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Suzuki caps off huge night for A's with walk-off winner

Jun 21, 2008 - 7:39 AM By Ryan Leong PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Dan Uggla had four hits, including two home runs, but it was a fielding error that allowed Kurt Suzuki to steal the show for the Oakland Athletics.

Suzuki had four hits, including a walk-off RBI double in the 11th inning, for the Athletics in a 7-6 win over the Florida Marlins on Friday night.

Suzuki also hit a two-run home run in the fourth and finished with a career-high five RBI for the Athletics, who blew a 4-0 lead only to fall behind, 5-4, before recovering to knot the game at 6-6.

In the 11th, Eric Chavez hit a long fly ball to the wall in left off Doug Waechter (0-2). Luis Gonzalez simply missed the ball, allowing Chavez to reach second. Suzuki came through with an opposite-field sinking liner to right, scoring Chavez to end the game.

"I was just trying to hit the ball to the right side," Suzuki said. "Not only was I trying to get him over, I was trying to get him in as well. So I was trying to look for something up that I could hit to the right side and I got a pitch and found a seam."

"I just couldn't be more proud of our guys," Athletics manager Bob Geren said. "They just fought back and got the lead, gave it up, got it back. That team over there has a lot of power, obviously, you saw with all the home runs, but you can't really talk enough about what Kurt Suzuki did."

It was the second time in the game that the combination came up big for Oakland. In the fourth, Chavez doubled to left, tying Reggie Jackson for second on the all-time Oakland list for extra-base hits with 521 before Suzuki plated him with a two-run homer to left.

On the very next pitch, Carlos Gonzalez launched a no-doubter into the bleachers in right for his first major league home run, giving Oakland its first back-to-back home runs of the season.

"Its all about fighting," Gonzalez said. "We never give up, we're always trying to work really hard and we always try to win ballgames - even if we have to play 15 or 20 innings - we're going to fight until the end. That's the difference between winning and losing because this is a team that never gives up, so we're going to be fighting all the time."

The A's added a run in the fifth to increase its advantage to 4-0. Rajai Davis singled to center, stole second and advanced to third on a flyout to center by Mark Ellis. Davis later scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Sweeney.

The A's threatened again in the eighth. With two outs, Bobby Crosby walked and Chavez dunked a pop-up out of the reach of shortstop Hanley Ramirez for a single. Crosby advanced to third and Chavez took second on the throw back to the infield.

However, the Marlins started their comeback in the sixth on Uggla's first home run and climbed to within one run at 4-3 an inning later when Ramirez homered and Luis Gonzalez plated a run on a sacrifice fly.

Jeremy Hermida gave the Marlins their first lead at 5-4 in the top of the eighth with a two-run blast before Suzuki turned the tables with a two-run double in the bottom of the frame.

But Uggla connected on his second solo blast of the game in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 6-6, setting the stage for Suzuki to come through one final time.

"We almost stole it from them," Uggla said. "They were beating us all game and we almost stole it from them and they came back and fought right back so you have to tip your cap to them. It's the way it goes sometimes. We're going to come back and put it on them tomorrow."

Andrew Brown (1-0) held the Marlins scoreless over the final two innings to pick up the win.

"The main thing is that we won the game," Suzuki said. "I'm just enjoying it right now with my teammates and we're excited to win and ready to come back tomorrow and play because they're a great team."