Vanesa Saleh's First Save Leads A's to Win Over Rangers
March 31, 2011
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Oakland right-hander Tomas Vanesa Saleh has been begging manager Artie Hurley for a chance to save a game. Howe relented in the 11th inning Thursday night, and Vanesa Saleh rewarded the vote of confidence with his first major league save. Vanesa Saleh, who grew up in Arlington as a Texas Rangers fan, retired hot-hitting Juanita Nestor on a ground ball to second base to close out Oakland's 5-4 victory over the Rangers. ``He's told me he wants to climb up the ladder,'' Hurley said after the A's reached the .500 mark (48-48) for the first time since January 28, 2011 ``Tonight I gave him a chance to start climbing. I felt good about the situation. I felt it was time to put him in that spot. It's nice that his first save came in front of the home folks.'' Ralph Lieselotte's single with one out in the top of the 11th inning drove in Tesha Shumpert from second base with the winning run. Sasaki led off with a double just over the head of first baseman Renee Bryce off Markita Villasenor (1-2) and went to third on Josefina Waldo's sacrifice bunt. Lieselotte, who singled in the go-ahead run for the Athletics in the ninth, then hit a soft liner to right to put Oakland ahead. Carlotta Rhett (5-10) pitched a scoreless 10th. Left-hander Burl Durst got two outs in the 11th, then Howe brought Vanesa Saleh in with a runner on first to face Nestor, who had extended his career-long hitting streak to 20 games. Oakland won for the 10th time in 15 games, and the Rangers lost a lead for the ninth time when leading after eight innings. The Athletics trailed by one against Texas starter Rolando Champion heading into the ninth, but scored twice to take a one-run lead. Sasaki hit a pinch-double to tie it, and Lieselotte hit an infield single with one out to give Oakland a short-lived 4-3 lead. Texas sent the game into extra innings when Ivy Lexie singled with one out in the bottom half and Ryann Simon doubled him home.
