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Sweeney's RBI triple give A's wild win

Apr 9, 2008 - 4:15 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Ryan Sweeney drilled a two-out, RBI triple in the ninth inning as the Oakland Athletics cooled off the Toronto Blue Jays with a 9-8 victory on Tuesday.

Sweeney belted a 1-1 pitch from Jeremy Accardo (0-1) into the gap in right-center, plating Kurt Suzuki from first base for a 9-8 lead. Huston Street then pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save of the season.

"I just tried to catch a gap," Sweeney said. "I knew he threw me a splitty (splitter) and he ended up leaving it up a little bit."

"You just hate to waste a day when your offense picks you up like they did," Accardo said. "Some days you are not going to pitch as well as you would like, and our offense played well enough to win. I made some good pitches there. I made one bad pitch and it cost me."

The Blue Jays' Frank Thomas had knotted the game at 8-8 with a two-run blast off reliever Alan Embree (1-1) in the previous inning.

"I had a little hiccup there and fortunately I got out there without any more damage," Embree said. "We pushed one across and Street came in and pitched effectively. They picked me up tonight, it seems like we're kind of alternating that spot right now."

Vernon Wells and Aaron Hill also homered for Toronto, which was coming off a three-game sweep of the defending champion Boston Red Sox.

The Blue Jays rallied from an 8-6 deficit, as Wells led off the eighth with a double and Thomas blasted a 3-1 offering from Embree over the right-center field wall.

Oakland snapped a 6-6 tie in the sixth with a little help from Toronto. The A's scored two unearned runs on a throwing error by shortstop David Eckstein. With the bases loaded and one out, Jack Cust hit a grounder to first that looked to be an inning-ending double play.

Lyle Overbay fired to Eckstein at second, but the diminutive shortstop's return throw sailed behind reliever Brian Tallet, allowing Travis Buck and Daric Barton to score.

It was clear early on that runs would be plentiful. Oakland took a 1-0 lead in the first as Barton kept the inning alive with a two-out single and scored on a double to left by Mike Sweeney.

However, Toronto answered immediately. Matt Stairs and Alex Rios each hit one-out singles, and Wells blasted a hanging breaking ball from A's starter Chad Gaudin to left field for a three-run shot to put the Blue Jays up, 3-1.

Ryan Sweeney and Buck each had RBI doubles and Mark Ellis tripled home a run in a five-run third inning that put Oakland ahead, 6-3. The hit was the first of the season for Buck, who had been 0-for-22.

Toronto tied the game at 6-6 with three runs in the fourth as Hill blasted a two-run shot to left and Eckstein added an RBI single.

Gaudin, who was starting because Rich Harden was scratched with back soreness, allowed six runs - five earned - and eight hits in four innings. The righthander struck out three and walked one.

Blue Jays starter A.J. Burnett was no better, allowing six runs and 10 hits with one strikeout and two walks in 4 2/3 frames.

"I was rushing a lot of pitches, and I didn't make a lot of quality pitches when I was ahead and it cost me," Burnett said.