Herausforderungen » collected his 13th win of the year in

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Oakland Athletics middle reliever Liam Hendriks pumped his fist and did a little spin as he came off the mound after striking out Baltimore Orioles slugger Mark Trumbo to end the seventh inning.Ryan Madson wasnt as demonstrative but was equally pumped up after getting Chris Davis to strike out looking to end the game with the tying run on first base.Manager Bob Melvins ballclub might have the third-worst record in the AL but they clearly are still having a good time.Jake Smolinski singled and scored the deciding run in the third inning, rookie Zach Neal earned his first career win as a starter and Oakland held on to beat Baltimore 2-1 on Tuesday night.Youre going to go through waves and were on a good wave right now, Madson said. Everybodys feeding off each other, and its fun when everybodys doing that.Danny Valencia and Khris Davis drove in a run apiece as the As won consecutive games for the first time since July 26-27 to keep Wade Miley winless in an Orioles uniform.Smolinksi finished with two hits and two walks while Marcus Semien singled and scored as Oakland won its second straight one-run game from AL East-leading Baltimore.The Orioles remain percentage points ahead of Toronto, which lost earlier Tuesday night.Like they did in the series opener, the As got strong starting pitching, solid relief and just enough hitting.Neal (2-1) allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings and retired 16 of the 18 batters he faced to win his second career start and first since May 25. He gave up Adam Jones home run in the fourth and a double to Jonathan Schoop leading off the sixth.Boy that was impressive, Melvin said. For a guy thats thrown 39, 40 pitches tops for us in relief here recently, to give us 75, 80 is what I was looking for from him and he was terrific.Neals only other win in the majors came in relief against San Francisco on June 28.Its not like he struck us out, Jones said. He just kept getting ground balls and balls right at people. Tough luck. Same thing as last night.Hendriks retired five batters and punctuated his night by striking out Trumbo. John Axford pitched the eighth and Madson worked the ninth for his 24th save to complete the three-hitter.Jones singled leading off the ninth but Hyun-Soon Kim hit into a 1-6-3 double play. Madson walked Manny Machado before Chris Davis struck out looking.Its a lot of fun to be a part of, Madson said after the As bullpen combined for 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Thats what its all about for us in the bullpen.The As did all of their scoring in the third off Miley. Valencia doubled in Semien, and Smolinksi singled and scored on Davis sacrifice fly.Miley (7-10) pitched well but remained winless since arriving from Seattle a day before the trade deadline. The lefty allowed two runs over six-plus innings and struck out two.NEAR PERFECT PROSPECTJharel Cotton, one of three prospects acquired when the As traded Josh Reddick and Rich Hill to the Los Angeles Dodgers, came within one out of a perfect game while pitching for Triple-A Nashville against Round Rock on Tuesday night. Cotton retired the first 26 batters he faced before Greg Bernier tripled on a 2-1 pitch. The right-hander finished with a one-hit shutout and 12 strikeouts. Impressive outing, Melvin said. When you make a trade like that we certainly like to see our guys do well when they get here.TRAINERS ROOMOrioles: T.J. McFarland had his scheduled rehab start in the Gulf Coast League rained out Tuesday. McFarland, on the DL because of inflammation in his left knee, will pitch on Wednesday instead and the team will decide where he goes after that.UP NEXTOrioles: RHP Yovani Gallardo (4-3) pitches the third game of the series Wednesday and is seeking to win consecutive starts for the first time this season.Athletics: Ross Detwiler (0-0) will be called up from Triple-A Nashville to make his debut with Oakland. The lefty was obtained in a trade from Cleveland two weeks before the trade deadline.Toronto Blue Jays Pro Shop . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. Cheap Blue Jays Jerseys . The 25-year-old Japanese star has officially been posted by his club team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. https://www.cheapbluejays.com/ . Francis told several hundred members of the European Olympic Committees that when sport "is considered only in economic terms and consequently for victory at every cost . Blue Jays Jerseys 2020 . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Toronto Blue Jays Shirts . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night.CHICAGO -- At first glance, it will be ace vs. ace on Saturday as the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants send their best to the mound.But Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta (16-5, 2.84 ERA) and Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner (13-8, 2.49 ERA) have had some struggles of late.Arrieta, the reigning Cy Young Award winner, was knocked around in last Tuesdays start, allowing a season-high tying six runs in 6 1/3 innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates.The Cubs eventually pulled out an 8-7 win in 13 innings but Arrieta had no decision.The only thing thats been amiss is command issues on occasion, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said recently. Otherwise, his stuff is the same. His numbers are fabulous.Arrieta might not quite be matching the stunning pace set last year when he went 11-0 in his final 13 regular season starts.But even a slightly less effective Arrieta remains tough to beat. His 16 victories and opponents batting average (.185) both lead the National League. His ERA is sixth and 161 strikeouts are eighth.Bumgarner has a 6.35 ERA in his last three starts, while opponents are hitting .303 in that span.Youre going to have days, a couple of starts, when youre not going to be quite as sharp, but you find a way to win, Giants manager Bruce Bochy told reporters this week. Thats what he did. Hes healthy. Hes fine.Bumgarner will come in restted for his NL-leading 29th start of the season.dddddddddddd He collected his 13th win of the year in a seven-inning outing against Atlanta last Sunday and gave up three runs on five hits over seven innings in a 13-4 Giants win.Bumgarner is second in the league in ERA (2.49) behind Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks (2.09), is tops in games started (28), complete games (four) and third in strikeouts (207). His .212 opponents batting average is fourth in the league.Bumgarner is 7-2 with a 2.19 ERA in 11 career starts against the Cubs. Hes 4-0 in his last five starts against Chicago.Arrieta is 4-1 with a 1.60 ERA in five career starts -- four at AT&T Park -- against the Giants. His only previous start against San Francisco at Wrigley Field came on Aug. 9, 2015, when he allowed four hits in 7 2/3 scoreless innings in a 2-0 Cubs win.He earned a win at AT&T Park on May 20, allowing one run on four hits in seven innings of an 8-1 Chicago win.The Giants will send Johnny Cueto (14-5, 2.98 ERA) against a Cubs starter to be determined in Sundays series finale. The Cubs starter could well be right-hander John Lackey (9-7, 3.41 ERA), coming off the disabled list (right shoulder strain) after missing the last 18 games. ' ' '