Coco Crisp has been a lightning rod since coming off of the DL, and he continued his hot start by coming a HR short of the cycle for the second time in less than a week.
Vin Mazzaro had about an hour to prepare for his start tonight, as Dallas Braden was scratched due to a flare up of his elbow tendinitis. I'm not sure if the short notice hurt Vin's performance to night, but he was far from sharp. Yes, he held the Orioles to three hits and one run over six innings, but I'm not a big fan of the six walks. When you walk Julio Lugo twice and hit him in the shoulder blade, you shouldn't really walk out of the game with one run to your name. A stronger team would have forced Vin out of the game about an hour before his actual exit, but hey, I'll take it.
Brian Matusz pitched better, but not by much. Thankfully, the A's were able to translate their baserunners into runs, or at least they did a better job of it than Baltimore did. In the bottom of the 8th, the Nick Markakis and Luke Scott both his doubles, and Matt Wieters had a fantastic nine pitch at bat, ending in a walk. Fortunately, the O's sandwiched those big hits around outs, and the A's escaped allowing one run. Coco Crisp hit a big double immediately after and came around to score, which ended up being more than enough to close out the win.
The surging A's send Ben Sheets on the mound to face Kevin Millwood tomorrow at 4:05 PM.
Current Series
Athletics lead the series 1-0
| Tue 06/29 | 4 - 2 win | |
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Oakland Athletics Wednesday, Jun 30, 2010, 4:05 PM PDT Ben Sheets vs Kevin Millwood Clear. Winds blowing in from left field at 10-15 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 80. Complete Coverage > |
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| Thu 07/01 | 4:05 PM PDT | |
