A's 7, Padres 5
I told myself tonight at dinner- well, my dog had a date so, yeah- that rather than focus on the ineptitude of the A's offense, I was going to sit back and revel in the awesomeness that has been Josh Outman this season.
Oops.
Outman's evening was cut short due to soreness in his left arm; he left after facing four batters in the second inning. Meanwhile the A's battled back from behind twice, the second time with a three-run eighth to outlast the Padres.
Orlando Cabrera struck the big blow, a two-out double over the head of Chase Headley to score the tying and go-ahead runs.
Yeah, you read that right.
It was Headley who started the scoring some seven hours ago (feels like it) with a homerun leading off the second. Something in Outman's delivery prompted a visit from Bob Geren and trainer Stephen Sayles. Three batters later, they emerged again, this time to remove Outman.
Edgar Gonzalez replaced him, which gave fans a chance to delight in a showdown between the A's pitcher and the Padre right-fielder with the same name. The hurler not only won both battles, he out-hit the other Gonzalez tonight 2-0.
After the Padres went up 2-love in the third, Oakland struck for three in the third as San Diego starter Wade LeBlanc struggled to find home plate. Kurt Suzuki got things going with a base hit (the first of three), followed by a walk to Jack Cust and Matt Holliday to load the bases. LeBlanc then LePlunked Jason Giambi to score Suzuki. What followed may never happen again: back-to-back sac flies by Cabrera and Bobby Crosby to put the A's in front.
An error by Rajai Davis in the bottom half gave the lead right back, and San Diego regained the lead with a pair in the sixth off Russ Springer (the runs were charged to Gonzalez).
The A's began their comeback on a one-out single by Suzuki. After Cust lined out, Holliday walked. Giambi came through with his second hit of the night to drive in Suzuki, setting up Cabrera to play hero.
The A's added a run in the ninth on an RBI-knock by Mr. Suzuki.
Michael Wuertz (who got the win), Craig Breslow, and Andrew Bailey (seventh save) shut down the Padres from the stretch on, surviving a shaky eighth inning to nail down the victory.
