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Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Oakland 7, Houston 5
When: 10:05 PM ET, Friday, September 6, 2013
Where: O.co Coliseum, Oakland, California
Temperature: 80°
Umpires: Home - Alan Porter, 1B - Greg Gibson, 2B - Hunter Wendelstedt, 3B - Jerry Layne
Attendance: 15502

Athletics 7, Astros 5: Josh Donaldson went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer as host Oakland pounded out 13 hits and held on to regain first place in the American League West.

Jed Lowrie had two hits and two RBIs while Yoenis Cespedes and Nate Freiman each recorded two hits and an RBI for the Athletics, who leaped one-half game ahead of Texas for the division lead. A.J. Griffin (13-9) allowed four runs and struck out nine in six innings to get the win.

Jose Altuve singled in a run and Matt Dominguez ripped a two-run double to give Houston a 3-1 lead in the third, but Lowrie and Frieman each plated a run in the bottom half to tie it. After Jonathan Villar's RBI bunt single in the fourth put the Astros back on top, Lowrie provided another immediate answer with a game-tying single before Cespedes made it 5-4 with a grounder to third that scored Donaldson.

Coco Crisp tripled to lead off the sixth and Donaldson followed with his 21st home run to put the Athletics up 7-4. Sean Doolittle got four outs, Ryan Cook escaped trouble in the eighth and Grant Balfour gave up one run in the ninth before stranding two in scoring position to pick up his 37th save.

Dallas Keuchel (5-9) was reached for five runs and 10 hits over just 3 1/3 innings in losing his fourth straight decision. Villar finished with three hits and two runs while stealing a base for Houston, which fell to 4-13 versus Oakland.

GAME NOTEBOOK:
Astros CF Brandon Barnes was ejected in the top of the sixth inning after home plate umpire Alan Porter ruled he did not make an effort to get out of the way of a pitch from Griffin. Barnes is the first Houston player to be ejected this season. ... The first five batters in Oakland's lineup combined to go 10-for-22 with six RBIs and seven runs scored. ... The Athletics have sole possession of first place in the West for the first time since Aug. 6.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Houston   Oakland
Dallas Keuchel Player A.J. Griffin
Loss W/L Win
3.1 IP 6.0
3 Strikeouts 9
10 Hits 7
13.50 ERA 6.00
Hitting
Houston   Oakland
Jonathan Villar Player Josh Donaldson
3 Hits 3
1 RBI 2
0 HR 1
4 TB 7
.600 Avg .600
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Houston 11 0 14 .289 16 15 5 1 1 2
Oakland 13 1 20 .351 20 7 7 4 1 1