Baseball 1, Irene 0. Kind of.

Even though the Red Sox and Athletics moved up their regularly scheduled Sunday game as part of a Saturday doubleheader, there was still legitimate concern that the two squads would be unable to get in both contest because of the oncoming Hurricane Irene and the nasty weather that it brought with it.

Well three lengthy rain delays (totaling four hours) later, there were two official games of baseball in Boston Saturday, and the Red Sox followed up a 9-3 nine-innings win in Game 1 with a 4-0 win over the A’s in the nightcap. Both games somewhat miraculously went the full nine.

The Red Sox were able to pound Oakland starter Graham Godfrey for three runs in the first four frames while Boston starter Erik Bedard (4+ IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 5 K) overcame some early difficulties to blank the A’s during his time on the mound. The lefty lasted only 78 pitches though as a one-hour rain delay in the top of the fifth kept him from returning to the contest.

With the 3-0 victory, the Red Sox improved to 6-2 against the A’s in 2011 and moved a full four games ahead of the rival Yankees in the win column, giving the team a two-game lead in the AL East standings. Boston and New York will face each other for a three-game series starting Tuesday.

Here’s what went right and what went wrong in the Red Sox Game 2 win:

WHAT WENT RIGHT

-David Ortiz extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a bang. He smashed a two-run home run in the second inning, his 27th of the season, to open the scoring and extend his team-lead in home runs over Jacoby Ellsbury and Adrian Gonzalez, both of whom have 23 in 2011. The Sox DH added singles in the fourth and eighth inning to finish 5-for-8 on the day with the homer, two doubles, three runs scored and four RBI. Because of the hot day, Ortiz’s batting average now stands at .311, its highest mark since erratic playing time during interleague play caused his average to plummet.

-After Jason Varitek homered in the first game of the doubleheader, Jarrod Saltalamacchia continued to make Saturday a solid day for the Red Sox catching tandem. He singled in his first at-bat and then with the bases loaded in the fourth, Saltalamacchia grounded sharply to first base to score Dustin Pedroia through the backdoor from third. The moment could have been filed under “What went wrong” however went the backstop tried to beat the throw from A’s first baseman Brandon Allen by diving headfirst toward the bag and then was nearly stepped on by the covering Godfrey. In the sixth, he doubled down the right field line to drive in Jed Lowrie for his second RBI of the day.

Since Aug. 19, Saltalamacchia has now driven in eight runs in his last seven games.

-Pedroia started the second game of his day with a double and single in the first two at-bats to give the temporary cleanup hitter a 3-for-7 day at the plate with a walk. In 2011, Pedroia is now 25-for-72 (.347) with four home runs, 10 total extra-base hits and 14 RBI in 18 games out of the fourth spot in the lineup.

-As solid as Bedard turned out to be for the first four innings, the bullpen was even stronger over the last five.

Alfredo Aceves worked scoreless fifth, sixth and seventh innings – allowing no hits while walking one and striking out three in the process – to earn his ninth win of the season and improve to an impressive 9-1 in 2011. He trails starters Jon Lester (14-6), John Lackey (12-9) and Josh Beckett (11-5) in the wins category. The righty has now allowed just two earned runs over his last 20 innings for an ERA over that span of 0.90.

Also in the bullpen department, Daniel Bard allowed just one hit in the eighth inning to extend his scoreless streak to 8 2/3 innings. In that time frame, Hideki Matsui‘s single Saturday was just the second hit surrendered by Bard. His pitching line since Aug. 7: 8 2/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 K.

Jonathan Papelbon struck out two en route to closing out the ninth in a non-save situation. The Sox closer extended his own scoreless streak to 16 innings, during which he has failed to walk a batter while allowing just three hits and striking out 18. If that’s not impressive enough, consider this. Every pitch Papelbon threw in the ninth Saturday was a strike. Nine pitches. Nine strikes. The perfect inning.

WHAT WENT WRONG

-You’d have to flip a coin to determine which of the Sox corner outfielders had a rougher day at the plate Saturday. Carl Crawford and Josh Reddick were a combined 0-for-4 in the nightcap of the doubleheader, meaning they were a combined 0-for-13 on the afternoon. In their defense, Crawford did hit a sacrifice fly in the first game while Reddick walked and later scored in the 9-3 win earlier in the day as well.

-That being said, the Red Sox top three hitters (Ellsbury, Marco Scutaro, Gonzalez) were a combined 1-for-12 in Game 2 with Ellsbury’s fifth-inning double the only hit of the nightcap.

-Blame it on home-plate umpire Ted Barrett’s tight strike zone if you want, but Bedard simply wasn’t hitting his spots in the first inning and it nearly cost him. He walked three of the first five batters he faced in the game’s opening frame to load the bases before forcing Scott Sizemore into an inning-ending fielder’s choice at second.

Saturday marks the second time in Bedard’s five starts with the Sox that the southpaw had walked three or more batters in the opening inning. He walked four and allowed two runs in the first on Aug. 9 against the Twins before settling in and walking none over his remaining four innings of work.

-Because of the rain, Bedard could not go five full innings and was not eligible to achieve his first win in a Red Sox uniform despite owning a 3.46 ERA during his time in Boston. He hasn’t won a game at all since June 15, a few weeks before he hit the DL for most of July with a knee injury.