A?s pitchers knocked around in 9-4 Texas victory

From Chronicle Staff Writer Susan Slusser at Rangers Ballpark

The concept of the shutdown inning is escaping the A?s starters lately. At least once in all three games in Texas, the A?s have scored and the Rangers have immediately come back the next inning and put up runs.

Jarrod Parker only slipped up mildly in that respect on Tuesday, and that?s the game the A?s won so far in this four-game visit. But on Wednesday, the A?s scored three runs in the fifth inning on a homer by Chris Young ? and Tommy Milone turned around and allowed two in the bottom of the inning and the Rangers regained the lead in an eventual 9-4 victory. Texas cut Oakland?s lead in the AL West back to two games.

?Chris hits a home run and it?s a big momentum shift, because it doesn?t look like Tommy has his best stuff,? A?s manager Bob Melvin said. ?It?s important to go out and shut it down, and Tommy has done that many times. It just didn?t happen tonight.?

It was a rare misfire by Oakland pitching; the team had a 2.74 ERA and a .224 opponents average in the previous 31 games entering Wednesday.

?As a pitcher, when your team gets some runs, you want to keep it that way,? Milone said. ?I felt like I didn?t have it today. ? Across the board, I wasn?t feeling too good. In the fifth and sixth innings, I was just leaving balls over the plate, that was the problem.?

Right after Oakland took the lead, David Murphy and Leonys Martin singled off Milone, and Martin stole second. Ian Kinser hit a sacrifice fly to center, and Elvis Andrus walked before Nelson Cruz hit a grounder to third with Andrus going on the pitch.

Josh Donaldson looked to second, saw he didn?t have a play there and threw home with plenty of time to get Martin at the plate. But his throw was up the first-base line and Martin slid around catcher Derek Norris, headfirst, while slipping his hand onto the plate to give Texas the lead.

?I felt I still had a shot to go home, but the throw was a little cutter,? Donaldson said. ?If I make the throw I normally do, he?s out.?

?A good throw and he?s got him. ? It sailed on him,? Melvin said. ?That?s a big play at the time.?

Things got worse from there in the sixth for the A?s, as Texas got six hits, including four singles in a row; Milone (6-7) allowed two more runs and Dan Otero another two in the inning, while Jesse Chavez gave up a run in the seventh. In the first three games of the series, Oakland has given up 19 runs.

?That?s just the way this series has been going,? Young said. ?Back and forth with these games ever since we?ve been here. We understand how important this series is; it?s a credit to them. We punch them and they punch back.?

Milone gave up a two-run homer to Lance Berkman in the second inning and Milone has allowed eight homers, total, in his past six starts.

?With this lineup, you can?t miss a lot and have great results,? Norris said of the Rangers. ?He gave them too many and they capitalized on it.?

Young is now 5 for 8 with two homers when batting leadoff this year.

Josh Reddick and Eric Sogard walked in the fifth against Justin Grimm (6-5), then Young drilled a homer to dead center, his seventh of the season.

Norris left the game in the sixth after getting hit in a sensitive area by a foul tip, and he?d only stopped feeling sick to his stomach 30 minutes after the game.

?Any time you get hit in the you-know-what, it?s not the best feeling,? Norris said. ?I?ve? had my fair share of shots in that area and this was by far the worst. ? I kind of lost the feeling in my legs.?

Yoenis Cespedes went 1 for 4 with a double and two strikeouts and is batting .232. He scored in the eighth inning on a base hit by Donaldson. Melvin said that Cespedes has been sick the past few days but that Cespedes wouldn?t want to use that as an excuse.? ?He?s been a little low on energy,? Melvin said.

Source: http://blog.sfgate.com/athletics/2013/06/19/as-pitchers-knocked-around-in-9-4-texas-victory/

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