Coco Crisp Homers Twice as A's Blast Jays, 16-0; Padres Avoid Sweep, Beat Lincecum, on Jesus Guzman's 2 HR

Players of the Day for Wednesday, July 25, 2012

American League

The Oakland A's won their seventh straight and remained tied for second place in the the AL West with the A's, five games behind Texas, after pounding the Toronto Blue Jays, 16-0, Wednesday night in Oakland.

Coco Crisp

Batting from his usual leadoff spot, Coco Crisp singled and scored in the second inning as the A's sent 12 men to the plate and routed Toronto starter, Randy Romero, scoring eight times in the inning. Romero left with one out in the second, and was credited with allowing eight runs on four hits and six walks.

It was Romero's shortest outing of the year and his sixth straight start in which he earned the loss.

Crisp hit solo homers in the third and fifth innings, going 3-for-6 with two RBI and three runs. The A's scored at least one run in every inning except the fourth and seventh.

Toronto remained tied with the Red Sox in last place in the AL East and will seek to avoid being swept at home when they take the field in the third game of their series with the A's, Thursday afternoon.


National League

Jesus Guzman

Tim Lincecum dropped to 4-11 on the season and the San Diego Padres avoided being swept by the Giants, winning the finale of their three game series in San Francisco by a 6-3 final score.

Jesus Guzman, who spent most of the past three years in the minors, was the main protagonist against Lincecum, singling and scoring in the fourth inning and socking a two-run homer with two down in the fifth, ending Lincecum's day on the mound.

Leading off the eighth, Guzman connected again with a solo shot, his sixth of the season. He finished 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBI.

The Giants were fortunate in that both Los Angeles and Arizona also lost, so they remain in first place with a 2 1/2 game lead over the Dodgers and six ahead of the Diamondbacks in the NL West.

San Francisco hosts an important three-game weekend series with the Dodgers beginning Friday.

14 games back and hopelessly out of the division and wild card races, rumors that the Padres were looking to trade third baseman Chase Headley were widely circulated.