A's 6, Cardinals 1
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Oakland A's right-hander Bartolo Colon continued to turn back the clock Friday night at the O.co Coliseum, winning a career-high tying eighth straight game as the A's rolled to a 6-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Colon is a perfect 7-0 since turning 40 on May 24. He improved to 11-2 overall and became just the second A's pitcher since 1991 to post at least 11 wins before the end of June, joining Mark Mulder, who accomplished the feat in 2003.
Colon's other eight-game streak came eight seasons ago with the Angels when he finished 21-8 and won the American League Cy Young award.
Colon held the Cardinals to one run on six hits over eight innings. He struck out five, walked just one and threw only 101 pitches, 70 of those for strikes. Colon had a perfect game through 4 1/3 innings.
Cardinals rookie right-hander Shelby Miller allowed five runs on six hits over 1 2/3 innings, the shortest start of his young career. He threw 61 pitches, 51 of those in a nightmare second inning when the A's scored five times and knocked him out of the game.
In his previous 16 career starts, the 22-year-old had never pitched fewer than five innings.
Miller went to 3-2 counts to five batters in the inning and gave up a double, two singles and two walks in those matchups as his pitch count mounted.
A's catcher Stephen Vogt had his first major-league hit, lining a solo home run into the right field seats in the fourth inning to end an 0-for-32 skid to start his career.
Josh Reddick and Jed Lowrie both doubled for the A's, while Josh Donaldson and Coco Crisp each had a pair of hits.
Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday went 2-for-4 with a walk and scored a run in his first game against the A's since they traded him to St. Louis during the 2009 season. A's fans showered him with boos every time he came to the plate.
The A's improved to 15-2 over their past 17 games at the Coliseum and won their third straight game overall. The Cardinals lost for the fifth time in their past six games.
The A's batted around in the second, scoring five times on five hits and ending Miller's night early.
Yoenis Cespedes lined a leadoff single, moved to second on Brandon Moss' ground out and scored on Donaldson's sharp single to center, giving the A's a 1-0 lead.
Reddick doubled down the right-field line, making it 2-0. With two outs, Miller walked Eric Sogard and Crisp, loading the bases. Seth Smith lined a two-run single to center, giving the A's a 4-0 lead, then Jed Lowrie one-hopped a ground-rule double over the right-field fence, bringing Crisp home.
That was it for Miller, who gave way to Joe Kelly.
Leading off in the bottom of the fourth, Vogt sent Kelly's 0-2 fastball over the right-field wall, extending Oakland's lead to 6-0.
Colon lost his perfect game with a one-out walk to Allen Craig in the fifth. Then Matt Adams ended his no-hit bid, blooping a single to center that landed a foot in front of a diving Crisp. David Freese grounded an RBI single to center, driving in Craig as the Cardinals cut Oakland's lead to 6-1.
NOTES: A's catcher John Jaso (left palm abrasion) was out of the starting lineup Friday against the Cardinals for the sixth straight game. ... A's left-hander Brett Anderson (sprained right ankle, right foot stress fracture) is expected to have another MRI of his injured right ankle and foot toward the end of next week "to see how much the bone has improved there," A's manager Bob Melvin said Friday. "We're hoping to get good news there." Anderson is still wearing walking boot. ... Friday marked the eighth annual Dog Day with the A's, and former Oakland and St. Louis manager Tony La Russa led a parade around the field of some 800 dogs and their owners before the game. In 1991, La Russa founded the Animal Rescue Foundation in nearby Walnut Creek. ... Cardinals third base coach Jose Oquendo was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame before the game. Oquendo, who played his final 10 seasons for the Cardinals and first two for the Mets, is the Hall's 57th member.
