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  Tuesday, Sep. 19 1:35pm ET
A's receive team-record 15 walks
 
  GAME UPDATE | GAME LOG

BALTIMORE (AP) -- The Oakland Athletics won their fourth straight, took over the wild-card lead and kept the heat on Seattle in the AL West.

Yet, after receiving a team-record 15 walks in a 7-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday, the A's were in a foul mood.

Melvin Mora
Orioles shortstop Melvin Mora left in the second after fouling a ball off the inside of his left knee.

That's because the commissioner's office postponed the second game of the scheduled day-night doubleheader after more than five hours in rain delays caused the opener to run deep into the night.

The game will be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader Wednesday.

"We're playing two tomorrow, much to my chagrin," Oakland manager Art Howe said. "We wanted to play the second one, get it over with. We were here. The field was supposedly playable. It doesn't help our rotation."

The A's have to burn two starting pitchers on the eve of a crucial four-game series in Seattle that gets under way Thursday night.

Gil Heredia was supposed to pitch the nightcap Tuesday, but instead will be used Wednesday and thus will be lost for Sunday's game against the Mariners.

"It makes us use two starters on the same day, that's what it does," Howe said.

The scheduling snafu took the edge of a victory that enabled the A's to move a half-game ahead of Cleveland in the wild-card race. Oakland also remained 2½ games behind the Mariners.

"They can't give us a good reason why we aren't playing two tonight," Matt Stairs said. "Oh well, we're back in first place in the wild card."

It was the fifth straight loss for the Orioles, all during a homestand in which they have been outscored 46-11. The 15 walks was a franchise record.

"We did an amazing job holding them to seven runs," Baltimore manager Mike Hargrove said. "We walked 15 people. ... You can't win doing that."

Oakland trailed 4-2 before using three hits and four walks to take the lead in the seventh. After the Orioles went down in order, the umpires stopped play when the day-long shower intensified.

After a delay of 2 hours, 21 minutes, the game finally resumed.

The start was delayed for 2:43. Although the crowd was announced at 30,166, only a few thousand fans showed up for the makeup of a May 28 rainout.

The A's stranded 10 runners and were 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position before erupting in the seventh. Stairs hit a leadoff double off Jason Johnson (1-10) and Miguel Tejada singled with one-out before Chavez walked to load the bases.

B.J. Ryan came in and issued three straight walks that put Oakland up 5-4. Ryan threw 13 pitches, only one in the strike zone. Randy Velarde then greeted Buddy Groom with a two-run single.

"That was very uncharacteristic of B.J. Ryan, throwing just one strike. You do that, it's not pretty," Hargrove said.

Jim Mecir (9-3) got the win by pitching two scoreless innings, even though T.J. Matthews finished the sixth. Jason Isringhausen worked the ninth for his 29th save in 36 chances.

The Orioles went up 3-1 in the fifth, their biggest lead in five games since Sept. 13. Luis Matos and Eugene Kingsale singled with one out before Brady Anderson hit a sacrifice fly. Jerry Hairston then got his third hit, a single, and Delino DeShields followed with an RBI single.

Chavez led off the sixth with his 24th homer, the second in two games, but Baltimore got a run in the bottom half when Ryan Minor ended an 0-for-27 drought with an RBI single.

Baltimore shortstop Melvin Mora left in the second inning after fouling a ball off the inside of his left knee. X-rays were negative.

Game notes
Oakland stranded 16 runners. ... The first rain delay was the longest at an Orioles home game since the franchise moved to Baltimore. ... Oakland has won six straight over the Orioles. ... Hairston's three hits were a season high. He entered in a 1-for-27 skid.
 


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Baseball Scoreboard

Oakland Clubhouse

Baltimore Clubhouse


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(2nd game)

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