Dein erstes Forum » the rest of the quarter to take a 77-68

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Sitting on the top of the dugout bench pregame, Athletics manager Bob Melvin looked over Great American Ball Park and figured it was a perfect stop for his struggling team. "Given the way weve been struggling on offence, I want them to think, Yeah, this is a good place to hit," Melvin said. So much for that idea. Even in one of the most hitter-friendly places, the As cant do much of anything these days. Jay Bruce homered and made a run-saving catch on the warning track, and Mat Latos pitched into the eighth inning against Oaklands slumping lineup on Tuesday night, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-1 victory. The Reds had dropped seven of nine and were coming off what players called an embarrassing weekend against St. Louis -- losses of 13-3 and 15-2. They found an American League team struggling even more. The West-leading Athletics have lost five of six, getting shut out twice during that span. It was nearly three -- Derek Norris hit a two-out homer in the ninth off Aroldis Chapman that ended Oaklands streak of 18 innings without a run. "Youve just got to play your way through it, fight your way through it, have better at-bats, get grittier, find a way to get the guy home," Melvin said. "Were not swinging our bats, theres no doubt about that. "You go through these periods, yet you try to minimize them so they dont go on too long." Latos (11-3) allowed four hits through 7 1-3 shutout innings, leaving him 3-0 in his last four starts. Chapman gave up his sixth homer of the season while getting his 26th save in 30 chances. Bruce hit his 23rd homer off Dan Straily (6-6), who has lost all of his four starts since being called back up from the minors. The right fielder also went a long way to run down Josh Reddicks fly ball to the warning track in the fourth, saving a run. Melvin decided to hit for Straily in the fifth inning after catcher Stephen Vogt led off with a single. The As trailed 2-0 and Straily had thrown 75 pitches already. "Its not so much frustrating as you never want to stop pitching," Straily said. "I felt like it was all right. I got out of some jams. Obviously you never want to get up a home run. Every time you go out there, you want to throw zeroes. It could have been worse, could have been a lot better." The As made their first visit to Great American Ball Park -- opened in 2003 -- hoping to break out of their offensive slump in a hitter-friendly place. The As are only 8-9 since the All-Star break. Heading into the interleague series, the As were batting .218 in their last 20 games, getting blanked four times. They were coming off a 4-0 loss to Texas on Sunday. The As stranded runners in scoring position in the first, third, fifth and eighth innings, setting themselves up for another bad night. Coco Crisp tripled over first base with one out in the third but failed to score as the next two batters popped out. Their best chance came in the fifth, when they loaded the bases on Vogts single, second baseman Brandon Phillips error and a walk. Yoenis Cespedes grounded into a forceout. Cincinnati didnt get much offence, either, but this time it was enough. Bruce led off the second inning with a drive to left. Phillips singled home another run in the fourth, which was Strailys final inning. He failed to last five innings for the third start in a row and for the seventh time in 18 starts overall this season. Shin-Soo Choo led off the fifth with a double off left-hander Jerry Blevins and came around when the reliever fielded Derrick Robinsons bunt and threw wildly to first for an error. NOTES: Oakland is 13-6 in interleague play, Cincinnati 7-9. The As swept their two-game series in Oakland. ... Reddick was hitless in four at-bats, leaving him in an 0-for-16 slump. ... Eric Sogard extended his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games. ... The Reds plan to activate RH reliever Jonathan Broxton off the DL before Wednesdays game. C Ryan Hanigan (wrist) and LF Ryan Ludwick (shoulder) are expected back by the end of the week. ... RHP Bartolo Colon tries for his 15th victory on Wednesday, facing Cincinnatis Homer Bailey (6-10). Colon has gone at least six innings and allowed three runs or fewer in his last 15 starts, the longest streak by an Athletics pitcher since at least 1916. Cheap NFL Jerseys China . Cote was eligible to become a free agent Feb. 15. Cote helped running back Jon Cornish run for a league-high 1,813 rushing yards en route to being named the leagues most outstanding player. NFL Jerseys Discount . Wall made the comment in