April 11, 2006 > Giants top A's in extra frame

by Brett Knight

The Giants rallied back from a 4-0 deficit to beat the A's 5-4 in seven, courtesy of Jesse Nohr's game winning RBI double.

The A's jumped to an early 2-0 lead in the first with a double off the bat of Austin Schreiber (2 for 4) and a two-run double by Jake Bachelder. Giants pitcher Kris Cruz settled down in the next two innings, retiring six of seven batters, but the A's added two more runs in the 4th on an RBI double from Jacob Dutra and a run scoring single from Joe Roth. Matt Knight came on in relief with runners on 2nd and 3rd and got some huge defensive support from Nohr, who made the play of the game with a diving stop of a shot off of Schreiber's bat to record a 6-3 put out and end the inning.

The Giants had been held scoreless through four thanks to the arm of Schreiber, who recorded 12 strikeouts and no walks in his 5 innings of work. The G-men finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth with a single by Knight (3 for 4) followed by RBI doubles from Pierce Romero (2 for 3) and Zuri Chu-Hall to cut the lead in half. Then with two out and a new hurler on the hill for the A's, Bradley Ellefson hit a booming two run double to tie the game and send it into extra innings.

The A's led off the seventh with a double by Schreiber, but Knight stranded him at third by recording two of his eight strike outs to end the threat. In the bottom half of the inning, Keikilani Cabus got things going for the orange and black with a single to left, followed by another hit by Knight to set up the game winner from Nohr.