After a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals, Oakland dropped the first game of their series against the Minnesota Twins this evening in Oakland 5-4.
Joe Blanton was on the mound for Oakland, and lasted well into the eighth inning, when he left the game tied at 4-4, with runners on first and third. He was relieved by Alan Embree, who faced one batter, giving up a single and a run on a single. That would be enough to lose the game. Embree was immediately relieved by Casilla, who struck out the next batter to end the inning. The bottom of the eight and the full ninth remained scoreless and only had three base runners.
The A’s picked up a total of eight hits, and did well in the fifth and sixth innings, where six of their hits and all four of their runs came from. In the end, it easily could have gone either way, and although Oakland’s record adds a loss to become 12-9, they remained tied for first in the AL West.
