(category Oakland Athletics)

(tags baseball,Athletics,MLB,Coco Crisp)

By Daniel Dullum
Thursday, September 19, 2013

Coco Crisp belted a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning Thursday, powering Oakland to an 8-6 win over the visiting Minnesota Twins at the Coliseum.

The victory lowers the Athletics’ magic number for clinching the American League West title to four. Any combination of A’s wins and Los Angeles Angels losses totaling four does the trick.

The A’s remain 6 ½ games ahead of Texas in the AL West race. The Rangers defeated Tampa Bay 8-2.

Minnesota’s Brian Dozier hit an RBI single in the top of the eighth that tied the game at 6-6. But in the bottom of the eighth, Crisp hit his 21st home run of the season off Twins reliever Shairon Martis (0-1).

The Athletics took a 6-3 lead in the sixth when, after Crisp and Josh Danaldson each singled, Jed Lowrie smacked a three-run bomb. Earlier that inning, pinch-hitter Alberto Callaspo tied the game at 3-3 with a solo homer.

Stephen Vogt’s sacrifice fly and an RBI double by Josh Reddick accounted for the other Oakland runs.

Oakland reliever Sean Doolittle (5-5) worked the final 1 1/3 innings to get the win.

Oswaldo Arcia homered in the seventh inning for the slumping Twins, who lost for the seventh time in their last nine games.

A sparse crowd of 11,461 watched the 3-hour, 41-minute contest.

A’s ACORNS: The AP reports that OF Yoenis Cespedes received a cortisone shot on Wednesday to address tendonitis in his right shoulder. Cespedes did not play Thursday, but could return to the lineup on Friday. … Before the game, Coco Crisp was named as recipient of the 2013 Jim “Catfish” Hunter Award, given to the A’s player that exudes “the good nature and spirit” of the late Hall of Fame pitcher.