a speech to a Regina business crowd that included Lesnar. The U.S. wrestler and retired mixed martial artist says he was visiting his brothers farm in Saskatchewan and decided he wanted to hear what the premier had to say. http://www.cheapwholesalejerseyschina.com/ . -- Derrick Rose shook off poor shooting early to hit clutch shots late and Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 104-95 preseason victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. Cheap Jerseys USA .Y. -- Sabres forward Drew Stafford has witnessed plenty of turmoil during his eight seasons in Buffalo. Jerseys NFL Wholesale . Coach Tom Thibodeau says the former MVP will probably start travelling with the team in the next few weeks. Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee at Portland in November and was ruled out for the remainder of the season by the Bulls. OKLAHOMA CITY -- Russell Westbrook continues to reach new heights.Westbrook recorded his second straight triple-double, and NBA-best seventh of the season, with 17 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Detroit Pistons 106-88 on Saturday night.Westbrook, who tied LeBron James for sixth on the NBAs career list with 44 triple-doubles, shot just 8 for 22 from the field after scoring at least 30 points in eight straight games. It was just the second time this year Westbrook failed to score 20.Im happy we won, thats the most important part for me, Westbrook said. But I definitely dont take anything for granted. Every night I step on the floor, I try to compete at a high level and Im thankful that I can play the game I love every night.It was just the fourth time in 18 games this season that Westbrook did not lead the team in scoring.I think his leadership has really stood out in terms of keeping the guys connected together, keeping them working, coach Billy Donovan said. But we got a lot of contributions from a lot of different guys.Anthony Morrow scored 21 points off the bench to lead the Thunder (10-8), who were playing their fourth game in five nights in four different cities. Victor Oladipo added 18 while Steven Adams had 16 points and nine rebounds.Knowing it was the end of a back-to-back and four games in five nights, for the guys to come in with that kind of energy and effort on our home court, that was great, Morrow said.Tobias Harris scored 21 points for the Pistons (8-10), who have lost five of their last seven and are just 1-8 on the road.We didnt take care of any of the areas that we were supposed to focus on, said Detroit coach Stan Van Gundy. We made very little effort and Oklahoma City played a whole lot harder than us and deserved to win.The Thunder enjoyed a comfortable lead for most of the night, but the Pistons used a 12-3 run over a four-minute span early in the third quarter to pull within 65-62 when Harris sank a free throw with 4:31 left.ddddddddddddOklahoma City outscored Detroit 12-6 the rest of the quarter to take a 77-68 advantage into the final period. Harris made the first basket of the fourth to make it 77-70, but that was as close as the Pistons would get.TIP-INSPistons: A night after a 108-97 home victory over the Clippers, the Pistons were basically never in this one. They scored the games first basket, then proceeded to miss 11 consecutive shots as Oklahoma City went on a 14-0 run to take control. ... The Pistons shot just 1 for 19 on 3-point attempts. . Marcus Morris scored 10 points in the first quarter, then was shut out, shooting 0 for 7 the rest of the night.Thunder: Morrow enjoyed his best outing of the year in a season-high 26:24, shooting 8 of 12 from the floor, including 3 for 6 from 3-point range. ... The Thunder, who entered the night ranked 17th in the NBA with a 74.9 free throw percentage, shot just 53.8 percent (14 of 26) from the line. . Oklahoma City won for the first time this season in the second half of back-to-back sets, improving to 1/3 in that situation.QUOTE OF THE NIGHTTo put up those numbers and the people that are in that category, hes a Hall of Fame player, thats really what he is, Donovan said of Westbrook climbing the triple-double list. Its really remarkable what hes doing. Its one of those things, as a coach, you feel very blessed and fortunate to be able to work with somebody like that every single day.UP NEXTPistons: Detroit continues its four-game road trip Tuesday at Charlotte for the first of four meetings against the Hornets this season. The Pistons have lost three in a row in Charlotte.Thunder: Go back on the road to face the Knicks in New York on Monday. The Thunder went 1-1 against the Knicks last season, with the away team winning both matchups. ' ' '