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Athletics rally for five in ninth to down Indians

May 14, 2007 - 2:18 AM OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- For someone who struggled to log 144 major league at-bats over parts of five seasons, Jack Cust is sure making a mockery of the American League this season.

Milton Bradley hit the game-tying home run and Cust blasted a walk-off homer as the Oakland Athletics rallied from two runs down to post a 10-7 victory Sunday over the Cleveland Indians in the rubber game of the series.

With the Athletics trailing, 7-5, and Eric Chavez down two strikes with two outs, Chavez worked his way back to a full count before bouncing a single past a diving Josh Barfield on the eighth pitch of the at-bat to keep the inning alive.

"I was just trying to battle," Chavez said. "I just told myself to try and get on base. Whether it was a walk, hit, whatever, just get on base so that we could have a chance."

Bradley followed Chavez and promptly launched a two-run shot to right off Indians closer Joe Borowski (0-2), haunting the team he played for 2001-2003.

"A couple of innings before that I envisioned a scenario where I would hit a walk-off," Bradley said. "It ended up being the (one to tie the game) though. I love being in those situations and I have all the confidence in the world. I'd being lying if I said that I didn't have a little extra incentive playing against the Indians."

"What can you say," Athletics manager Bob Geren said. "That's why baseball is the greatest game in world. There's no clock, you can't run the clock down. Milton Bradley had a big, huge home run to tie the game. It was a tremendous at-bat."

Following back-to-back singles, Cust hit his walk-off three-run homer to deep left off reliever Fernando Cabrera to give Oakland the unbelievable 10-7 comeback win. Cust, who joined the team as a result of a trade with the San Diego Padres late last month, homered for the sixth time in 26 at-bats.

"Seeing Jack Cust come up with the week he's had, you felt like he was going to at least hit the ball hard," Geren said. "He drove that ball deep into left center and when I saw the left fielder turn his back, I knew the game was over. I'm real happy for him."

"I was just excited to be in that situation," Cust said. "To be able to produce like that with runners on base, that's what you dream of. The last thing on my mind was a home run. I was just thinking about hitting a line drive so someone could score, and the next you know, I hit it out of the park."

Cust's blast was his fifth homer in the last four contests. In that same time, the 30th overall selection in the 1997 draft has posted 12 RBI.

"Obviously he's (Cust) the player of the week in baseball," Chavez said. "I don't know if he's going to get it, but he certainly deserves it. He's come in here and gave us a shot in the arm."

Jay Witasick (1-0) struck out the lone Indian batter he faced to get the win in a contest where the only time the A's held the lead was at the end. Borowski allowed four runs and four hits in just two-thirds of an inning, blowing just his second save in 14 opportunities.

"Everyone did their jobs today except for one person, me," Borowski said. "We were supposed to come out of here winning the series, and instead you go back home losing two out of three. It's frustrating."

"Joe Borowski has been doing a great job for us," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "It was just one of those days, he's not going to be perfect."

The A's comeback ruined a contest in which Cleveland, which fell to 20-5 in games in which they scored more than four runs, maintained control until the final frame.

Tied 1-1 in the third, Nixon sparked a four-run inning off Oakland starter Chad Gaudin with a run-scoring double to give the Indians lead to 2-1. Two batters later, David Dellucci started a run of three consecutive run-producing plate appearances when plated Victor Martinez to increase the Cleveland advantage to 3-1.

Josh Barfield followed with an RBI groundout and Mike Rouse was credited for pushing across a run when Athletics second baseman Mark Ellis was charged with two errors on the same play - mishandling the grounder and overthrowing first base in an attempt to retire Rouse - allowing Dellucci to score from second base and pushing the Indians bulge to 5-1.

Oakland responded with a run-scoring single from Shannon Stewart and a sacrifice fly from Brady in their half of the third as well as a RBI groundout in the fourth from Jason Kendall that scored Cust and narrowed their deficit to 5-4.

Cleveland answered with two more runs on three consecutive hits in the sixth off reliever Jay Marshall before Chavez hit a solo homer in the seventh to trim the Oakland gap to 7-5, setting the stage for the ninth-inning rally.