Milone wins 10th as A's rally behind news

The A's Tommy Milone pitches during the second inning Wednesday in Oakland. (Associated Press)

OAKLAND — There wasn’t a cloud in sight Wednesday as the Athletics completed a 5-1 homestand with a 5-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins before almost 17,000 fans.

In fact, the cloudless sky contributed to a season-high four errors for the guys in green and gold, but neither those errors nor the gloomy morning news that ace pitcher Bartolo Colon has been suspended for 50 games for testing positive for performance-enhancing drug use could derail the A’s playoff drive.

Veteran centerfielder Coco Crisp continued to provide the spark. The leadoff hitter got the A’s scoring started in the first when he walked, went to second on a wild pitch by Twins starter Liam Hendricks (0-6), advanced to third on new shortstop Stephen Drew’s fly to center and scored on Josh Reddick’s single to right.

The Twins came right back against A’s southpaw Tommy Milone (10-9) in the second when Ryan Doumit’s towering bloop into short right eluded first baseman Chris Carter. Matt Carson’s double to center — the Twins’ only extra-base hit of the day — sent Doumit to third and catcher Drew Butera brought him home with a grounder to short. Against most teams, Doumit would’ve scored on Trevor Plouffe’s fly to left preceding Butera’s at-bat, but A’s left fielder Yoenis Cespedes’ bullet throw home after the catch kept Doumit anchored at third.

From that point on, it was all Oakland. Milone held Minnesota hitless through the rest of his eight-inning, two-hit stint; Crisp followed Cliff Pennington’s leadoff double in the third with a hit and a stolen base and they both scored when Cespedes reached out to pull a low-and-outside pitch into left for two RBIs; Crisp’s double in the fourth scored third baseman Josh Donaldson, who’d led off the inning with a double of his own; then in the bottom of the seventh, Crisp’s drive to left-centerfield cleared the wall at about 375 feet out for a solo homer, capping the scoring.

“When Coco plays well, we win,” manager Bob Melvin said after the game. “He gets big hits for us, gets on base and creates havoc … When he’s playing well, the team plays well.”

Former closer and All-Star Ryan Cook came on in a non-save situation in the ninth and gave up a harmless single but struck out the side.

The A’s now travel to Tampa Bay for a weekend series against the Rays, who lead them by a nose in the wild card race and then, following a day off Monday, four games in Cleveland against the reeling Indians.

For tonight’s game, lefty Tyson Ross will rejoin the team from Sacramento to take the place of the disgraced Colon. The A’s end the homestand 11 games over .500, a height they’ve not attained since 2006.

“It’s another opportunity for Tyson to go out and show that he should be considered in the mix,” Melvin said. We do have starting pitching depth.”

Besides Ross, there’s Brett Anderson, who on Tuesday made his first appearance in a year following Tommy John surgery and held the Twins to four hits and a single run in seven innings. Also, rookie A.J. Griffin is due to return from the disabled list soon and Opening Day starter Brandon McCarthy returned to the rotation on Monday, albeit in a rocky start in the series opener.

“No one guy is bigger than the team and you move past it,” Melvin commented, “like we did today.”

For the complete article see the 08-23-2012 issue.

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