NEW YORK, 15 July 2006 — Bobby Kielty and Frank Thomas both singled in runs in the 11th inning as the Oakland Athletics opened the second half of the season with a gritty 5-4 comeback win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday at Fenway Park.
Trailing 3-1, the Athletics capitalized on a fielding error by Red Sox All-Star second baseman Mark Loretta, who misplayed Kielty’s routine grounder allowing Jason Kendall and Antonio Perez to score sending the game to extra innings.
“He (Loretta) just didn’t look it into his glove,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona told MLB.com. “Probably happens one out of every thousand. That’s part of the game.” Kielty broke the tie in the 11th when he singled in Kendall then scored the eventual game winner on Frank Thomas’s single to left. The Red Sox returned from the All-Star break the same way they entered it — working overtime.
In their final game before Tuesday’s mid-season classic, the Red Sox lost a 6-5, 19-inning marathon to the Chicago White Sox that took six hours and 19 minutes to complete.Huston Street (3-3) tossed 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to earn the win while Kirk Saarloos, Oakland’s eighth pitcher, collected the final two outs to register his second save of the campaign.
In Baltimore, Mark Teixeira belted a career best three home runs and Mark DeRosa, Brad Wilkerson and Rod Barajas also homered as the Texas Rangers pounded the Orioles 15-1.
Teixeira, who had just nine homers prior to the All-Star break, sparked a six-run sixth inning with his first home run of contest as the Rangers broke open the 1-1 game storming in front to stay 7-1.
The veteran first baseman added a two-run blast in the eighth and a three-run shot in the ninth to finish with seven RBI.
DeRosa had a perfect night at the plate going four-for-four with three RBI and three runs scored. Overshadowed by the offensive fireworks was a superb pitching effort from Vicente Padilla (9-5), who yielded just one run on four hits, striking out three and walking three in seven innings of work. Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera (4-7) absorbed the loss allowing four runs on six hits with two strike outs and five walks in 5 1/3 innings.
In Minneapolis, Casey Blake, Jhonny Peralta, Travis Hafner and Kelly Shoppach all smacked home runs to guide the Cleveland Indians to a 6-4 decision over the Minnesota Twins.
In his first at bat since returning from the disabled list, Blake belted a two-run homer to help the Indians to a 3-0 second inning lead they would never relinquish. The Twins’ brilliant rookie Francisco Liriano (10-2) had a rough start to the second half of the season allowing five runs — four earned — on five hits with six strikeouts and three walks in five innings.
Castro, Griffey Hold Off Rockies as Reds Hit Form
Juan Castro and Ken Griffey Jr. both homered as the Cincinnati Reds opened the second half of the season on Thursday at Great America Ball Park with a 9-7 win over the Colorado Rockies.
Returning to work following the All-Star break, the Reds began the day by sending starting outfielder Austin Kearns and shortstop Felipe Lopez to the Washington Nationals for relievers Gary Majewski and Bill Bray in an eight-player swap. The reasons for the trade came clear in the ninth when the Reds bullpen — the second worst in the National League — struggled to close the game giving up four runs before another recent acquisition Eddie Guardado came on to get the final two outs and nail down the win.
“This guy’s going to battle,” Reds manager Jerry Narron told MLB.com. “He’s fearless.
“It’s nice to have a guy who’s been out there before, who wants the ball in the ninth inning and he showed it tonight.” A two-run double from Adam Dunn and an RBI single by Edwin Encarnacion provided the Reds with a 3-0 first inning lead. The home team looked set to cruise to a convincing victory after a five-run burst in the seventh keyed by a three-run blast from Castro and Griffey’s 555th career homer gave the Reds a 9-3 cushion.
But the Rockies rallied in the ninth, roughing up reliever Jason Standridge for four runs — three earned — on four hits in 1/3 of an inning to trim the deficit to 9-7.
Guardado, who came over to the Reds last week in a trade with the Seattle Mariners, did the job getting the final two outs including Todd Helton swinging to end the game and collect his first save in a Cincinnati uniform.
In Miami, Aubrey Huff belted a three-run homer in his Astros debut powering Houston to a 5-1 over the Florida Marlins.
Huff, obtained in a trade with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Wednesday, came through in his first opportunity for his new team breaking open 1-1 contest with his eighth-inning blast.
Lance Berkman and Willy Taveras each contributed three hits and run scored to the win.
The Marlins’ Dontrelle Willis and Houston’s Roy Oswalt engaged in a duel matching each other pitch-for-pitch through five shutout innings but neither starter figured in the decision. Chad Qualls (6-4) took over for Oswalt in the seventh and tossed 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win. Randy Messenger (1-5) took over for Willis in the eighth and failed to record an out rocked for four runs — three earned — on three hits.
In St. Louis, Albert Pujols slammed a one-out game-winning home run in the 14th inning lifting the Cardinals to a 3-2 decision over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
After Jim Edmonds had belted a two-run homer in the seventh to tie the game at 2-2 and force extra innings, Pujols decided the game when he took a 3-1 offering from Odalis Perez and drove it over the left field wall for his National League leading 30th home run of the season.
