Oakland, CA – Brett Anderson tossed seven strong innings in his first start in over a year to lead the Oakland Athletics past the Minnesota Twins, 4-1, in the second of three games at the Coliseum.
Anderson (1-0) allowed one run on four hits with six strikeouts and no walks. He had been sidelined for more than 14 months while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
"You remember your debut and this is kind of like my second debut," Anderson said. "It's always going to be special and I'll remember it forever."
Josh Donaldson had a pair of hits and an RBI, while Seth Smith scored twice for the Athletics, who have won five of their last six.
Cole De Vries (2-5) surrendered two runs on six hits and three walks through 5 2/3 innings to remain winless since June 30. He has four losses and six no decisions in that span.
"He battled, gave us a great effort and he really should have walked away with at least a no decision there," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said about De Vries.
Ben Revere scored the lone run on a wild pitch for Minnesota, which fell for the 10th time in 12 games.
Minnesota manufactured its only run in its first at-bat when Revere led off the game with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a Joe Mauer groundout and came home on Anderson's wild pitch.
After the Athletics left a man on second in the bottom of the first, they were able to tie the game in the second as Smith worked a leadoff walk and rounded the bases on Donaldson's double off the wall in left field.
The Twins threatened to regain the lead in the fifth inning after Justin Morneau and Ryan Doumit led off the frame with back-to-back singles, but Trevor Plouffe followed with a hard grounder to third that Donaldson grabbed and stepped on the bag to start a 5-4-3 triple play.
It was the 21st triple play in Athletics franchise history and the eighth in Oakland.
The A's went on top in the sixth inning with three straight two-out singles by Smith, Donaldson and Derek Norris, plating Smith.
Oakland added some cushion to its lead in the seventh inning, starting when Coco Crisp hit a leadoff double and came home two batters later on Josh Reddick's bloop single to left field.
Yoenis Cespedes then singled on a liner to left before Chris Carter brought home Reddick with a double to left-center field, giving the Athletics a 4-1 advantage.
Sean Doolittle struck out two in a perfect eighth and Grant Balfour worked a flawless ninth to record his 12th save of the year.
Game Notes
The A's triple play was their first since Randy Velarde's unassisted triple play on May 29, 2000 ... It was Anderson's first start since June 5, 2011 ... Anderson improved to 3-2 in five career starts against the Twins ... De Vries fell to 0-2 in three career starts against Oakland ... Revere needs one more stolen base to become the fourth player in Twins history with consecutive 30- steal seasons ... The season series between the teams is tied, 4-4.
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