had a home run and three rbis last night. it's a 1-1 game, bottom of the eighth, one out. runners on first and second. >> mitch: parker has managed to navigate through this lineup all day long. this is where he really shows what he's made of. >> justin: jam shot, donaldson to second for one, over to first, not in time. jones able to beat it out. fielder's choice, first and third, two outs. and that's twice now that jones has hustled out. he got down to second to break up a double play. now he beats this one to avoid the double play. >> mitch: really good job by sogard right there to get up and out of the play of that slide at second base. >> justin: coming into this game, matt wieters on the season

against right handers, is hitting .218 versus lefties, .280. 0 for 3 in the ball game. >> mitch: this is where the pressure is on suzuki. he has to keep that split-finger in front of him. >> justin: splitter or changeup, which one? >> mitch: that to me was a split. >> justin: mclouth led off with a single. he's at third base. jones just reached on a fielder's choice at first. >> mitch: they play wieters absolutely straight up in the field. >> justin: the 0-1. chases a fastball. no balls and two strikes. >> mitch: now you go a notch higher. keep it in the middle of the plate and keep walking the ladder. he showed you he would go after that pitch, no go higher. >> justin: you said that high fastball is difficult to throw. >> mitch: i never had trouble throwing the high one.

if it's up and away from him, he can drive it out of the park. but if it's up in the middle -- >> justin: just missing outside. one ball and two strikes. >> mitch: that's a good pitch right there. >> justin: it almost seems like tillman and parker have gotten stronger as the game has gone on. >> mitch: to be honest, neither deserves the loss this this game. >> justin: i agree. the 1-2. in the dirt. two balls and two strikes. >> mitch: he just showed him that split down. go back up with your fastball. >> justin: the oakland a's this year, they've won with pitching and timely hitting.

they're hoping their pitcher, jarrod parker, can come through right here. 2-2. ground ball, shortstop. lowrie to first. and parker gets out of the inning. [phone rings] [phone rings] [phone rings] [man squeals in pain] hello? two years is too long to wait. upgrade when you want, not when you're told. get the samsung galaxy s4 for zero down at participating t-mobile stores now. let's go! ♪ one more. ♪ one more.

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>> justin: jarrod parker got out of that jam. a hug with kurt suzuki. he went eight innings. tillman, parker both pitched so well, they did not deserve to lose. now the new pitcher for baltimore is darren o'day. 53 strikeouts, 13 walks in 54 1/3 innings. >> mitch: he's been a very good pitcher with buck the last couple of years. was with the rangers for a few years. >> justin: coco crisp takes the first pitch for a ball.

>> justin: little frisbee breaking ball. at the very least for parker, the streak will run to 16 without a loss. >> mitch: yeah, and he threw the ball exceptionally well today, both starters did. >> justin: three balls and no strikes. >> mitch: it's backing up on him. it's curious to me. i wonder if coco went up here with the mind he's going to take a strike. o'day gets you out getting you to chase balls. >> justin: there's a strike on the outside corner. crisp thought he had ball four. and jed lowrie, i saw him speaking to bob melvin, so you've got to think that if crisp does get on, look for a bunt from lowrie. >> mitch: no question.

as good as ball four has been for the a's this year closing, he's going to do everything he can to generate that one run. >> justin: crisp to deep right field. 2-1, oakland leads! >> mitch: that's what happens when you put yourself in a hitter's count. you get a guy that allows him to go up there now, he changes his mind frame from i am going to walk, now i'm going to look to jump out of here. >> justin: third straight game with a home run for coco crisp. that's his 13th of the year. and now oakland leads 2-1 here in the top of the ninth.

and the first pitch to lowrie is a strike. >> mitch: that's been the thing that's hurt this oriole club all year long. yes, they're number one in the league in home runs, hits. but they're already number one in the league in home runs allowed. >> mitch: one ball, one strike here to lowrie. >> mitch: i leave that's o'day's seventh he's allowed this year. >> justin: bob melvin said, we go as coco crisp goes. flies out twice, grounds out once. thought he had ball four. instead, it's 3-1 and he hits a home run.

on the outside corner, 2-2. and coco crisp, he's a streaky home run hitter. his third straight game with a home run. he had a span of four games in a row with a home run, april 5 to april 9. so quick math, 7 of his 13 home runs in a span of seven games. there's balfour warming up. >> mitch: he's been extremely good. >> justin: lowrie strikes out for the first out of the inning. >> mitch: this is what i talk about, looking in the zone. that right there, he put himself in what we call a triple count, meaning o'day has to throw a ball where he wants it or he's not swinging. >> justin: one away now for josh donaldson, who is 0 for 3.

