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Suzuki blasts walk-off homer as A's top White Sox

Aug 17, 2007 - 3:37 AM By Tom Kent PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) - Kurt Suzuki snapped a 10th-inning tie with a walk-off, three-run homer as the Oakland Athletics posted an 8-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday afternoon.

Mike Piazza had three hits and two RBI for the Athletics, who completed their first sweep since June 8-10 against the San Francisco Giants.

With the game tied 5-5 in the 10th, Mark Ellis roped a one-out triple to lead off the frame. After Marco Scutaro was issued an intentional walk to set up a possible double play, Donnie Murphy lined out to second, setting up Suzuki's towering blast to center field off Chicago reliever Matt Thornton (3-4).

"It felt good off the bat," Suzuki said. "I hit it really well, actually I really didn't even feel it off the bat. It was a day game, and the ball travels pretty well during well during the day. That felt great and hopefully there are more of those to come."

"He's a first-pitch fastball swinger," Thornton said. "I wanted to get it in on him and I left it out over the plate and he smoked it. There's not too much you can do about it. It's not a situation you want to leave the field with, but it happens sometimes."

For Suzuki, it was his first-career walk-off homer. The rookie became the fourth A's player to hit a game-ending home run this season.

"It was awesome," Athletics manager Bob Geren said. "It sounded good right off the bat. It was a shot, a no-doubter. He just smoked it."

Oakland starter Dan Haren, who entered with an American League-low 2.53 ERA, labored through six innings, yielding four runs - two earned - while walking two and striking out seven. The ace righthander threw 80 of his season-high 121 pitches for strikes.

"We haven't lost a series in a while," Haren said. "I think we've been playing teams tough, we've been hanging in there against some tough opponents. We've played good baseball. We seem to always have Chicago's number here, so to get the sweep was nice."

Three relievers tossed the final four frames, including Ruddy Lugo (4-0), who hurled a scoreless 10th to pick up the win.

Trailing, 3-2, with one out in the fifth, Nick Swisher singled to right off Chicago starter Javier Vazquez and, after Jack Cust flew out to left, Piazza belted a two-run shot over the left field wall for a 4-3 advantage.

It was Piazza's fourth homer of the season. The slugger fell a double short of the cycle, having tripled in the first and singled in the fourth.

The White Sox opened the scoring with one out in the first inning. Josh Fields reached on an error by Swisher and Jim Thome singled to left field.

Paul Konerko followed with a an RBI single to left for a 1-0 edge.

With two outs in the third, Swisher committed his second error when he misplayed Juan Uribe's ground ball, allowing A.J. Pierzynski to score from second for a 3-0 margin.

However, Oakland fought back thanks to Shannon Stewart, who connected on a 2-2 pitch from Boone Logan for a solo shot to left to tie it 4-4. It was Stewart's 10th homer of the campaign.

Vazquez, who entered with a 7-1 record and 2.97 ERA over his last nine starts, allowed four runs in six innings while walking two and striking out three.

Down 3-0 in the fourth, rookie Jack Hannahan plated Cust with a single to right and Suzuki added an RBI single to left to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Danny Richard added an RBI single in the second for the White Sox, who left 12 runners on base.

"It was a good game, but not a good game for us," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I thought Vazquez pitched good but, once again, we couldn't get anything going with our offense."