GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: AL: OAKLAND (53-59) at TEXAS (48-63)

Piazza's key hit helps Athletics hold off Rangers

<h3>OAKLAND 9, TEXAS 7 (13 INNINGS)</h3>ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- After watching his teammates blowa huge lead, Mike Piazza came to the rescue in extra innings.

Piazza had the decisive base hit in the 13th inning as theOakland Athletics defeated the Texas Rangers, 9-7, on Monday.

Mark Ellis drove in an insurance run and Marco Scutaro beltedhis first career grand slam for Oakland, which snapped athree-game road losing streak.


Texas, which opened a nine-game homestand, has lost fivestraight, tying its second-longest losing streak of the season.The Rangers dropped six in a row from May 22-28.


With the score tied at 7-7 in the top of the 13th inning, RobBowen led off by drawing a walk from reliever Willie Eyre (3-5).After Bowen moved to second on a sacrifice, two batters laterNick Swisher was intentionally walked to bring up theslow-footed Piazza. However, the 16-year veteran lined an RBIsingle to right field to put Oakland up, 8-7.


Ellis followed with an infield single that plated Swisher, whohad advanced to third on Piazza's hit.


Andrew Brown (2-0), the fifth of the Athletics' six pitchers,earned the win with two innings of relief. Kiko Calero thenworked the bottom of the 13th to record his first save of 2007.

The Rangers' Michael Young had made extra innings necessary withhis ninth-inning heroics.


In the bottom of the ninth, Young tied the game when he hit aleadoff, opposite-field homer off Alan Embree over the rightfield wall to knot the score at 7-7. It was his first homersince May 6 - exactly three months since his fourth blast of theseason.


Texas had trailed, 7-3, in the eighth when a two-run homer byrookie Jason Botts and an RBI groundout by Ian Kinsler cut theirdeficit to one. Both of Botts' two career homers have comeagainst Oakland. The rally spoiled an effective effort by A'sstarter Dallas Braden.


The rookie lefthander allowed three runs - two earned - and sixhits in five innings, and was looking for his first win since a4-2 victory against the Baltimore Orioles on April 24.

The comeback also wasted an impressive first inning by the A'soffense.


With two out in the frame, three consecutive singles, includinga run-scoring base hit by Ellis off John Rheinecker, gaveOakland a 1-0 lead.


After Rheinecker walked Dan Johnson to load the bases, Scutarohit the next pitch into the second row of seats in left toincrease the lead to 5-0. It was Scutaro's fifth of the seasonand 29th of his career, but first with the bases packed.

Donnie Murphy then smacked the next pitch from Rheinecker intothe A's bullpen in left to make it 6-0.


Oakland increased its lead to seven in the third when Johnsonscored on a double-play groundout.


Rheinecker was tagged for season highs of seven runs and ninehits along with four walks in five innings.


However, the Rangers started their rally in the bottom of thethird.


After an error, an infield hit and a walk loaded the bases,Sammy Sosa hit a two-run single to left and Marlon Byrd added anRBI base hit up the middle to cut the deficit to 7-3.

 

Piazza's key hit helps Athletics hold off Rangers

<h3>OAKLAND 9, TEXAS 7 (13 INNINGS)</h3>ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- After watching his teammates blowa huge lead, Mike Piazza came to the rescue in extra innings.

Piazza had the decisive base hit in the 13th inning as theOakland Athletics defeated the Texas Rangers, 9-7, on Monday.

Mark Ellis drove in an insurance run and Marco Scutaro beltedhis first career grand slam for Oakland, which snapped athree-game road losing streak.


Texas, which opened a nine-game homestand, has lost fivestraight, tying its second-longest losing streak of the season.The Rangers dropped six in a row from May 22-28.


With the score tied at 7-7 in the top of the 13th inning, RobBowen led off by drawing a walk from reliever Willie Eyre (3-5).After Bowen moved to second on a sacrifice, two batters laterNick Swisher was intentionally walked to bring up theslow-footed Piazza. However, the 16-year veteran lined an RBIsingle to right field to put Oakland up, 8-7.


"I just wanted to have a good at-bat," said Piazza, who hadthree hits. "I just wanted to hit the ball hard. Fortunately,I battled back to a full count, got a ball up in the strike zoneand I was able to punch it into right field."


