NewsAnderson earns first career win
A's back rookie with big bats, strong gloves to beat Rays
By Mychael Urban / MLB.com
05/21/09 12:12 AM ET
ST. PETERSBURG -- The A's made him sweat it out to the very end, but rookie left-hander Brett Anderson said it was more than worth the wait.Anderson bounced back from his ugliest outing of the year with six-plus strong innings Wednesday, and Oakland rewarded him with his first career victory, a 7-6 win over the host Rays in the third game of a four-game series at Tropicana Field.
"It's an indescribable feeling," said Anderson, who planned to give some game balls and the lineup card to his parents.
Anderson, who has been battling a blister on his left index finger for the better part of three weeks, left the game after 80 pitches with a 7-3 lead, but the Oakland bullpen was shaky at best while trying to preserve the rookie's milestone.
Righty Brad Ziegler, the fourth A's reliever of the night, picked up his fifth save, but he'd be wise to pick up his center fielder's tab the next time they dine together.
The tying run was at first base with two out in the bottom of the ninth when Ryan Sweeney laid out for a diving catch in the left-center-field gap to rob B.J. Upton of what probably would have been a game-tying extra-base hit.
Sweeney, who's made a number of circus catches this season, put this one at the top of the list, in part because of what it meant for the big fella from Oklahoma.
"He pitched a great game," Sweeney said of Anderson, who didn't allow a hit until Carlos Pena's two-run homer with two out in the fourth inning.
"He was dominant early in the game," Oakland manager Bob Geren said.
Anderson, who allowed a solo homer to Willy Aybar in the fifth and was pulled after a leadoff double by Pena in the seventh, finished with a line of four runs (two earned) on four hits without a walk and five strikeouts.
"He had everything working tonight, but the main thing is he was commanding his fastball on both sides of the plate," said A's catcher Kurt Suzuki. "He's got great stuff, but everything starts with the fastball, and his was really good tonight."
A night after scoring four runs in the 11th inning on the way to a 4-1 victory, Oakland got its offense going early while improving to 4-11 on the year in games in which the opponent starts a lefty.
This was no run-of-the-mill lefty, either. It was 2008 All-Star Scott Kazmir. The 2009 edition, however, has been vulnerable, and the A's were on him from the get-go.
Oakland got an RBI single from Jason Giambi in the first; an RBI single from Suzuki in the second; an RBI double from Adam Kennedy and a sacrifice fly from Bobby Crosby in the third; and an RBI double from Aaron Cunningham and a two-run single from Orlando Cabrera in the fifth.
"When we score some runs early like that," Anderson said, "it takes the pressure off and let you just do what you need to do."
"I felt like I was getting in and out of rhythm," Kazmir said. "You can't pitch whenever you're thinking about mechanics out there on the mound."
Anderson had the luxury of not thinking about the blister that had forced him to alter his between-starts regimen. He gave up nine runs (three earned) on six hits and two walks over 3 1/3 innings Friday in Detroit on five days of rest, but he looked like a different man after being able to throw without a bandage on the finger before taking on the reigning American League champions.
"That helped a lot," he said of getting back to his routine. "I was able to just focus on pitching instead of babying my finger."
Anderson was replaced by Michael Wuertz in the seventh, and the Rays took advantage of Oakland's second error of the game while scoring twice in the frame. Santiago Casilla's wild pitch with the bases loaded and two out in the eighth let Tampa Bay trim the lead to one run.
Geren said it was a "tough call" to lift Anderson, adding that he thought the Rays were starting to square up too many balls for his comfort.
"It wasn't a lack of confidence in Brett," Geren said, "but more [a matter of] confidence in the bullpen, and the guys got it done. It wasn't pretty there at the end, but we won."
Mychael Urban is a national writer for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
