The Oakland Athletics will do no worse than a series split in their four-game series against the Los Angeles Angels. On Tuesday night, they held on to win their fifth straight game by a final score of 6-5.
Yoenis Cespedes led off the second inning with his 17th home run of the year to give the A's an early lead. The Angels answered back in the bottom of the inning with a two-run Vernon Wells homer to go ahead 2-1.
The A's put together a three-run top of the fourth. Brandon Moss hit a two-run homer -- his 18th of the year in just over 200 plate appearances -- and Stephen Drew hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2.
With two outs in the seventh inning, Torii Hunter hit a solo homer to cut the lead to one run. The A's managed the dagger in the top of the ninth. With two outs once again, Coco Crisp hit a triple that Hunter misplayed into a two-run, inside-the-park home run (of sorts) that pushed the lead out to 6-3.
Those runs proved to be invaluable. The Angels mounted a huge comeback in the ninth inning as Hunter and Albert Pujols hit RBI singles to cut the lead to 6-5 before Grant Balfour could record an out. Jerry Blevins struck out Kendrys Morales and managed to get Howie Kendrick to ground into a double play to end the game.
Oakland starter Dan Straily allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk in seven innings of work, striking out eight
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