>> mitch: that pitch reminds me of jeff nelson. >> justin: good pitch. that's like a video game type pitch. >> mitch: anybody who throws from down under, as we say, it's hard to get the ball to change or get depth on the ball. everything is going to be side to side movement. and you see that, that one had some downward sink to it. you have got to get the ball to change plains. if you don't, the ball stays very flat and you can't get it off the barrel of the bat. >> justin: ever toy around with

the idea of just dropping down? >> mitch: i used to drop down to left-handers and throw a slider. but i never threw one fastball from down under. >> justin: high fastball, back-to-back strikeouts here by o'day. ten $10 or more with your mastercard when you dine out and mastercard will donate up to $4 million, one cent at a time. when everyone does their part, it's priceless. two outs for brandon moss. again, machado goes all the way from third base into shallow right field. >> mitch: this is a guy that o'day has to be careful with. as i said, he can't get his fastball -- it does not sink

very good. it's going to be flat. and moss has lots of power. in bp, he put on a show. >> justin: brandon moss and nick markakis played in aa at the same time in 2005. moss was with portland, markakis was in buoy. the number of players in the league that year, jonathan papelb papelbon, sanchez. o'day, high throw, that's wide. roberts backing it up. that's machado backing it up. >> mitch: really good job by machado backing that up, even better job of moss knowing that machado was there and not turning in once that ball went over davis' head.

your first instinct has a base runner right here is to turn in. but he sees machado down there. and the other thing he stayed in the runner's lane. had he not been in that runner's lane on the dirt, they could have called him out. >> justin: the pitching coach will come out to visit o'day. you just knew the way that o'day throws that, it was going to be tough. you definitely don't want the ball up in that situation. >> mitch: you want to throw it in. you wonder why davis didn't try for it. i don't think o'day had a good grip. that's what we call a grenade. >> justin: get rid of snit. >> mitch: yeah. i don't think he had a very good grip on that ball. because the first baseman is always going to be looking to

the inside part of the diamond there for the throw. >> justin: two away after the error by o'day. and yoenis cespedes comes up, 0 for 3 with three strikeouts. >> mitch: and o'day definitely does not want to be down in the zone here. >> justin: one ball, no strikes to cespedes.

the leadoff home run by crisp here in the ninth has given oakland a 2-1 lead. wild swing by cespedes, one ball, one strike. and with that lead, if balfour can hang on for the save, lit be the eighth straight win for jarrod parker. >> mitch: that's the guy you want doing it. he's been exceptional this year. and he is from down under. >> justin: he's 55 of 58 in save opportunities since 2012. >> mitch: i would say that's pretty good. >> justin: and he gets animated out there on the mound. >> mitch: we talked to bob melvin about that. he says he does it to himself. he'll go to yelling and stuff and a lot of people thinks he's yelling at someone.

he's not. he's yelling at himself. >> justin: jones backs up a couple of steps. and that will do it here in the ninth. balfour will be coming in, looking for his 32nd save, thanks to coco crisp's 13th home run of the year. ingeniously uses radar to alert you to possible collision threats. and in certain situations it can apply the brakes.

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>> justin: fox sports 1 is available on all major satellite and cable providers. go to foxsports1.com. the closer grant balfour is in for oakland trying to win this one for jarrod parker. a great pitcher's duel here

today from camden yards. and balfour's numbers on the season, very, very good. he is 0-2. but a 1.84 e.r.a. 31 of 32 in save opportunities. in 49 innings, balfour has walked 18, struck out 57. >> mitch: he most definitely has the temperament to be a closer. some guys close in a big league fashion. i was more like balfour than mariano. mariano is out there like he's out there on a rocking chair. this guy pitches like his hair is on fire. >> justin: only one blown save on the season for balfour, that was back on july 23rd at houston, allowed three runs on three hits.

matt dominguez with a home run in a 5-4 loss. and first pitch fastball is in there for a strike. >> mitch: there's not a lot of messing on going around balfour. he's going to come at you. >> justin: quickly no balls and two strikes. >> mitch: there's not a whole lot of movement on that fastball. that's just straight four-seam 94 miles an hour. both of them in a great location, though. down and on the outer third of the plate. >> justin: strike three! three pitches, three fastballs, and a strikeout.

