by Jerry Feitelberg

A’s beat the Rays again

The rally opossum didn’t show up for the Tuesday night game of the three game series at the O.co Coliseum. The A’s didn’t need him tonight as the A’s defeated the Tampa Bay Rays for the second night in a row. Jason Hammel was trying to win his first game of the year since coming here July 5th from the Chicago Cubs. Hammel did just that as he went 5 2/3rds innings allowing 7 hits and four walks in getting the win. It wasn’t easy but Hammel worked his way out of several jams aided by a couple of double plays in the third and fourth innings. He had to deal with allowing the leadoff hitter to reach first base in four of the innings that he pitched. When A’s manager Bob Melvin took Hammel out of the game, he received a standing and well-deserved ovation from the fans who were so pleased that Hammel did well. The Rays’ lefty Drew Smyly, in his first start as a Ray since coming over from the Detroit Tigers in the big trade that sent David Price to Detroit on July 31st, pitched well and kept the A’s off the board until the fifth inning. The A’s bullpen was fantastic again as they retired the last ten Rays’ hitters in order. Eric O’Flaherty got the final out of the sixth inning and fellow relievers Ryan Cook, Luke Gregerson and Sean Doolittle retired the Rays 1-2-3 in the seventh, eighth and nine innings respectively. Doolittle earned his seventeenth save of the year. Here’s how the scoring came about.

The A’s drew first blood in the bottom of the fifth. Alberto Callaspo singled to center to start the inning.

Eric Sogard laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt to put Callaspo in scoring position. Coco Crisp, batting right handed, sliced a single to right field beating the shift, that allowed Callaspo to score. Crisp then advanced to third when the throw from the right fielder sailed over the catcher’s head. Sam Fuld then struck out and that was followed by a rocket off the bat of Josh Donaldson but the Rays’ Evan Longoria

made a great play and threw out Donaldson at first to end the inning. A’s lead 1-0 after five innings.

The A’s scored again in the bottom of the sixth. Derek Norris singled with one out. Big Nate Freiman

lined a double to left field to drive in Norris with the second run of the game for the A’s. Freiman took third when the ball went past the catcher for an error on Rays’ left fielder, Ben Zobrist. Rays’ manager Joe Maddon replaced Drew Smyly with another lefty, Jeff Beliveau. The next batter, Josh Reddick, singled through a drawn in infield to drive in Freiman and the A’s now have a 3-0 lead with just one out in the sixth. The A’s loaded the bases but could not get any more runs on the board.

The A’s bullpen, as mentioned above was fantastic and they sealed the win for Hammel.

Final score 3-0 A’s.

Game notes:The A’ recorded their tenth shutout of the season. Albert Callaspo recorded his first multiple-hit game since July 7th. Sean Doolittle’s seventeenth save tied an Athletic record for most saves be a left handed pitcher. The record is now shared with Alan Embree who did it in 2007.

Coco Crisp was back in the starting lineup and had a hit and rbi. Sam Fuld had a hit and is 20 for 63 (.317) with 8 RBI, 17 walks and nine stolen bases over his last 21 games. Josh Reddick continues to blister the ball. Reddick had two hits tonight and is batting .388(19 for 49) with 5 doubles, 4 home runs, eight RBI, 11 runs scored and 7 multiple hit games in 14 games since coming off the disabled list on July 22nd. The A’s improve their record to 69-43 and they increased their lead to two games over the Los Angeles Angels as the Angels lost to the LA Dodgers 5-4 in LA tonight.

The A’s conclude the three game series with Tampa Bay Wednesday afternoon at 12:30pm.

Sonny Gray (12-4,2.59) will be on the hill for Oakland and Jeremy Hellickson (0-1,3.29) will pitch

for Tampa Bay.