A's-Giants: Bobby Crosby Comes Through With Big Hit

If there was one theme last night for the A's, it was wasted opportunities to put the Giants away.

The Giants did take a 1-0 lead after a homer by Travis Ishikawa off of Trevor Cahill, but that was Cahill's only mistake of the game.  He left a sinker too far up and allowed Ishikawa to get under it and lift it out to right field.  

In the bottom of the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, the A's had scoring opportunities to blow the game away from the San Francisco Giants.

Jonathan Sanchez, the Giants' pitcher, deserves a lot of credit for keeping them in the game as he was able to get out of two of the three jams without giving up more than two runs.

In the bottom of the fourth, Jack Cust hit a solid single into right field. Sanchez was not paying attention to Cust, who isn't really much of a threat to steal a base, but a high leg kick made it possible for Cust to steal second.

Matt Holliday walked, putting men at first and second with no outs. Orlando Cabrera then hit a double that would have scored two runs, but the hop in left field was played extremely well by Randy Winn.

Rajai Davis had a chance to drive in a run but the ball was hit directly at Pablo Sandoval, leaving men at second and third with only one out.

Ryan Sweeney grounded out to second base, allowing Holliday to score and leaving Cust at third base. Bobby Crosby then flew out to short right field to end the threat.

The most disappointing to say the least was the bottom of the fifth inning. Jack Hannahan started the inning by striking out. So the start of the inning seemed harmless for Sanchez.

In stepped the A's most consistent hitter in Adam Kennedy, who singled softly to left field. Kurt Suzuki stepped up and hit a soft single into center field.

In a strange twist of events, as Aaron Rowand was charging the ball to throw to third base, Kennedy stopped and acted like he would go back to second base, so Rowand didn't throw immediately to any particular base.

This in turn allowed Kennedy to make his way to third base because Rowand had to throw flat-footed from short center field to Sandoval. By the time the ball was thrown Kennedy was already safe and Suzuki was at second because of his heads up baserunning.

So, the A's again had a second and third situation with only one out. Cust  could only muster a popup to shortstop.

Holliday wasn't able to do anything with Sanchez's fastball. Even though he got into counts where he knew the fastball was coming, Holliday was not able to square the fastball and flew out to Winn.

Sanchez was able to get out of the danger and the A's still held onto a 2-1 lead.

Cabrera started the bottom of the sixth inning with a double. Davis dropped down a perfect bunt. Bengie Molina made a great play but wasn't able to throw out the speedy Davis.

The A's had runners on first and third with no outs. Sweeney was the next batter and during the at-bat, Davis stole second. Although, the throw by Molina was perfect and beat Davis to the bag, second base umpire made the correct call that Davis was safe.

It was a great call who had perfect position on the play. Most umpires would have called Davis out because the throw beat Davis, but Davis to got his left hand in before the tag was applied.

Bruce Bochy, Edgar Renteria, and Downs himself were questioning the call, but it was obviously the correct call.

Sweeney though eventually struck out on a slider that was nowhere near the strike zone.

Crosby came up to the plate with one out. Sanchez got the first strike on a low outside fastball that Crosby watched go by. Eventually, Crosby got the count to 2-2 and again Sanchez went with that tough fastball on the outside corner.

Ray Fosse, the A's announcer, mentioned that Crosby had been instructed since he first came into the majors to think opposite field on a tough left-handed pitcher. Crosby, instead of trying to pull the outside pitch was able to poke a double down the right-field line past Ishikawa for a two-run double.

This put the advantage for the A's to 4-1.

Hannahan was walked by Sanchez, signaling the end of the night for Sanchez. Justin Miller took his spot to pitch to Kennedy.

Kennedy then bounced into an inning-ending double play.

The only other scoring opportunity for either club was by the A's.

In the bottom of the eighth, Davis led off the inning with a triple. Sweeney grounded out on a high chopper, but Davis wasn't able to score even with his speed.

It was Crosby's turn again and, like Sweeney, he hit a high grounder, but since it was with one out, Davis was going on contact and easily scored from third base giving the A's the 5-1 lead. Hannahan ended the inning by striking out.

The A's pitching was outstanding. Trevor Cahill went seven innings giving up only four hits while striking out four and walking one. Brad Ziegler went two innings striking out four and did not walk a batter.

The Giants weren't able to get a man on base from the top of the fifth on and went 0-13 from that time.

Besides Isikawa's home run, the Giants had two other threats to score. In the top of the fourth inning, Sandoval led off the inning with a double down the left-field line. Bengie Molina lined out to right field, but Sandoval was able to advance to third.

That's when Cahill got tough. He struck out both Randy Winn and Fred Lewis on nasty sinkers.

In the top of the fifth, Cahill walked his only batter of the game in Ishikawa. Nate Schierholtz flew out to medium right field.

Downs then hit a single to left field, putting runners on first and second with only one out, and the Giants had one of their hottest hitters in Aaron Rowand at the plate. But Cahill was able to induce a ground ball to Jack Hannahan who started the inning ending double play.

With the win, Cahill improved his record to 5-5 and now sports a 3.68 ERA for the season. Ziegler earned his sixth save. Sanchez's record is now at a disappointing 2-8 for the Giants.