By ROBERT LEE
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON - The Red Sox bullpen had been flawless since the All-Star break.

In nine consecutive games, over 24.0 innings, Boston's bullpen had not allowed a run.
They had 23 strikeouts during that stretch and only eight walks. So when Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz came out of the game Tuesday night in the sixth inning with Boston leading, 5-2, Red Sox manager Terry Francona felt very comfortable with how things were going.

He felt even better after Boston had increased that lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the sixth.

But then the unthinkable happened. Boston's bullpen imploded and the Red Sox suffered a heartbreaking, 9-8, 11-inning loss to Oakland.

"The game got away from us late," Francona said.

Boston blew a 7-4 lead with two outs in the ninth inning in the loss which surprised Oakland manager Bob Geren.

"They have a good bullpen, top to bottom," Geren said. "You look at their bullpen and you don't really see and weakness."

But the A's were able to put together some runs, capped off by a two-run, game-winning 11th inning. Both runs came with two outs.

Mark Ellis ignited the two-out hit attack with a double. He scored on a Rajai Davis single hit through the hole at second base.

"It was a breaking ball, 3-2, down and away and he just happened to hit it to the right side and it got through," Red Sox relief pitcher Manny Delcarmen said.

The Red Sox brought in Takashi Saito to try to stop the bleeding, but Adam Kennedy was able to drive-in Davis with a single to right field and that turned out to be the game-winning run.

"It's baseball," said Delcarmen. "That stuff happens. I'm pretty sure we're going to go out there tomorrow and try to get back on track and hopefully get a longer [scoreless bullpen] streak."

The Red Sox had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the 11th but came up one run short. After Jacoby Ellsbury drove-in pinch-runner Jed Lowrie with a ground out to first base, Dustin Pedroia, with a runner on third base, flew out to left field to end the game.

Even though relievers Hideki Okajima and Ramon Ramirez each gave up a run, the game was really lost in the ninth when Boston blew a three-run with two outs.

Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon gave up an RBI double to to Tommy Everidge, who was making his major league debut. The clutch hit cut Boston's lead to 7-5.

Ellis then reached first base on what was charitably ruled an infield single; it was a potential game-ending grounder that Papelbon couldn't handle. Green picked up the ball and tried to throw out Ellis out at first, but his throw went wild, allowing Everidge to score and Ellis to take second. Davis then hit an infield single to Green, who made another throwing error and Ellis scored tie the game.

Papelbon finally got out of the inning when he struck out Kennedy, but the damage was done.

"It's tough but what are you going to do," Papelbon said of blowing the lead. "That's just the way I look at it. Things like that happen. It is what it is and you have to move on and come back tomorrow ready to pitch again."

"He made a mistake to Everidge," Francona said of Papelbon, "and then we made some [defensive] mistakes."

"He'll go out there 99.9 percent of the time and get the job done and tonight was just one of those nights," Delcarmen said of Papelbon.