ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – The Tampa Bay Rays were one out away from a victory Sunday.
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Unfortunately for Steve Geltz, Danny Valencia was up for the Oakland Athletics with a man on base. He had a career day on Sunday, driving three homers, the last of which was a two-run shot in the ninth inning to lift Oakland to a 7-6 win over the Rays.
Oakland trailed 5-1 after four innings, but clawed back within 6-5 on a solo shot by pinch hitter Chris Coghlan in the seventh.
The complete game is the first for the Rays this season and just the second in Kevin Cash’s two seasons as manager. “It’s hard to lose a ballgame that way”. “I wanted to give us a chance to win”. He’s the first player to hit three 425-foot home runs in a game since 2009, when ESPN Stats & Information first started tracking home run distances.
Graveman (1-5) didn’t get much help in Oakland’s 6-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night, the A’s sixth loss in seven games.
Geltz, who gave up the deciding home run in Monday’s loss and a walkoff home run in the 11th Wednesday, saw his first pitch Sunday leave the park in left field – Oakland had been 0-20 when trailing after eight innings this season. Well, really they were defeated once again by Steve Geltz, who has now given up a go-ahead homer in three of his last four appearances. “I’ve been kind of setting my sights to the middle-in part of the plate, and he missed over there”.
The Red Sox have now hit at least one home run in 16 straight games, their longest streak since a 19-game stretch from July 4-25, 1996. The Rays answered with two runs, but Hill got out of a bases-loaded jam, then didn’t allow another hit until the fifth inning.
CHICAGO – Jung Ho Kang went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and a solo home run as the Pirates held on to salvage the finale of a three-game series. The other two came on inside fastballs.
Lucroy finished with two hits, including his fifth home run of the season as the Brewers collected 11 hits.
“Sometimes you’ve got to tip your hat”, Guyer said. “We’ve got great pitchers”. Their starting pitching couldn’t get them through six innings, which forced Bob Melvin to use his relievers differently than he might otherwise have been able to. The second was in the fifth, and Valencia launched it roughly just as far as the first one (MLB.com video).
In fairness, three of Gray’s six runs allowed in a Sunday no-decision effort were unearned.
The “Swingin’ A’s” have hit 41 home runs through the first 38 games of the season (No. 15 in MLB). All nine of Semien’s team-high nine home runs have come from the ninth spot in the batting order.
Athletics: INF Jed Lowrie (right shin contusion) hit off a tee Saturday, resuming baseball activities. He is eligible to be reinstated from the disabled list on May 25. “Might be one of the more hard ones of the first part of the year”. “I’m not going to say it wore Jake down, but I can’t imagine how it doesn’t frustrate Jake because it restarted us in the dugout”.
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Gray (3-4, 6.00 ERA) had a 2.73 ERA through four starts but has recorded a 12.79 mark while losing his last three.
