Godzilla sighting in Oakland
Oakland's Hideki Matsui is congratulated by teammates after he hit a walk off home run to win the game in the 10th inning against Texas in Oakland, Calif. (May 2, 2011) Credit: Getty Images
Hideki Matsui would much rather have hit his first Coliseum home run weeks ago.
Yet Oakland's new designated hitter could hardly complain about how the clout finally came, even if only an announced crowd of 9,193 in Oakland saw him do it during a rare Monday matinee.
Matsui clobbered the first pitch of the 10th inning from Darren Oliver and sent it deep into the rightfield seats to give the Oakland Athletics a 5-4 victory over the Texas Rangers.
"Hopefully after today's game, there will be 100 more people," Matsui quipped.
Grant Balfour (2-1) walked three batters in the top of the 10th to load the bases for pinch hitter Yorvit Torrealba, who struck out swinging on the righthander's 30th pitch.
Josh Willingham hit a tying home run leading off the eighth against Texas reliever Arthur Rhodes.
Matsui's clout against Oliver (1-3) was the third of the season for the former Yankee. He also had an RBI groundout in the fifth.
"If you saw it or heard it, you knew it was way back there," teammate Andy LaRoche said of the winning drive.
Texas has lost 12 of 19 since a 9-1 start.
Matsui is batting .242 in his first season with the A's and still is finding himself at the plate. "The adjustments are ongoing on a daily basis," he said. "That's what I have been doing and it's what I will keep doing."
Red Sox 9, Angels 5: Dustin Pedroia fouled off nine pitches in a 13-pitch at-bat against Jered Weaver (6-1) before lining a go-ahead two-run single in the fifth inning in Boston. Adrian Gonzalez had a three-run double to touch off a six-run seventh.
White Sox 6, Orioles 2: Paul Konerko homered twice and Mark Buehrle (2-3) pitched 62/3 scoreless innings for host Chicago.
Braves 6, Brewers 2: Alex Gonzalez hit a three-run double during a four-run sixth inning for host Atlanta.
Marlins 6, Cardinals 5: Mike Stanton hit a tying homer in the fifth and tripled and scored the go-ahead run in the eighth in St. Louis.
Nationals 2, Giants 0: Tom Gorzelanny (1-2) allowed only three hits in eight shutout innings for host Washington.-- AP
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