Dein erstes Forum » half-game over Port

SAN FRANCISCO -- Oakland manager Bob Melvin leaned back in his clubhouse chair and exhaled -- on the winning side of the Bay Bridge Series rivalry 3 hours, 43 minutes of intense baseball later. Tommy Milone won his second straight decision following a five-start skid, pinch-hitter Nate Freiman had a two-run single, and the Athletics beat the San Francisco Giants 9-6 on Wednesday night in a back-and-forth duel for their sixth straight win. "It was exhausting," Melvin said. "They were competing, boy. You get momentum going in the other direction here sometimes and its hard to stem the tide." Yoenis Cespedes hit an RBI triple in the first to extend his career-best hitting streak to 11 games, and Jed Lowrie added an RBI double as the As (31-23) moved a season-best eight games above .500 for the first time since they were 12-4 on April 17. They won for the 11th time in 12 games. "Thats probably the most fun Ive had in a long time outside of the playoffs. People are competing," said As third baseman Josh Donaldson, who had two hits and a couple of defensive gems. "Good, clean fun. It was awesome." Milone (5-5) outpitched Tim Lincecum and got plenty of support, too. He received three or fewer runs of support in each of his previous seven outings. Hunter Pence homered for the second straight game and Brett Pill also connected for San Francisco. The sloppy reigning World Series champion Giants are having their problems -- starting pitching, defence, at the plate, you name it. "I dont know what happened," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We just didnt play well. Theres no sugarcoating this thing. We pretty much covered all facets of the game tonight as far as not playing well." San Francisco has only two quality starts in the last 15 games and none on the road this month. The Giants are in a stretch with 14 of 18 away from AT&T Park. "This is a tough stretch," Bochy said. "Weve got to get our act together." Lincecum (3-5) lost his third straight start and fourth in five. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner allowed six runs on seven hits in 4 1-3 innings with four strikeouts and four walks. He dropped to 5-3 in 10 career starts against the As. Pence hit a solo shot in the second to highlight his three-hit night, then Pill hit his first longball of the year leading off the sixth. After Cespedes first-inning triple, Oakland added another run when Cespedes scored on second baseman Marco Scutaros error. Scutaro misplayed a popup in shallow right field in which he bumped into Pence, giving San Franciscos second baseman nine errors this year -- tied for most in the majors with Washingtons Ryan Zimmerman. Milone struck out three and walked three in five innings, allowing four runs and eight hits in his first career outing and start against the Giants. Freiman delivered his first career hit as a pinch-hitter with the fifth-inning single. As bench coach Chip Hale was ejected in the bottom of the sixth, when the Giants added three runs. One of those came on Andres Torres double that went over third base, which brought As manager Bob Melvin out twice to argue. A fan interfered with the ball as it bounced near San Franciscos bullpen and was ejected, but baserunner Gregor Blanco was still allowed to score from first base. "I argued everything that I could have argued," Melvin said. "He just said that in his judgment he would have scored (without the interference)." Crew chief and third base umpire Gerry Davis told a pool reporter in that case theres a judgment call and "you award the runners the bases you feel they would have had had there not been interference." As centre fielder Coco Crisp ran down a deep fly by Brandon Crawford to end the seventh, robbing him of an extra-base hit that would have driven in a run. Crisp hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth for insurance. San Francisco lost its third in a row to the As, dropping the Bay Bridge Series for the first time since going 2-4 in 2008. The clubs split their six games in 2010-11, then the Giants went 4-2 last season. "Every time we come here the atmosphere is always awesome," Milone said. Scutaro hit a two-out RBI double in the eighth and Pablo Sandoval followed with a run-scoring single to make it 7-6, snapping an 0-for-15 stretch. Sean Doolittle surrendered a run for the first time in 14 appearances. The As got one back in the ninth on the Giants third error. Grant Balfour pitched the bottom half for his 12th save in as many chances and 30th straight dating to last year. Giants centre fielder and leadoff hitter Angel Pagan received a cortisone shot in his injured left hamstring to alleviate the bursitis that has sidelined him since Sunday. Bochy doesnt expect him to need a stint on the disabled list. "Hes probably down at least a couple more days," Bochy said. "Right now we think he should be ready in St. Louis." Notes: As RF Josh Reddick, on the DL since May 8 with a sprained right wrist, went 1 for 4 with two runs, a walk and a steal -- and a diving catch -- and is scheduled to DH for the River Cats on Thursday with the hope he will be activated by the As ahead of Friday nights series opener at home against the White Sox. ... Milone is 5-2 with a 3.22 ERA in night games. ... Lincecum went 0-1 with a 6.30 ERA in two starts against the As last year. ... RHP A.J. Griffin (5-3) pitches for the As in the series finale Thursday afternoon against LHP Barry Zito (3-3). ... RHP Ramon Ramirez made his Giants season debut with two innings of relief after being promoted from Triple-A Fresno. Y.A. Tittle Super Bowl Jersey .J. -- New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his left knee. Fred Warner Super Bowl Jersey . "Hes going to have hip surgery on Jan. 7, and hell be expected to rehabilitate for four to six months beyond that," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said Friday in an interview. http://www.49ersofficialfanshop.com/raheem-mostert-jersey.html .J. -- Seven games into a disappointing season, New York Giants defensive catalyst Jason Pierre-Paul is getting the feeling hes back. George Kittle Super Bowl Jersey . