Lowrie lifts A's in 11th to 3rd straight walk-off

OAKLAND -- The A's secured their third consecutive walk-off victory at the Coliseum on Monday evening, going to battle with the Angels for 11 innings before Jed Lowrie sent everyone home with a game-winning homer for a 3-2 victory.
"Minus some big postseason games," Lowrie said, "this is about as exciting of a stretch of baseball as I've been a part of."
The two-out home run off right-hander Deolis Guerra was Lowrie's second of the game, marking the veteran infielder's third career multi-homer contest. It was the first run recorded by either team since the fifth inning, giving the A's three straight walk-off wins for the first time since June 1-3, 2004.

"It certainly never gets old," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "We've had a number of them over the years here. Once you get one and you come out the next day and you get in that same position, there's still that carry-over feeling. Today it was the same thing even though it took us a little bit longer."
A's starter Kendall Graveman and Angels counterpart Ricky Nolasco each allowed two runs across seven innings, the home run ball dictating their performances. Graveman surrendered a two-run shot to Luis Valbuena in the first inning, while Nolasco offered up solo blasts to Lowrie and Trevor Plouffe in the fourth and fifth, respectively.

Nolasco's efforts included 10 strikeouts and no walks, as he notched double-digit strikeouts for the first time since Aug. 28, 2013.
"It's just one of those little things right now," Nolasco said. "But everybody in here's confident we're going to score. Just baseball. Keep grinding away and keep trying to go deep in the game and things will work out."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Pitch perfect: Graveman's night didn't begin as planned. The right-hander had at least two baserunners in each of his first two innings, leading catcher Stephen Vogt to call for more changeups than the typical sinker-heavy Graveman had thrown in any other start this season. Resultantly, the right-hander made it through seven innings on 95 pitches without any further damage done, and the bullpen followed suit, as A's pitchers pieced together 10 consecutive scoreless innings.
"For me and for this team, that was a very big win, especially the way it started in the first," Graveman said. "I was sitting up here the last half and said, I gotta go down and cheer the guys on, so I put my stuff back on and went to the dugout. What's special about this team is you don't know who it's going to be getting the big hits at the end of the game."

Rosales rebounds: The Angels threatened in the top half of the 11th inning, which began with a Valbuena single. One out later, Cameron Maybin hit a sharp grounder that shortstop Adam Rosales bungled for an error to put two runners aboard. But Rosales recovered quickly with a nice play on Ben Revere's ensuing grounder for the force at second, and right-hander Liam Hendriks induced an inning-ending flyout from Cliff Pennington to keep the game tied.
"He sleeps with his glove," Melvin said. "When you have one play that ends up being an error, whether it took a bad hop or not ... It's not like his confidence is shaken. He's been great for us when Marcus [Semien] has been down. He's really anchored the middle of the infield and made some really good plays."

TROUT OUT AGAIN
Angels center fielder Michael Trout sat for the third straight game Monday night with a tight left hamstring, but a clean MRI was good news for the reigning American League MVP.
"The precautionary MRI was just to get a baseline," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "Everything was clean, but we want to make sure that this is 100 percent behind him before he gets on that field and does the things he needs to do. He's plays a demanding position. It's moving in the right direction."
WHAT'S NEXT
Angels:Alex Meyer will make his third start this season on Tuesday night as he fills in for the injured Tyler Skaggs. The 27-year-old righty gave up a career-high six earned runs in his last start, as he lasted just four innings in an 11-3 loss to Seattle. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. PT.
Athletics: Right-hander Jharel Cotton gets the start in Tuesday's matchup with the Angels at the Coliseum. Cotton faced the Angels on April 5, allowing five runs on eight hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.
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