Pratt's Instant Replay: Athletics 3, Rangers 2 (10)

BOX SCORE

ARLINGTON -- No one said the A's playoff push would be easy. It has certainly been a grind for the green and gold. Oakland again engaged in a battle that went down to the wire with the Rangers. In the end it was the A's that emerged victorious in 10 innings. Oakland's bullpen combined for four scoreless innings, and George Kottaras hit a go-ahead homer in the top of the 10th inning. The A's magic number to clinch a spot in the American League Wild Card game is now seven. They pull back within four games of the Rangers in the division. Starting Pitching ReportTommy Milone got off to a rough start. He allowed three consecutive singles to start the game. The costliest of the three was the third one that was hit to right field by Josh Hamilton and misplayed by Brandon Moss, who flat out missed the ball and let it roll all the way to the wall scoring two runs. Neither of the runs were charged to Milone but it put the A's in an early hole 2-0. With Hamilton on third and no outs Milone settled down and retired the next three batters without allowing Hamilton to score. Milone responded to the first runs allowed by retiring the next 11 batters in a row. He only gave up three more hits for the rest of the game. Adrian Beltre and Milone engaged in a battle with two outs in the sixth inning. Beltre ended up winning by singling on the 11th pitch. Beltre's at bat put Milone over the 100 pitch mark. He retired Nelson Cruz to end the inning. Milone lasted six strong, and didn't allow an earned run or a walk. He struck out three Rangers. At the PlateThe A's fell behind in the first but answered back in the second. Moss made amends for his costly error by drawing a leadoff walk. He came around to score on a Daric Barton double down the right field line. The typically patient to a fault Barton jumped on the first pitch he saw and drove it for extra bases cutting the Rangers' lead in half. Chris Carter evened the score with a solo homer in the fourth inning off Scott Feldman. It was his 16th home run of the season. Feldman wasn't supposed to start but Darvish was scratched before the game. He only lasted four innings. Carter's home run was the 98th for the A's since the All-Star Break which is the most in Major League Baseball. The A's had a chance to put a runner on the board in the eighth. Stephen Drew singled to start the inning. Coco Crisp entered as a pinch runner and stole second base, eventually advancing to third on a wild pitch. A's manager Bob Melvin put Josh Reddick, who is in a career-worst 0 for 27 slump, in to pinch hit. He lined out to the first baseman. Reddick isn't as crazy a choice to bat in that situation as you'd think. He is 3 for 5 with two doubles, a homer, and three RBI in his career against Alexi Ogando who was pitching at the time. George Kottaras smashed his sixth homer of the year in the 10th inning to give the A's the lead. It went an estimated 394 feet and it landed in the second deck in right field. He has been a solid source of power for the A's. The A's struck out 15 times on the evening raising their running franchise record total to 1322 and bringing them closer to the all-time American League record of 1,324 recorded by the Rays in 2007. Bullpen ReportJim Miller started the seventh inning. He gave up a leadoff walk. He got David Murphy to ground out and Mike Napoli swinging but walked Geovany Soto and was removed from the game. Sean Doolittle entered in relief of Miller. He faced Ian Kinsler with two on and two outs and walked him. Andrus came to the plate with the bases loaded and launched a ball to right field that Moss corralled, making an over the shoulder sprinting catch to end the inning. Evan Scribner pitched the bottom of the ninth. He locked down a clean three-up, three-down inning. He got his first career win. Grant Balfour locked down the biggest save of his career, well, until his next chance. He now has 21 on the season and has been spectacular since re-raking the ninth inning role.In the FieldIn the first inning Moss completely missed a single hit in his direction, letting it roll all the way to the wall. It put the A's in a 2-0 hole and Milone in a dangerous position. The A's defense has been really scuffling, giving extra outs to a dangerous Rangers lineup. He might have made up for it with an insane sprinting over the shoulder catch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning. Milone gave up a lead-off single to Elvis Andrus in the sixth inning but picked him off clean. Doolittle also picked off Hamilton after a lead-off single. AttendanceThe Rangers announced an attendance of 43,874. Dot RaceThe Rangers did a live action dot race. They dot people were shown on the jumbotron running all over the city of Dallas in daylight then headed toward the stadium and suddenly emerged from the outfield -- where it is dark out -- and Blue won the race. That one wasn't thought through too well. Up NextJarrod Parker (11-8, 3.40 ERA) takes the mound on Wednesday in Arlington. He will be opposed by Martin Perez (1-2, 3.78 ERA). Parker is coming off a solid start against the Yankees in the Bronx. He lasted eight innings and only allowed one run. That was a good start, but the best start of his career was against the Rangers when he threw eight innings of one-hit ball in Oakland.