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Sacrifice fly wins game for A’s
By Jeremy Kahn September 27, 2004 |
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Bobby Crosby’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning scored pinch runner Esteban German from third base, as the Oakland A’s maintained their one game lead in the American League West with a 6-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners. The Anaheim Angels kept pace after they defeated the Texas Rangers in Arlington 5-3. A’s pitching held Ichiro Suzuki to just one hit, leaving the Mariners right fielder just six hits from George Sisler’s 84-year old record of 257 hits in a season. Octavio Dotel picked up the win by pitching the ninth inning for his fifth win of the season and was supported by a fantastic catch by centerfielder Mark Kotsay. Erubiel Durazo led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a slicing double to left field that skipped off the glove of Raul Ibanez. Jermaine Dye then grounded out to move Durazo up the additional 90 feet to third base. After the Dye ground out, Scott Hatteberg was intentionally walked. German entered the game to run for Durazo, then Marco Scutaro walked to load the bases. Crosby lined a 1-0 pitch to right to win it; Suzuki’s throw to the catcher went up the line allowing German score the winning run. Dye and Scutaro each hit home runs earlier, but the A's couldn't hold a 5-1 lead. Willie Bloomquist tied the game at 5 with a three-run homer off Barry Zito in the seventh inning that followed singles by Jose Lopez and Dan Wilson. Zito retired 12 of his first 13 batters before Bret Boone's leadoff double in the fifth. Zito, who is winless in five of his last six starts, allowed five runs and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings of work. Kotsay extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a first-inning single, the first of his four hits. Kotsay's run scoring single in the second inning gave the A's 1,502 hits on the season, breaking the previous club record of 1,501, set in 2000. |
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