Costly Story Errors Help Athletics Beat the Red Sox

Costly Story Errors Help Athletics Take Series Finale Against Red Sox

By JJ Misiewicz

September 18, 2025

Athletics 5, Red Sox 3

The Boston Red Sox fell victim to the Athletics, 5–3, Thursday. This was, in no small part, due to two costly throwing errors from Trevor Story allowing two runs to score.

Red Sox Vs. Athletics Game Summary

Red Sox starter Brayan Bello started the game off poorly, allowing four straight hits. Brent Rooker hit a two-run homer, while Tyler Soderstrom added an RBI single to give the Athletics a 3–0 lead through one.

Masataka Yoshida, batting cleanup, slapped a sacrifice fly to score Story to bring the deficit to 3–1. David Hamilton followed up in the second inning with a solo bomb to bring the game to 3–2.

The third inning saw a two-out rally from the A’s, ending with a throwing error from Story. This scored Nick Kurtz, with the Athletics taking a 4–2 lead.

After four innings, Bello came out of the game to make way for Payton Tolle. He did a great job in his first two innings of work, striking out the side in the fifth, and not allowing any runs.

Tolle got into some trouble in the seventh inning however. Despite this, with two outs, he forced a grounder to short. Story made another costly throwing error, allowing Lawrence Butler to score, making it a 5–2 lead.

Story responded in the bottom of the eighth, hitting a solo home run to the batters eye. With a 5–3 game, Boston hoped to find some offensive fire in the ninth.

Alas not, as the Red Sox went down 1-2-3 in the final inning.

What Went Right for the Red Sox

Tolle’s Found his Place

Tolle, after struggling as a starter, just might have found where he can be his most effective. If he can have outings like this, going three or more innings, keeping games competitive like he did, he can possibly notch himself some playoff innings.

What Went Wrong for the Red Sox

Costly Story Errors

Story cost the Red Sox two runs with separate fielding errors. Things like that shouldn’t occur this often.

Middle Innings Skid

The Red Sox only mustered two base runners from the third through seventh innings. Only two baserunners in that five-inning span is truly telling of how anemic the offense is without Roman Anthony.

Looking Ahead

The Red Sox now head to St. Petersburg, Florida to take on the Tampa Bay Rays in a three-game weekend series. The Red Sox have now been passed by the Seattle Mariners in the AL Wildcard standings. They’re currently a game and a half ahead of the Cleveland Guardians for the final AL Wildcard spot.