Lester can't duplicate no-hit magic for Red Sox

The Oakland Athletics' Mike Sweeney scores on an Emil Brown infield grounder as the Boston Red Sox' Jason Varitek applies a late tag in the second inning of an MLB baseball game, Saturday, May 24, 2008 in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Dino Vournas)

OAKLAND, Calif.—Jon Lester's hopes for another no-hitter ended with the first batter he faced, and the day never got better for the Boston Red Sox at the close of a lost weekend in Oakland.

Jack Hannahan hit that leadoff single and later drove in two runs, and Jack Cust hit a two-run homer as the Athletics completed a three-game sweep of the defending World Series champions with a 6-3 victory Sunday.

Lester (3-3) allowed seven hits and four runs over five innings, taking the loss in his first start since throwing a no-hitter Monday night against Kansas City. The Boston left-hander scuffled through early trouble before retiring the last six batters he faced, but the Red Sox limited him to 94 pitches after allowing him to throw 130 in the 18th no-hitter in club history.

Lester, a lymphoma survivor who won the World Series-clinching game for Boston last fall, also revealed that his father, John, recently was diagnosed with cancer. John Lester's cancer is highly treatable, the pitcher told ESPN before the Red Sox's first trip of the season to Seattle. His parents live in nearby Tacoma, Wash.

Hannahan, who reached base four times, drove in two runs in the fourth inning of Oakland's fourth consecutive win. Cust added his eighth homer on the first pitch by reliever Javier Lopez in the seventh, while Mike Sweeney and Emil Brown also had run-scoring hits for the A's.

Joe Blanton (3-6) labored through six inconsistent innings to win for the first time in five May starts, allowing five hits and four walks while striking out seven. Huston Street pitched the ninth for his 11th save in 13 chances.

David Ortiz homered and Manny Ramirez had a two-run single among his three hits for the Red Sox, who lost their seventh straight road game in the opening series of a 10-game road trip. Boston's loss and Tampa Bay's 5-4 home victory over Baltimore allowed the Rays to move past the Red Sox again into first place in the AL East.

Boston has won 10 straight at Fenway Park, but its powerful lineup followed up a one-hit effort against Justin Duchscherer on Saturday night with just one extra-base hit -- Ortiz's first-inning homer, his 11th of the season.

After Ortiz's drive, the A's erased any thoughts of Johnny Vander Meer's famed back-to-back no-hitters in 1938 when Hannahan stroked a leadoff single into left field. Brown followed with a two-out RBI single.

The Red Sox also committed two errors in the first three innings, with Lester making a bad throw to first base one inning before Ramirez had another misadventure in left, misjudging Hannahan's difficult fly ball on the run. It popped in and out of his glove for a three-base error, and Hannahan scored on Sweeney's single to put Oakland ahead.

Ortiz came within a few feet of tying the score in the fifth with a long fly that went just foul down the right-field line, but he instead drew Blanton's third walk of the inning. Ramirez then drove in two runs with his third single, but Blanton got two strikeouts to end the rally.

Notes:@ Red Sox 1B Kevin Youkilis extended his major league record with his 231st game without an error -- just barely. He failed to snag SS Julio Lugo's low throw in the eighth inning, but Lugo got the error because the throw apparently bounced in the dirt. ... Ramirez improved to 13-for-21 in his career against Blanton. The slugger sat out Saturday while mired in a 17-for-90 skid. ... Ortiz's homer was his 236th as a DH, breaking his tie with Harold Baines for third place on baseball's career list. Only Oakland's Frank Thomas, who went 2-for-4 Sunday, and Edgar Martinez have more. ... Lester planned to see his father Sunday night for the first time since John Lester's diagnosis and treatment. The pitcher brought along a Red Sox World Series hat as a gift.