Cespedes' Walk-Off Home Run Helps A's Complete Sweep

Yoenis Cespedes celebrates his walk-off home run. (Monica M. Davey)

The Los Angeles Dodgers came into Oakland with the best record in baseball. Then, the Athletics proceeded to sweep the Dodgers out of town with the third best record in baseball. Let's see what happened.

On Tuesday night, the Athletics got off to a great start when they scored three runs in the first off Dodgers starting pitcher Aaron Harang. That's all A's starter Brandon McCarthy needed as he tossed seven scoreless innings. New closer Ryan Cook closed out the 3-0 victory with his fourth save of the season.

The Dodgers did strike first on Wednesday night when Juan Uribe doubled home a run in the second inning. From there, things went down hill for the visitors. The Athletics offense got going and put up four runs on the board. That proved to be more than enough for young starter Tommy Milone. Milone pitched a three-hitter in his first career complete game.

Yesterday afternoon, the Athletics were looking for the sweep with Australian Travis Blackley on the mound. The Dodgers countered with ace Clayton Kershaw. Neither pitcher disappointed, as runs came at a premium. In the second inning, the Athletics got one run when Brandon Inge hit a sacrifice fly to left to get Jonny Gomes home. The Dodgers tied things up 1-1 in the fourth inning when Juan Rivera singled home Elian Herrera. That's all both teams scored while the starters were out there. Blackley and Kershaw both pitched eight strong innings, giving up just the one run, before leaving the game.

Cook pitched a scoreless top of the ninth inning for the Athletics. In the bottom half on the ninth, a poor decision by Dodgers reliever Josh Lindbolm led to two men on for the A's. Up to bat, came Cuban rookie Yoenis Cespedes. He had just one at-bat in his previous ten games due to a hamstring injury. Nonetheless, Cespedes got a pitch he could it. A's fans held their collective breath as they waited to see if it would stay fair and be deep enough. Sure enough, Cespedes' shot stayed inside the left field foul pole and into the bleachers for a home run and the first walk-off of his career.

Oakland has now won eight out of their last nine games to pull to just two games below .500 (34-36). Their pitching staff limited the Dodgers offense to just eight hits in three games. The Athletics are winning with a team stocked full of young talent and relatively unknown commodities. Their payroll for their starting lineup is just $18 million. In fact, if you take out the salary of veteran Coco Crisp, the collective salary of the remaining eight is only $12 million. This is classic Oakland A's baseball. They could be a team to watch out for. Just ask the Dodgers.