|
|
|
|
|
A’s come from behind, 5-4
By George Devine, Sr. August 20, 2010 |
||
|
|
|||
|
The A’s again hosted the Tampa Bay Rays, throwing Vin Mazzaro (6-5, 3.71 ERA) against fellow righthander Jeremy Hellickson (3-0, 1.35). Neither figured in the decision, as the A’s came from behind to win 5-4 thanks to relievers Henry Rodriguez (1-0) and Craig Breslow who picked up his second save. The loser was Joaquin Benoit (0-2). The game began badly for the Elephants, as Steve Tolleson committed an error allowing Ben Zobrist to reach first; he advanced to second on a throwing error by Mazzaro and both Zobrist and Carl Crawford – who hit the comebacker that Mazzaro misthrew -- came home on a ground ball hit to right by Matt Joyce. In the second, the Rays added another run as B.J. Upton walked, advanced to third on Jason Bartlett’s grounder to left and came home when John Jaso popped up to left. In the home second, Cliff Pennington doubled to the corner in right, stole third, and scored when Daric Barton singled to center; so did Coco Crisp, who grounded towards Zobrist at second and then stole second. The Rays scored again in the sixth when Zobrist homered 330’ to left; in the bottom of the frame, the Athletics struck back, with Jack Cust’s solo homer 388’ to left center off Joaquin Benoit. In the eighth, Cust walked, and pinch-runner Gabe Gross took third on Kevin Kouzmanoff’s double to the same corner in right field that Pennington favored, and came home when Rajai Davis popped up to center. Kouzmanoff reached third on the same popup, and reached the plate on an error by Zobrist. The two teams meet again at 6:05 p.m PDT on Saturday, August 21, with Brett Anderson (3-4, 2.89) facing fellow lefty David Price (15-5, 2.85). The A’s placed outfielder Conor Jackson on the 15-day disabled list today with a lower abdominal strain. To take his spot on the roster, the A’s recalled infielder Jeff Larish from Triple-A Sacramento. This is the third stint on the disabled list this year for Jackson, who came off the DL on Monday after straining his right hamstring. He was placed on the DL July 5 retroactive to July 1 and went 1 for 12 with five walks in four starts in left field following his return on August 16. Jackson was also on the Arizona disabled list from April 19 to May 6 with a strained right hamstring. The A’s have now used the disabled list 23 times this year, which is second most in Oakland history, two short of the record of 25 set in 2008. It is the 87th time Oakland has used the DL over the last four years and only Texas, with 94, has used it more times over that span. The 23 players have combined to miss 1004 games, an average of 43.7 games per stint. The A’s currently have a season-high tying 11 players on the DL. Larish joins the A’s for the second time in 2010 as he was previously with the club from August 9 to 15. He appeared in one game for Oakland, going 0 for 3 with a strikeout in a start at first base on August 9 at Seattle, before he was optioned back to Sacramento on Monday. Larish went 3 for 12 (.250) with a double, a home run and four RBI in three games with the River Cats following his option and hit .361 with five home runs and 19 RBI in eight games overall with Sacramento after being claimed off waivers from Detroit on August 3. He began the season at Triple-A Toledo in the Detroit organization and was batting .275 with 15 home runs and 55 RBI in 84 games when the Tigers called on July 25. Larish went 2 for 10 (.200) with an RBI in three games with Detroit before he was designated for assignment July 30. |
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||