time for the burger king play of the game brought to you by burger king. and it's coco crisp. go ahead home run in the ninth inning. that could make jarrod parker a winner. >> mitch: you look at those three pitches right there. there wasn't two inches difference in any of the three. good morning, good afternoon, good night. >> justin: j.j. hardy, 0 for 3. fastball is outside. you know what's great, though? coming here to baltimore, about oakland and baltimore august 24th, that the game has meaning. in a great sports town like baltimore, where you have the orioles and hearing the national anthem and you go to the ravens game -- one ball and one strike. but just sports all around. great golf courses, if you like

golf. you mentioned golf, they're losting the lpga international crown next july. it's great to see baseball back. >> mitch: i had the opportunity to play back when earl weaver was here and baseball was so prevalent here in the baltimore area with ripkens and eddie murray. it was hard to come to baltimore and play. >> justin: so much fun walking around this ballpark and being around these fans this weekend. one away in the ninth inning. j.j. hardy ahead in the count, 2-1. fouls it back. now two balls and two strikes. the producer of today's game is larry lancaster. the associate director is ben sotor.

>> mitch: the great thing about balfour, he's using his strength, which is his fastball. markakis, three straight fastballs on the outer third. every fastball in this at-bat for j.j. hardy has been down and on the outside corner. when you can do that and locate your fastball like that, it's still the best pitch in baseball. >> justin: two balls, two strikes to hardy, who has been very good since 2011. 2-2. right back to balfour. nice play. gloves it, throws to first. two away. >> mitch: you talk about not missing your spot, that's every pitch, five there, that's eight pitches where he does not miss his spot.

>> justin: ryan flaherty, the only run in the game for baltimore, back in the third inning. took a fastball on the inner part of the plate. over that wall in right field. that's it. right now he's trying to extend this game. >> mitch: i can bet he's not going to get anything on the inner third. >> justin: first pitch, pops it up foul into the seats behind home plate. >> mitch: it's curious to me, the right-handers come in there and balfour is at 96. left-handers come up there at 94. but he said that was the worst location of every pitch he's thrown so far. that was in the middlezé"ax ú?s plate. >> justin: that speaks to what oakland has been all season long, replying on pitching and coming through with timely hitting. parker got the timely hitting by chris. and it's no balls and two strikes here to ryan flaherty. >> mitch: again, he's not -- the

one mistake he made was the first pitch to flaherty. that was a fastball middle middle. there again, he's hitting his spot on a dime on the outer third. flaherty is going to have to take him out of the park to left field. >> justin: the 0-2 from balfour. got him swinging! and oakland takes game two of this series, 2-1. a perfect inning for balfour. and the final score is 2-1, oakland. for mitch williams, this is justin kutcher saying so long from baltimore. now let's go to the mlb network studios for more postgame coverage. >> welcome, everyone, to the postgame show. so how about that? what we just watched, the baltimore orioles and oakland a's and coco crisp homering in three straight games. >> it's amazing.

it shows they can come back when they're down. now they're back up to three games in the wild card. so very, very important win for them today. >> the a's get the w on the road. what's going on in baseball? in los angeles, jonny gomes at the plate and he crushes this offering. >> don't just stand there and watch it. do it that way, dude. grab the beard. >> they call that chemistry. 4-0, bottom six. here come the dodgers. ellis to right. wait a minute, maybe they're not. maybe he was >> that's okay. he's got another chance. >> a former red sock, adrian gonzalez going the other way. now the dodgers are on their way back. >> we talked about this in the pregame. very nice swing. >> and crawford scores. so that game is getting good. matt harvey against max

scherzer. scherzer with a bat in his hand and he made him pay. >> scherzer, the story of this game, allowed to pitch out of a jam. he gets the big strikeout. max scherzer trying to pick up his 19th win. this one in the top of the seventh inning. they say he's out. >> oh, no. come on. look at the replay. >> 2-0, tigers with the lead. if they hold on, scherzer's 19-1. is he a game one starter for the tigers or is it verlander? >> you would be nuts not to go with the hot hand. verlander has the history, but he's not been pitching as well, so i'm going with scherzer. >> scherzer 19-1, front-runner by far or do you like king

felix? >> i'm tired of going through all these numbers. give it to him. >> i'm with you. it's back-to-back episodes. for more information on today's game, log on to foxsports.com. see you next time on fox.