Anderson and Triple Play Help Propel Athletics Past Twins

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Brett Anderson made his season debut Tuesday evening against the Twins. (Thearon W. Henderson)

As the Oakland Athletics strive to maintain their push for a playoff berth, each game seems to become more and more important. Starting pitching has been somewhat up in their air as of late for the young ball club. The Athletics received great news a few weeks ago when they found out starting pitcher Brett Anderson would be able to make his season debut soon. Anderson had missed nearly 15 months while recovering from elbow surgery. He got his opportunity to start Tuesday evening against the Minnesota Twins.

The Twins got off to an early lead. Center fielder Ben Revere led the game off with an infield single. He then stole second base and reached third on a wild pitch. Left fielder Josh Willingham singled home Revere to put the Twins up 1-0. Anderson caught Willingham sleeping and picked him off to end the inning. From there, he seemed to settle into the groove. Anderson retired his next nine batters before surrendering singles to first baseman Justin Morneau and catcher Ryan Doumit.

With two men on and no outs in the fifth, Anderson looked to induce a ground ball out of Twins utility man Trever Plouffe. Sure enough, Plouffe hit a hard ground ball down the line to Athletics third baseman Josh Donaldson. Donaldson tagged the bag and threw it to second baseman Adam Rosales. Rosales held his ground to tag second base and get the throw off in time to get it to first baseman Chris Carter to complete the 5-4-3 triple play. It's the Athletics 21st triple play in franchise history, but their first since May 29, 2000 against the New York Yankees.

The Athletics offense came alive to give Anderson the 4-1 lead. Donaldson and Carter had RBI doubles and catcher Derek Norris and right fielder Josh Reddick added RBI singles. Anderson finished seven solid innings of work before being pulled from the game. He gave up four hits and just the one run. Anderson struck out six and faced only one batter over the minimum. Athletics reliever Sean Doolittle pitched a perfect eighth inning for his seventh hold of the season. Closer Grant Balfour came in and closed the door in the ninth for his twelfth save of the season.

The Athletics remain one-half game behind the Baltimore Orioles for the second wild-card spot in the American League. If Anderson can pitch close to this form every time out, his addition is going to be huge for the Athletics pitching staff. The Athletics also recently acquired shortstop Stephen Drew from the Arizona Diamondbacks. They hope he can add a spark to their lineup on a daily basis. The Athletics have been one of the more intriguing and surprising teams to watch this season. It will be interesting to see how they do as things heat up as the playoffs approach.