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. Pierre Garcon Super Bowl Jersey . -- Chicago Bears cornerback Tim Jennings was selected Monday to his second straight Pro Bowl, while guard Kyle Long made it after a solid rookie season. OKLAHOMA CITY -- Indiana coach Nate McMillan wrote an instruction on the white board in the Pacers locker room Sunday: Scrap.Jeff Teague did just that, scoring eight of his 30 points in overtime, harassing Russell Westbrook defensively all night and lifting the short-handed Pacers to a 115-111 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.It was Indianas first road victory of the season and it came without star forward Paul George, who missed his second straight game with a sore left ankle.Youve got to fight for everything, McMillan said. I thought the guys tonight, we did that. We were without a couple of players, but the guys in uniform came out and played the game the right way. They played hard and we got our first road win.Oklahoma Citys Russell Westbrook had his fifth triple-double of the season -- as many as the rest of the NBA combined -- with 31 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds, but went 13 of 34 from the field. Westbrook calmly used an expletive to describe the way he played.We just wasnt ready, he said. Just wasnt ready tonight, starting with myself. ... I could have did a lot of things better, man. Got to come out and be ready to play. Tonight I felt like I let my guys down all around. Ive got to be better.Teague matched his season scoring high and added nine assists and six steals. He hit two free throws with 4.6 seconds left in regulation to put the Pacers up three.Westbrook hit a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left to tie it for the Thunder and Glenn Robinson III missed a well-guarded 10-footer at the buzzer, forcing overtime.Teagues 3-pointer in the opening minute of overtime put the Pacers ahead for good. With 1:09 left, he converted a three-point play to make it 113-107, and he hit two free throws with 19.1 seconds left to put Indiana up 115-111. He said the Pacers werent flustered after Westbrooks tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation and that McMillan told his team just to go win the game.We had nothing to lose there, Teague said. We knew they were going to make some plays, so we just have to go out and win the game.Six Pacers scored in double figures and two of them had double-doubles -- Robinson with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Thaddeus Young with 20 points and 11 rebounds.dddddddddddd Myles Turner just missed another with 15 points and nine rebounds.Enes Kanter added 16 points for the Thunder.Oklahoma City rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit to force overtime but wasnt able to recover from a dismal third quarter in which it missed 12 of its first 13 shots and went 4 of 17 from the field.TIP-INS:Pacers: Robinson III made his first start of the season in place of George (ankle) and C.J. Miles (knee), who also sat out due to injury. ... Another forward, Kevin Seraphin, also missed the game with a sore left knee ... Teague matched his career high with six steals.Thunder: Oklahoma City saw its Northwest Division lead shrink to a half-game over Portland. ... The Thunder ended a stretch during which they played eight out of nine games at home. ... The overtime was the second of the season for Oklahoma City, which beat Phoenix on Oct. 28 after an extra period.GEORGE, MILES OUT:George missed his third game, and his second in a row, since spraining his left ankle against Philadelphia on Nov. 11, while the player whos started in his place, Miles, sat out with a sore left knee that he hurt on Friday in a loss to Phoenix.Both players underwent MRIs on Saturday and while the results were negative for structural damage, McMillan said George and Miles would also be out for Mondays home game against Golden State, and then will be reassessed to determine their availability for Wednesdays game against Atlanta.QUOTABLE:I have been waiting on my opportunity, just working hard the whole offseason. This guy (Seraphin) told me a couple of days ago, literally, `Be ready. You never know. Then I walk in the gym and (George) is out, C.J. is hurt and I got to step up. I am just proud of this whole team for sticking together and fighting even though we are a couple of men down. -- Robinson on his performance.UP NEXT:Pacers: Host Golden State on the second night of a back-to-back featuring last seasons Western Conference finalists.Thunder: At the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night to start a three-game trip. ' ' '