Athletics:  5  Rays:  4

After watching the first three innings of this game, one might have thought that the A’s were about to get shut out by the Rays for the second day in a row.

The A’s broke through in the fourth inning when Yoenis Cespedes tripled with only one out.  Jonny Gomes then struck out, but Josh Donaldson, who has been red hot since his return from Sacramento, singled in Cespedes.  Derek Norris then reached base by getting hit by a pitch and Brandon Moss came up to bat and singled in Donaldson.  The inning ended when Josh Donaldson tried to steal home and was tagged out by Matt Moore.

The Rays tied up the game in the bottom of the fourth after Ben Zobrist tripled and Jeff Keppinger brought him home with a sacrifice fly.  They took the lead in the fifth inning when BJ Upton hit a double to score Jose Molina, who had also reached base on a double.

The A’s tied up the game in the seventh after Josh Donaldson lead off the inning with a double and Derek Norris singled and scored him.  The A’s took their second and final lead of the game in the eighth after Jonny Gomes hit a 2-run home run, his fifteenth of the season, which scored him and Cespedes.

Although Grant Balfour recorded his thirteenth save of the season, it was not pretty.  Ryan Roberts lead off the inning with a walk and the following batter, Luke Scott, hit a double to score him.  He then got the following three batters to ground out to end the threat and the game.

Lines of the Day:

• Josh Donaldson: 4 AB, 1 R, 1 RBI.  It’s not clear what is going to happen when Brandon Inge comes back, but it would be hard to take Donaldson out of the lineup right now.  He is batting 411/.455/.634 with 6 doubles over 11 games since being recalled from Sacramento.
• Ryan Cook: 1.2 IP, 1 BB, 4 SO.  It was nice to see Cook have a solid relief appearance after his previous struggles.  Since being moved out of the closer role he has pitched 5 innings and allowed 5 hits, no runs, walked 1 and struck out 9.

A’s Extras:

• Jarrod Parker wasn’t terrible, but he wasn’t great either.  He allowed 7 hits and 3 runs over 6 innings while walking 2 and striking out 7.  He threw 103 pitches today and only 59 were for strikes.
• After going 2-3 yesterday with a double and a walk, Stephen Drew collect another hit today over 4 at-bats.
• Josh Reddick was not in the lineup today and per Bob Melvin it was just a routine day off.  He has been slumping as of late, only hitting .175/.221/.300 with a .521 OPS for the month of August.