Ellis followed with an infield single that plated Swisher, whohad advanced to third on Piazza's hit.


"Obviously a big hit late with Mike. He's just a Hall of Fameguy with a clutch hit right there to put us ahead," Athleticsmanager Bob Geren said. "Ellis battled and got that second run,and we needed every one of them. At this ballpark, we have ahistory of games just like this, high-scoring, never getting abig enough lead, and tonight was another one."


Andrew Brown (2-0), the sixth of the Athletics' seven pitchers,earned the win with two innings of relief. Kiko Calero thenworked the bottom of the 13th to record his first save of 2007.

"Andrew Brown has just been really impressive," said Geren ofthe rookie righthander, who joined the organization in theMilton Bradley trade on June 29. "He's a heck of anacquisition, with a 99 miles-an-hour fastball at times and hisbreaking ball. He has put himself on the map. He's reallypitching well for us."


The Rangers' Michael Young had made extra innings necessary withhis ninth-inning heroics.


In the bottom of the ninth, Young tied the game when he hit aleadoff, opposite-field homer off Alan Embree over the rightfield wall to knot the score at 7-7. It was his first homersince May 6 - a total of 77 games and 317 at-bats since hisfourth blast of the season.


"Embree's a tough guy to hit a home run off of," said Young, whohad three hits before getting ejected in the 11th for arguing acalled third strike. "I was looking for something up in thezone and luckily it went out. I wasn't thinking home run there,I just wanted to get on base."


"It was a fastball up and away," Embree said. "I thought it wasa harmless fastball and he jumped on it. Got to tip my cap tohim, that's the reason why he's an All-Star. It just came at areally bad time for us. He got it, that's all there is to it.I didn't think it was going to go, but it did."


Geren didn't fault Embree, whose streaks of 22 consecutivebatters retired and 10 straight scoreless appearances weresnapped by Young.


"Alan gave up that homer, but that's probably just a (flyout) inour ballpark," Geren said. "Seriously, you hate to sayanything negative about it. It's just a fly ball that gets outby a foot."


Texas had trailed, 7-3, in the eighth when a two-run homer byrookie Jason Botts and an RBI groundout by Ian Kinsler cut theirdeficit to one. Both of Botts' two career homers have comeagainst Oakland.


"We ended up being out there 13 innings and it easily have beendone after nine," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Theseguys have a lot of fight in them. I'm very proud of them."

The rally spoiled an effective effort by A's starter DallasBraden.


The rookie lefthander allowed three runs - two earned - and sixhits in five innings, and was looking for his first win since a4-2 victory against the Baltimore Orioles on April 24, a span of11 appearances, including eight starts.


"He was actually feeling a little sick there in the dugout,"Geren said of Braden, who matched a career high with sevenstrikeouts. "But he battled through it and kept going outthere. It's a pretty gutsy, high-quality performance."

The comeback also wasted an impressive first inning by the A'soffense.


With two out in the frame, three consecutive singles, includinga run-scoring base hit by Ellis off John Rheinecker, gaveOakland a 1-0 lead.


After Rheinecker walked Dan Johnson to load the bases, Scutarohit the next pitch into the second row of seats in left toincrease the lead to 5-0. It was Scutaro's fifth of the seasonand 29th of his career, but first with the bases packed.

Donnie Murphy then smacked the next pitch from Rheinecker intothe A's bullpen in left to make it 6-0.


"Any time you throw up a crooked number in the first like that,you figure you're going to cruise," Piazza said. "But theybattled back, scored a couple of tough runs, real important runslater in the game to get close, before Michael tied the game.Obviously after that, it became a war of attrition. It wentback and forth and fortunately, we punched a couple of runsacross."


Oakland increased its lead to seven in the third when Johnsonscored on a double-play groundout.


Rheinecker was tagged for season highs of seven runs and ninehits along with four walks in five innings.


"John struggled," Washington said. "He had a lot of problemswith his command. He got balls up and they didn't miss them.But he stood out there, fought and got us through five."

However, the Rangers started their rally in the bottom of thethird.


After an error, an infield hit and a walk loaded the bases,Sammy Sosa hit a two-run single to left and Marlon Byrd added anRBI base hit up the middle to cut the deficit to 7-3.