MINNEAPOLIS _ These Oakland A's are such a buzzkill.
Fresh off a sweep in Seattle in late May, the A's short-circuited the Twins' brief hopes of a turnaround by winning all three games in Oakland. On Monday, the A's arrived to face a Minnesota team refreshed by two straight wins against the team with the best record in the American League.
Cancel the fireworks. The A's sure did, again.
The Twins collected only four hits amid the July 4 pageantry, pushed across one measly run, and wasted Ricky Nolasco's strong six innings in a wet-firecracker 3-1 loss at Target Field. It was the Twins' sixth straight loss to the A's.
Oakland had only one successful inning against the Twins, a three-run uprising in the seventh that knocked Nolasco from the game after a solid four-hit start, and that one included a baserunning error the A's got away with, and a pop-up that fell for a hit in short left field.
With the Twins holding a 1-0 lead, Danny Valencia doubled to lead off the inning, then chose to run to third on a grounder to short, normally a fundamental error. But while the throw from Eduardo Nunez beat Valencia to the bag, Miguel Sano applied the tag a split-second late, a verdict that was delivered when the A's challenged the initial "out" call. Steven Vogt followed by lining a single to left field, driving in Valencia with the tying run and forcing manager Paul Molitor's hand.
He removed Nolasco, who had thrown 110 pitches, and summoned lefthander Taylor Rogers to work out of the jam. Rogers struck out Marcus Semien, but then pinch-hitter Billy Butler lofted a perfectly placed pop-up just out of reach of left fielder Eddie Rosario and shortstop Nunez. With the bases loaded, Rogers retired Jake Smolinski on a tapper up the third-base line, flipping the ball to catcher Kurt Suzuki for the force.
Then Coco Crisp delivered the decisive hit of the game, hitting a hard grounder up the middle, just past Rogers and barely out of reach of Brian Dozier's dive. Two runs scored, establishing a deficit the Twins could never overcome.
That's because Oakland starter Kendall Graveman, who limited the Twins to just two runs over six innings in Oakland, was even sharper this time. Graveman walked four batters, but only once did the Twins make him pay. Two walks and Joe Mauer's single in the fourth inning set up an RBI chance for Max Kepler, who had hit in 13 straight games at Target Field.
Kepler didn't extend that streak _ he went 0-for-4 on the day, but he beat the relay on a potential double-play ball _ and Mauer scored the Twins' lone run.
Minnesota put two runners on base in the ninth inning against A's closer Ryan Madsen, primarily on Eddie Rosario's triple off the center field wall, but Danny Santana lined out to center to end the threat and hand Madsen his 16th save.
