by Jerry Feitelberg
photo by en.wikipedia.org file photo: Oakland A’s pitcher Kendall Graveman
OAKLAND–The Oakland A’s beat the visiting Minnesota Twins 3-2 on a beautiful, sunny day at the Coliseum. Everything went right for the A’s Monday afternoon. Kendall Graveman, who has been so inconsistent this year, pitched extremely well and gave the A’s a quality start. Graveman went six innings and allowed six hits and two runs. The bullpen did its job and kept the Twins off the board to secure Graveman’s second win of the year. John Axford, Sean Doolittle, and Ryan Madson worked the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to preserve the win. The A’s offense came through with timely hitting to beat Ervin Santana. Santana owned the A’s in the past, especially when he was with the Angels, but the A’s beat him on Memorial Day. Lastly, the defense, so maligned this season, came up big time. The play of the game was Yonder Alonso robbing Joe Maurer of a hit. Maurer’s ball was a rocket that was heading to right field. Alonso dove to his right and caught the ball that prevented two runs from scoring.
Coco Crisp, leading off in the bottom of the first, homered into the right field stands. For Coco, it was the sixteenth time in his career that he had led off the with a home run. The Twins tied the game in the top of the second. Miguel Sano singled to get the rally going for the Twins. With two out, consecutive singles bu Eduardo Escobar and Juan Centeno allowed Sano to score with the tying run. In the top of the fifth, the Twins scored their second run of the game when singles by Danny Santana and Eduardo Nunez put men on at first and third with no out. Twins’ second baseman, Brian Dozier, flew out to deep right centerfield to drive in Santana. Chris Coughlan and Coco Crisp collided on the play. Coughlan held on to the ball, but it was a scary moment as both players appeared to be injured on the play. Fortunately for the A’s, neither player was hurt. The A’s tied the game at two in the bottom of the inning. Yonder Alonso led off with a single. Marcus Semien followed with a double off the wall in left-center to drive in Alonso. Semien was out trying to go third on the throw to the plate. Maurer cut the throw off and nailed Semien at third. Bob Melvin asked for a review, but the call was upheld.
The A’s scored the go-ahead run in the sixth. Jed Lowrie started the inning with a single. Stephen Vogt doubled to left to put men on at second and third with no out. Danny Valencia walked to load the bases. Khris Davis flew out to center to drive in Lowrie with the winning run. The inning ended when Billy Butler ground into a double play.
The A’s brought in John Axford to pitch in the seventh. The Twins Juan Centeno and Danny Santana singled. Eduardo Nunez laid down a sacrifice bunt that advanced the runners to second and third with one out. Axford struck out Brian Dozier on a 98 mile-an-hour fastball. Bob Melvin brought in lefty Sean Doolittle to pitch to Joe Maurer. Maurer hit a line shot just to the right of Yonder Alonso. Alonso speared the ball for the final out of the inning. Two runs would have scored. Defensive play of the day.Doolittle pitched a strong eighth inning, striking out two and Ryan Madson closed out the game setting the Twins down in order in the ninth. A’s win the game 3-2.
Game Notes- The A’s won their third game in a row after losing six of seven to New York, Seattle and Detroit. The A’s improved to 23-29 for the year. Graveman is now 2-6. Game two of the three-game series will be played Tuesday night at 7:05 PM.
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