I can even play with a dislocated shoulder!

Athletics:  9  White Sox: 7

This was not a pretty game by any means, but a win is a win and I’ll take it.

After struggling twice against Francisco Lirano earlier this season, the A’s finally found a way to score runs off of the left-hander.  The first inning did not look good for the Green and Gold as the first three batters that faced Lirano struck out.  In the second he struck out two more Athletics.

The third inning was much different.  Jemile Weeks lead off the inning with a fly out, Coco Crisp then singled and then Jonny Gomes walked.  Josh Reddick then grounded out into a force out and Jonny Gomes was thrown out at second.  Yoenis Cespedes was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Chris Carter, who singled and drove in two runs.  Brandon Inge then walked and with the bases loaded and two outs Derek Norris hit a ground-rule double and both Cespedes and Carter scored.  Adam Rosales then singled in the final run before Jemile Weeks flew out, again, to end the inning.

Travis Blackley, having allowed two runs the previous inning, now had a 5-2 lead.  The A’s would add on another run in the fouth when Josh Reddick singled in Coco Crisp.  Blackley saw his lead shrink when he allowed a RBI single to Tyler Flowers in the 4th and then a 2-run home run to Kevin Youkilis in the fifth.

Jordan Norberto replaced Blackley in the sixth inning and after retiring the first two batters on strikeouts he gave up a home run to Tyler Flowers and the game was tied.  Norberto would start the seventh inning as well, allowing a lead off single to Kevin Youkilis and striking out Adam Dunn before Ryan Cook came in to replace him.

Bob Melvin had announced earlier in the day that Ryan Cook was being removed from the closer spot for a couple of days and will only be put into games with less high-pressure situations.  So I question why Ryan Cook was placed into a tied game in the seventh.  That being said, Ryan Cook immediately allowed back-to-back singles to Alex Rios and A.J. Pierzynsky and the White Sox took the lead.  He then got Alexei Ramirez to ground out into a double play to end the inning.

In the eigth inning Jonny Gomes hit his thirteenth home run of the season to tie the game up once again.  Then with two outs, Yoenis Cespedes and Chris Carter both singled then Brandon Inge singled in Yoenis Cespedes and the A’s retook the lead.

Ryan Cook entered the eigth inning and struck out Dayan Viciedo, then hit Tyler Flowers and got Gordan Beckham to fly out before being replaced by Jerry Blevins.  Blevins recorded the last out of the inning by getting Alejandro De Aza to fly out to Josh Reddick.

The A’s would add on an insurance run in the ninth when Jonny Gomes singled in Coco Crisp, who doubled right before him.  Grant Balfour would close out the game for the A’s, only allowing one base runner when he lead off the inning by hitting Kevin Youkilis with a pitch.

Lines of the Day:

• Coco Crisp: 6 AB, 3 H, 3 R, 2 2B.  Coco Crisp has been hot since returning from the All-Star break, batting .313/.385/.538 with a .922 OPS and 8 doubles.
• Chris Carter: 5 AB, 3 H, 2 RBI.  Another good day for Chris Carter who is now hitting .283/.413/.636 with a 1.050 OPS since being called up in June.
• Brandon Inge: 3 AB, 1 H, 1 RBI, 2 BB.  So it’s not really his numbers that gets him the line of the day, it’s more the fact that he dislocated his shoulder in the seventh, stayed in the game and then got to hit that would give the A’s their final lead of the game.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• Jemile Weeks: 4 AB, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 SO.  Weeks was the only player to not collect a hit in tonight’s contest, he did however take a walk and steal a base.
• Travis Blackley: 5 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 6 SO.  Blackley, who was replacing Jarrod Parker in tonight’s game did not fair too well.  He also allowed another home run, it was his fifth allowed in his last 5 appearances.  He had only allowed 1 in his previous 12.

A’s Extras:

• As I said earlier, Brandon Inge had dislocated his shoulder in the seventh inning when he tried to field a grounder.  Inge says he was able to pop it back into place on his own and does not believe it to be serious and will play tomorrow if allowed.
• Derek Norris collected his fouth steal of the season tonight in the fifth inning.  Yep.
• Brett Anderson pitched another rehab game in Sacramento last night, he pitched 6 innings (80 pitches), allowed 3 hits, 1 walk and struck out 4.  He is expected to make one more start in Sacramento before returning to Oakland.

For more on the Chicago White Sox, vist South Side Hit Girl.