Red Sox Keep A’s in a Slump

Call it an error, call it a homer. In either case, it scored three runs that helped the Boston Red Sox win.

Darren Lewis hit a three-run inside-the-park homer that initially was ruled a four-base error and Troy O’Leary added a two-run shot as Boston began a 12-game trip with an 8-4 victory over Oakland on Tuesday night.

The loss was the season-high eighth in a row for Oakland, which has its longest losing streak since dropping the final nine games of the 1995 season.

Lewis’ sixth homer of the season originally was ruled an error on right fielder Ben Grieve, who missed the line drive. Official scorer Dick O’Connor spoke with Grieve after the game, then changed his call.

“He never saw the ball. He totally lost the ball in the lights,” O’Connor said.

It was the second consecutive game in which the Red Sox had an inside-the-park homer. Nomar Garciaparra had one Sunday against Seattle, a three-run shot at Fenway Park.

John Valentin added a two-run single as the Red Sox, surrounded by uncertainty because of the increasingly bitter feud between all-star first baseman Mo Vaughn and management, won their third in a row.

Vaughn, who said last weekend he expects to leave the Red Sox as a free agent after this season, went three for five with a triple and two singles.