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Centerfielder robs Ramirez of game-winning
homer with two out in bottom of the ninth 

BOSTON – Terrence Long reached over the right-center field wall into the Boston bullpen to rob Manny Ramirez of a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to preserve the Oakland Athletics’ 3-2 win over the Red Sox on Wednesday night. 

Long’s catch helped A’s reliever Billy Koch escape a jam for the second straight inning. Koch walked Johnny Damon and Trot Nixon with one out in the ninth before striking out Nomar Garciaparra. Ramirez, who hit his 19th homer of the year in the fourth, then sent a drive to center. 

A security guard in the Red Sox bullpen had his arms raised in celebration before Long made his running catch to give Koch his 28th save in 33 chances. 

Koch then ran out to shallow center to give Long a grateful hug. Several other A’s ran out to celebrate the center fielder’s catch. 

With two outs in the eighth, Koch allowed a run-scoring single to Shea Hillenbrand. But with runners at first and third and two outs he retired Brian Daubach on a groundout to first. 

Jermaine Dye hit a two-run homer and Aaron Harang (4-2) allowed one run and three hits in 5 2-3 innings and left with a 2-1 lead. 

The Athletics’ fourth straight win tied them with the Red Sox for second place in the AL wild-card race, two games behind Anaheim, which played the Chicago White Sox. 

Dye’s sixth-inning homer, his 12th of the year, followed a two-out error by third baseman Hillenbrand and made both runs unearned. The A’s made it 3-1 in the seventh on a walk to Ramon Hernandez and singles by Scott Hatteberg and Miguel Tejada. 

Tejada, whose 24-game hitting streak ended Tuesday, went 1-for-5. 

Boston took a 1-0 lead on Ramirez’s leadoff homer in the fourth, his 19th. 

John Burkett (10-5) rebounded from his worst start of the season when he allowed eight runs in 1 1-3 innings of a 19-7 loss at Texas. In his previous start, he pitched a four-hit shutout against Baltimore in his only complete game of the year. 

He pitched well Wednesday, allowing one earned run and six hits in 6 2-3 innings. 

But Harang, who had no decision in his previous five starts, was better. He allowed one runner in each of the first three innings on a single and two walks but none got past first base. 

In the fifth, with two outs and runners at first and second, he got Ramirez to ground into a forceout. In the seventh, Ricardo Rincon struck out Trot Nixon after Johnny Damon’s two-out triple. 

Boston led 1-0 with two outs and no runners on in the top of the sixth. Then Eric Chavez reached on Hillenbrand’s second error in two games and Dye followed with his homer. 

In the eighth, Koch replaced Chad Bradford after Ramirez’s one-out single. Cliff Floyd struck out, but Jason Varitek walked and Ramirez scored on Hillenbrand’s hard single that just eluded third baseman Chavez. 

Notes: Varitek went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and a walk. ... The A’s were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and are just 8-for-49 in their last six games. ... Floyd went 0-for-3 with a walk and is 0-for-6 in two games at Fenway Park since Boston obtained him from Montreal last week. He was 7-for-13 in his other four games, all at Texas. ... The Red Sox made several spectacular catches of their own on Wednesday. CF Damon ran to deep right-center to catch Dye’s second-inning drive, then raced in for a sliding catch on Hatteberg in the third. RF Nixon reached into the stands on the foul side of the right-field line to catch David Justice’s fly ball in the sixth.