Oakland A's Use Four-Run Fourth Inning to Beat Giants 6-2

Down 2-0, the A's used a gritty fourth inning rally against Tim Lincecum to score four runs and defeat the San Francisco Giants 6-2, salvaging the final game of the Bay Bridge series in San Francisco. The rally gave Bartolo Colon his fourth win of the year. Lincecum dropped to 2-4. In defeat, Melky Cabrera went 4-for-4 to raise his batting average to .353 on the season.

The Giants took an early lead on single runs in the second and third on RBIs by Joaquin Arias and Buster Posey. In the fourth, the A's got one-out singles from Seth Smith and Josh Donaldson. After a Daric Barton walk loaded the bases, Kurt Suzuki's infield single to third made it 2-1. Colin Cowgill followed with a broken-bat flare that dropped into shallow center field to give the A's the lead. After Colon bunted into a fielder's choice, Lincecum threw a wild pitch that Cowgill scored on from second base, knocking the ball out of Lincecum's glove at the plate. 

Colon escaped trouble in the fifth inning when, with the bases loaded and one out, he struck out Angel Pagan and Brandon Belt looking to end the threat. Insurance was added by Josh Reddick, who blasted his team leading 11th home run to dead center in the seventh to make it 6-2. The A's bullpen shut the Giants down over the last four innings to preserve the win.

The Good: Colin Cowgill. Not just for the go ahead single, fighting off a good pitch by a great pitcher, but for the hustle on a wild pitch to score. That kind of effort is precisely what the A's need while they get healthy.

The Bad: None; a solid team victory.

The Ugly: Not game related, but Brandon McCarthy was placed on the disabled list. There are now three positional starters (Cespedes, Crisp, Inge) and three starting pitchers (Anderson, Braden, McCarthy) on the DL. Credit to Bob Melvin for keeping this team afloat in spite of the numerous injuries.

Back to .500 at 21-21, the A's head home to start a three game series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Game one will be Monday evening and matches Tom Milone against Jerome Williams. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.