By Kahlil Najar

OAKLAND – Coco Crisp came in to the game in the bottom of the seventh and proved his worth in the eighth when he hit a go-ahead RBI single off of lefty Andrew Miller to give the A’s a 4-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

On his clutch timing Crisp said, “Everybody in here in the later innings, his number can be pulled out of the hat. We know with our team we play a full squad, so we’re always prepared in case of anything.”

Putting Crisp in was something that coach Bob Melvin didn’t want to do, “Certainly I’d like to rest him the whole game, but he always tells me he’s ready to go, and he came up huge for us. There’s been so many times over the last couple of years where he comes up in those situations and comes through so many times. To an extent you almost expect it, which is unrealistic, but you always feel good when he’s up at the plate.

With the win tonight the A’s have the best record in the league and are 18 games over .500.

Josh Donaldson hit his 18th homer of the year in the bottom of the first with two men on to give the A’s a 3-0 lead. Boston mounted a comeback in the second when Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a line drive single to center field and score Mike Napoli and Jonny Gomes who had landed on the bases earlier in the inning.

The Red Sox completed the comeback in the top of the third when the always reliable David Ortiz hit a single to right field ans score Xanders Bogaerts to tie the game at 3-3.

It wasn’t until the bottom of the eighth when Crisp smacked a line drive single to Red Sox right fielder Brock Holt and scored Kyle Banks who was on second and sealed the victory for Oakland.

Melvin concluded, “That was a complete team win today. When your starter goes four innings and you got to use a lot of bullpen you certainly got a lot of contributions.”

The Red Sox and A’s head back at it tomorrow night when the Red Sox send Rubby De La Rosa (2-2) against Jesse Chavez (6-4), game time 1:05pm PT.