Crisp receives strange ‘courtesy' in walk-off win

BOX SCORE

OAKLAND -- Coco Crisp led off the game with a home run, then ended the game with a walk-off sacrifice fly to defeat the Red Sox 3-2. After all that work, his teammates decided he needed a post game snack. "I heard the footsteps coming, and there is nothing you can do," Crisp said. "I was just grateful it wasn't shaving cream, it was whipped cream. We've been dealing with shaving cream here and that can sting the nostrils a little bit as well as the eyes." Call it a veteran courtesy. "I was hungry at the end of the game. I wanted to eat all of that whipped cream," he added. "I didn't know if it would come off right -- eating food off my face." The A's had reason to celebrate on Tuesday. They were trailing from the fourth inning on, before rallying to tie the game, and eventually take the lead in the bottom of the ninth. Chris Carter singled to start the inning. Then Cliff Pennington -- who came in as a defensive replacement -- followed with a hit. A's manager Bob Melvin then sent Brandon Moss to the plate as a pinch-hitter, and he tied the game at two with an RBI single.That brought Crisp to the plate to win the game, and he did the job. "He is one of those guys that has been through the wars," Melvin said of Crisp. "You always feel good when he comes up in those situations."The A's might not have been in position to win in the bottom of the ninth, if it wasn't for a big defensive play from an unlikely source in Carter. He laid out for a ball that was bunted, making a full extension diving catch. He got up and threw the ball to Jemile Weeks who was covering first base for the double play."I wasn't surprised," Carter said. "I was looking to make a play like that."The defensive effort in the ninth inning gave the A's the momentum they needed. Their comeback victory came in front of sellout crowd of 35,067, their fifth sellout of the season. "We don't get too many sellouts," Melvin said. "It's nice to be able to reward our fans. When this place is full, it gets loud. Our fans get after it."Bartolo Colon turned in a quality start in his return from a right oblique strain that landed him on the 15-day disabled list. He threw 87 pitches, over six innings of work and allowed two runs -- one of which was unearned. His biggest mistake came on a game-tying solo home run in the second inning by Jarrod Saltalamacchia. He got off to a rocky start with his command, but settled down later in the game. "The adjustment wasn't about mechanics," Colon said through interpreter Ariel Prieto. "I felt weird because I was thinking too much about if the pain was coming again. In the end it was fine." The A's might have had some form of karma on their side. During the game Brandon McCarthy and his wife Amanda held a silent auction to benefit the victims of the Colorado wildfires. They ended up raising 10,088.