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Candiotti Has the Right Stuff

<i> From Associated Press</i>

The Red Sox’s domination of Oakland began with their opening-day win over Tom Candiotti and ended with Candiotti’s victory Thursday night.

The Athletics, who entered the game with a 1-9 record and .204 batting average against Boston, won, 6-3, behind a 13-hit attack and a strong six-inning performance by Candiotti.

Candiotti (10-14) won for the fifth time in his last six starts. He began the season with a 2-0 loss to Boston’s Pedro Martinez in which the Athletics managed only four hits.

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“We won the last one of the season [against the Red Sox], so we get bragging rights,” Oakland Manager Art Howe joked. “We beat them one at our place and once here, not too much to get excited about.”

Candiotti’s revival, which has coincided with warmer weather, has been more significant.

“My knuckleball has been so much more consistent and so much better than at the start of the year,” he said. “It was muggy and stagnant in the three games we played here. That’s always conducive to a good knuckleball.”

And, for his second successive start, Candiotti got offensive support. He beat Detroit, 7-1, last Saturday and had a 6-0 lead after four innings Thursday.

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Boston, which entered the game a season-high 26 games over .500, saw its three-game winning streak end. But the Red Sox still lead Texas by 8 1/2 games in the AL wild-card race. Oakland ended its three-game losing streak.

“We played a lot of tough games against that team, a lot of close games,” Boston Manager Jimy Williams said. “They’ve always battled us hard.”

Candiotti gave up only two singles through the first five innings and retired the first two batters on grounders in the sixth. Then Nomar Garciaparra hit his 27th homer of the season and Troy O’Leary followed with his 21st on consecutive pitches, cutting the lead to 6-2.

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Mike Stanley doubled and Darren Bragg singled him to third before Candiotti ended the inning by striking out Scott Hatteberg.

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