OAKLAND, Calif. – Jemile Weeks hit a sacrifice fly in the 15th inning and the Oakland Athletics outlasted the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 Monday night in a game that took more than five hours.
Weeks was 0 for 7 when he came up against the Rays' five-man infield. He lofted a fly ball and Brandon Inge easily beat the throw home from center fielder B.J. Upton.
The game lasted 5 hours, 9 minutes and ended at 12:17 a.m.
Inge hit a leadoff single against Kyle Farnsworth (0-3) and was sacrificed to second. Seth Smith was intentionally walked, and Eric Sogard also walked to load the bases. The Rays then moved right fielder Ben Zobrist to the infield in hopes of getting a double play.
Brandon Hicks homered for the A's, who have a major league-leading 12th walkoff wins this season.
Jordan Norberto (3-1) pitched one inning for the win as Oakland improved to 8-2 in extra-inning games this season.
The A's won despite striking out an Oakland record 21 times. Inge had four of them until his leadoff single in the 15th.
Oakland loaded the bases in the ninth and 10th but failed to score. Tampa Bay stranded runners at first and third in the 14th and first and second in the 15th.
Chris Carter and Kurt Suzuki had RBI doubles in the second to give the A's a 2-0 lead against David Price.
That ended a franchise record-tying 24-inning scoreless streak by Tampa Bay pitchers that began over the weekend in Anaheim, where the Rays pitched consecutive shutouts for the first time since 2008.
Price, trying to become the majors' first 15-game winner this season, later pitched out of a two-on, two-out jam in the sixth by striking out Inge before giving up Hicks' game-tying home run in the seventh. He finished with 11 strikeouts and two walks.
Oakland starter A.J. Griffin didn't allow a hit until the fourth and ran into trouble that same inning after walking Matt Joyce. Two batters later, Carlos Pena tied it with a double into the gap in right-center that scored Jeff Keppinger and Joyce.
Matt Joyce's 12th homer of the season gave Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead in the sixth.
NOTES: Oakland optioned C Derek Norris to Triple-A Sacramento to make room for George Kottaras. Kottaras was obtained in a trade from Milwaukee on Sunday. ... The Rays are encouraged by the progress of injured 3B Evan Longoria (partial hamstring tear) but haven't set a timetable for his return. ... RHP Jeff Niemann threw a bullpen session without setback and is scheduled to pitch a simulated game on Friday in Tampa Bay. The next step will be at least one rehab start for Niemann. ... Rays RHP James Shields (8-7) will try to bounce back Tuesday from a shaky start when he issued a season-high five walks in 6-2 loss to Baltimore. LHP Tommy Milone (9-7) goes for Oakland.
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