News - Craig Breslow
Mike Napoli had two hits Sunday, including a solo homer, to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a regular season-ending 5-3 win over the Oakland Athletics. The homer, Napoli's 20th of the season, drew the Angels within 2-1 leading off the top of the third. Bobby Abreu, Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales each drove in a run, one run scored on Craig Breslow's sixth-inning balk, and Erick Aybar had three hits for the AL West champion Angels, who carry a three-game sweep into the AL Division Series against Boston Thursday. The winner was starter Joe Saunders (16-7). Kevin Jepsen earned his first save despite giving up a run and two hits in the ninth. Oakland's Eric Patterson and Cliff Pennington had two hits and one RBI apiece.
Jack Cust and Kurt Suzuki hit two-run homers Saturday, leading Oakland to a wild 15-10 win over the LA Angels. Both players had three hits and four RBI, with Cust hitting an RBI double to snap a 10-10 tie in Oakland's six-run top of the eighth. Mark Ellis hit a three-run homer. Daric Barton had four
Rajai Davis drove in four runs and scored once Tuesday to lead Oakland in a 6-1 romp over the Texas Rangers. Kurt Suzuki also drove in a run for the Athletics, who have won seven of their last nine games. Oakland starter Edgar Gonzalez lasted four-plus innings and Craig Breslow (7-7) picked up the win
Adam Kennedy snapped a tie with a two-run homer in the sixth inning Wednesday, giving the Oakland Athletics a 7-5 victory over Texas. The A's won for the third straight night in a four-game series that concludes Thursday. Texas overcame a two-run deficit to take a 3-2 lead, and then rallied from two runs down again to forge a 5-5 tie going into the bottom of the sixth. Vicente Padilla (8-6) gave up a one-out double to Mark Ellis in the sixth, but after retiring Cliff Pennington on strikes was relieved by Neftali Feliz. Feliz, who struck out the first four batters he faced in his major league debut Monday, served up the home run pitch to Kennedy on a 1-0 count. The win went to Craig Breslow (5-5), even though he gave up the tying run in the top of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Josh Hamilton.
David Ortiz hit a three-run homer Thursday, rallying Boston to a come-from-behind 8-5 win over Oakland. He had two of Boston's 10 hits on a day when he and former teammate Manny Ramirez were named by The New York Times as two of 104 players who allegedly violated baseball's substance abuse policy in 2003. The homer put Boston up 6-5 with two outs in bottom of the seventh, erasing a 5-3 deficit. Jason Varitek also had three RBI, Mike Lowell and Jacoby Ellsbury one each, while both J.D.
