by Jerry Feitelberg

AP photo: Billy Burns left and Jed Lowrie celebrate after scoring on the Minnesota Twins in the eighth inning of Tuesday nigh’ts game at the Oakland Coliseum

OAKLAND–The Oakland A’s won their fourth consecutive game in a row by beating the Minnesota Twins 7-4 in a game that seemed to go on forever. Time of game was three hours and fourteen minutes. The A’s starter, Eric Surkamp lasted just 4 and 2/3rds innings. The A’s used four relievers to secure the win. Ryan Dull received credit for his first win of the season. The Twins starter, Tyler Duffey also went 4 and 2/3rd innings and took the loss. Duffey’s record is 2-4 for the year. Every time the Twins scored in an inning, the A’s responded by scoring in their half of the frame. The Twins did not have a shutdown inning in the game

The Twins struck first in the top of the second. Surkamp retired the first two hitters he faced to start the frame. Twins left-fielder hit a flyball down the right-field line that landed on the chalk for a double. The next hitter, Byung Ho Park, followed with a double to right to drive in Grossman with the first run of the game. The A’s tied the game in their half of the inning. Marcus Semien led off with a single. Chris Coughlan hit a ground ball to first. Joe Maurer threw to second to record the force out on Semien. However, the throw back to first from Twins’ shortstop Eduardo Nunez was wild, and Coughlan reached second on the error. Billy Burns tripled to drive in Coughlan and was at third with just one out. Twins’ pitcher Trevor Duffey struck out Coco for the second out and got Jed Lowrie to ground out to end the inning.

The Twins regained the lead in the third. With one out, Nunez singled to get things going. Surkamp hit Brian Dozier with a pitch to put men on at first and second. Joe Maurer followed with a single to left to load the bases. Miguel Sano hit into a fielder’s choice driving in Dozier with the Twins second run of the game. Sano appeared to injure his left hamstring beating the throw to first and had to leave the game.  The A’s scored two runs in the bottom of the third. Stephen Vogt led off with a single. He scored when Danny Valencia took a 3-1 pitch to the opposite field for his eighth tater of the season. A’s lead 3-2 after three complete.

The Twins tied the game at three in the top of the fifth. Eric Surkamp retired the first two hitters he faced. However, he could not close out the inning. Trevor Plouffe singled and scored on a double by Robbie Grossman. A’s manager Bob Melvin removed Surkamp from the game and replaced him with Ryan Dull. Surkamp’s line was 4.2 innings pitched, and he allowed eight hits and three runs allowed. Dull struck out Park to end the Twins threat. The A’s scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth to regain the lead. Stephen Vogt led off the inning with a single. Danny Valencia doubled to drive Vogt in with the fourth run of the game. Valencia has driven in three runs so far. Duffey retired Khris Davis and Yonder Alonso. However, he could not get past Marcus Semien. Semien blasted a double to left to drive in Valencia. Twins’ manager Paul Molitor removed Duffey from the game. The new pitcher, Buddy Broshers, retired Jake Smolinski to end the inning. A’s lead 5-3.

The Twins scored a run to cut the deficit to one in the eighth inning. Robbie Grossman led off the inning with a double. For Grossman, it was his third double of the game. Grossman advanced to third when Byung Ho Park flew out to deep centerfield. Former A’s catcher, Kurt Suzuki singled to drive in Grossman with the Twins’ fourth run of the game. The A’s came back again in their half of the frame to score two more runs and increased the lead to three. The big blow was delivered by Stephen Vogt. Vogt doubled to drive in Billy Burns and Jed Lowrie to give the A’s the lead 7-4 after eight.

Game Notes.Stephen Vogt and Danny Valencia were the hitting stars for the A’s. Vogt had two singles, a double and two RBIs. Valencia had a homer and a double and knocked in three. The A’s improved their record to 24-29 while Minnesota drops to 15-36.

The final game of the three-game series will be Wednesday afternoon at the Coliseum at 12:35 PM as the A’s go for the sweep. It will be a battle between two lefties. Sean Manaea (1-3,7.03) will pitch for Oakland and Minnesota will send Pat Dean (1-1, 3.43)  out to handle the pitching chores.

12,767 A’s faithful watched their heroes triumph on a very lovely night in Oakland.