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A's aim to close out road trip with sweep of Rockies

Jun 14, 2012 - 2:51 PM (Sports Network) - After a rally in the ninth inning of last night's victory, the Oakland Athletics are in position for their first three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies since 2001.

The A's will wrap up a six-game trek this afternoon at Coors Field and erased an 8-7 deficit with a three-run top of the ninth in Thursday's 10-8 triumph.

Coco Crisp scored the tying run on Collin Cowgill's sacrifice fly and Brandon Inge later plated a pair of runners with a double. Inge finished with three RBI, while Seth Smith and Brandon Moss both hit two-run homers and Jonny Gomes added a solo shot for Oakland, which is 2-3 on the road trip and won for the fourth time in the past seven tries.

"We fell behind a little bit early and then we battled back to where we had a chance in the ninth," said Oakland manager Bob Melvin. "Feels good that we were able to scratch this one out here."

Moss has three home runs in the two games of this set and four total since his call-up last week. Tom Milone lasted just four innings in the start for the A's and gave up eight runs on seven hits with four walks. The Oakland bullpen, though, tossed five scoreless innings with Jerry Blevins pitching two innings for the win.

Oakland young phenom Yoenis Cespedes aggravated a hamstring injury in last night's win and was replaced by the second inning. Cespedes was starting his first game in almost a week because of a strained left hamstring.

"It was as much precautionary as anything," Melvin said. "It scared him a little, going down the line, and then when he came in for a ball in left field [he] just wasn't comfortable, so we went ahead and took him out. We just didn't want to press him and make it any worse."

Cespedes is not expected to play Thursday and may be the DH over the weekend versus San Diego in the opening stretch of a nine-game homestand. The A's will also host the Dodgers and Giants by the bay.

Jarrod Parker will handle pitching duties for Melvin's club today and is 2-3 with a 3.19 earned run average in nine starts. He is just 1-3 in his past four decisions and lost at Arizona the last time out on Saturday. In the 8-3 setback in the desert, Parker was reached for six runs and eight hits in five innings of work.

Parker, a right-hander, is 1-2 in four road bouts this season and has never faced Colorado in his brief career.

Meanwhile, the Rockies are mired in a season-high seven-game losing streak and hope to salvage the finale of this three-game series and a six-game homestand.

Colorado veteran first baseman Todd Helton hit his seventh career grand slam and Michael Cuddyer went 4-for-4 with two home runs, three RBI and three runs scored for the Rockies, who have lost nine straight home games in interleague play.

"It's a tough loss but we have to come back tomorrow and try to win one here," said Helton. "This is gut-check time and we need to find a way to score more runs than the other team."

Rockies starter Josh Outman was touched for five runs on six hits over five innings with a walk and four strikeouts to absorb the loss.

The Rockies, who will begin a nine-game road swing this weekend with three tilts in Detroit, received some bad news on injured All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Battling a groin injury, Tulowitzki homered and singled in his first rehab game with Triple-A Colorado Springs before taking himself out of the game with the same issue. He hasn't played in the majors since May 30.

Colorado Springs announced that Tulowitzki was sent back to Denver for further evaluation.

"I don't anticipate that it's serious, but I don't have any specific timetable when it is he would resume a rehab assignment or be ready to play for us," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said.

Alex White hopes to pitch Tracy's club back into the win column when he takes the mound Thursday. White was 2-0 in three starts until losing to the LA Angels of Anaheim on Friday in a 7-2 decision. He gave up four runs and eight hits, including a pair of homers, over six innings, falling to 2-4 with a 5.66 ERA in seven starts.

White has given up six homers in his last three appearances and is 1-2 in four home outings this season. The right-hander has never faced Oakland before.

Colorado swept the A's the last time the teams played back in 2009.