Athletics 2, Rays 1
Coco Crisp recorded a solo home run and an RBI single among three hits while rookie Sonny Gray pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings as Oakland held on to beat visiting Tampa Bay.
Crisp belted his 15th home run with one out in the eighth to give the Athletics a 2-0 lead after hitting a run-scoring single in the sixth. Gray (2-2) allowed five hits and a walk with seven strikeouts and Grant Balfour gave up Desmond Jennings’ RBI single in the ninth before nailing down his 35th save for Oakland, which remained two games behind first-place Texas in the American League West.
Alex Cobb (8-3) worked eight innings, yielding two runs on five hits and four walks while striking out seven. James Loney had a pair of hits for the Rays, who dropped 4 1/2 games behind first-place Boston in the AL East after their sixth loss in seven contests.
Former Ray Stephen Vogt led off the sixth with his first career triple to deep right and trotted home on Crisp’s single up the middle for a 1-0 lead. Sean Doolittle pitched a scoreless inning for the Athletics and Dan Otero struck out Evan Longoria with a man on to end the eighth.
Crisp singled, stole second and Josh Donaldson walked in the first inning before Cobb responded by retiring the next three batters - two via strikeout. The Rays put two on with two out in the fourth before Gray struck out Wil Myers swinging.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Tampa Bay suffered its first sub-.500 month of August (11-15) since 2006, when it finished 9-19. … Oakland SS Jed Lowrie went 0-for-3 with a walk to end his 12-game hitting streak. He finished August with 13 doubles, one shy of Jason Giambi’s club record for any month in 1996. ….The Rays expect to add OF/DH Delmon Young, RHP Josh Lueke and C Chris Gimenez on Sunday, when rosters can expand.