the nitecap that sends the Sox on the way to victory. Erik Bedard pitches four scoreless innings but remains winless for the Sox, having to give way to Alfredo Aceves (9-1) after yet another lengthy delay. The teams were anxious to get the two games in, with Hurricane Irene about to hit Boston; the storm is responsible for cancelling five other games today, and is expected to wipe out the entire schedule in the Northeast tomorrow.

ByBaseball

On a rain-soaked day at Fenway Park, the Red Sox manage to complete a doubleheader sweep of the A’s, 9 – 3 and 4 – 0, in spite of a series of rain delays totalling over three hours. The Sox jump on Guillermo Moscosofor 8 runs in 4 innings in the opener, including a two-run homer by Jason Varitek as Jon Lester is the winner. David Ortiz, who is 5 for 8 on the day, smacks a 2nd-inning homer off Graham Godfrey in the nitecap that sends the Sox on the way to victory. Erik Bedard pitches four scoreless innings but remains winless for the Sox, having to give way to Alfredo Aceves (9-1) after yet another lengthy delay. The teams were anxious to get the two games in, with Hurricane Irene about to hit Boston; the storm is responsible for cancelling five other games today, and is expected to wipe out the entire schedule in the Northeast tomorrow.

Justin Verlander wins 20th in August for the first time since 1990

Justin Verlander wins 20th in August for the first time since 1990

ByThis Day in Baseball

Justin Verlander does not pitch one of his better starts, giving up four runs, including a pair of solo homers to Luke Hughes and Jason Repko, and leaves after giving up his second hit of the day to Drew Butera, who is hitting well below the Mendoza Line, with no out in the 6th, but his teammates pick him up and he gets credit for the Tigers’ 6 – 4 win over the Twins. This makes him the major leagues’ first 20-game winner this year, the first in the majors to reach the mark in August since Curt Schilling did it with Arizona in 2002, and the first 20-game winner for the Tigers since Bill Gullickson in 1990. Jose Valverde picks up the save with a perfect 9th inning. He has now converted 40 straight save opportunities over two seasons, tying Dennis Eckersley for the second-longest streak in American League history, but still 14 behind Tom Gordon’s record of 54.