A’s Walk Out on Dodgers

Derek Lowe had an end-of-the-world reaction after giving up three runs and the lead to the Oakland Athletics in the eighth inning Saturday night. The inning was tortuous for the Dodgers starter, who grimaced and stomped around after Bobby Crosby’s two-run single put the Athletics ahead.

But it was far from the end of the world.

It was far from the end of the game.

It took 5 hours 2 minutes and 17 innings, but the Athletics won, 5-4, when reliever Jae Seo walked Bobby Crosby with the bases loaded in front of a sellout crowd at McAfee Coliseum.

Seo was the sixth Dodgers pitcher and the only one who wasn’t effective. But after tying the score, 4-4, in the ninth inning on Kenny Lofton’s run-scoring triple, the Dodgers offense went dormant.

The Dodgers entered the game leading the major leagues with a .311 average with runners in scoring position, but were only two for 15. It was the longest Dodgers game since an 18-inning affair against the Atlanta Braves in 1996.

The launching point for any discussion involving Manager Grady Little is leaving a pitcher in too long, but this was about sticking with a guy who had scratched and clawed for nearly eight innings and deserved the chance to wriggle out of a jam and leave on his own terms.

Lowe entered the eighth inning with a 3-1 lead and Little stayed in the dugout until it had turned into a 4-3 deficit with two out. Lowe, who had great success against the Athletics while with the Boston Red Sox, going 10-2 with five saves, had only himself to blame for four unintentional walks. The last one cost him, a leadoff pass to Bobby Kielty in the eighth that set the disastrous inning in motion.

The Dodgers bullpen was outstanding -- until Seo. Danys Baez struck out Jay Payton to strand runners on second and third in the eighth and sailed through the ninth and 10th. Rookie Jonathan Broxton went the next two innings, stranding two runners in the 12th, Takashi Saito set down the A’s in order the next two innings, striking out three, and Joe Beimel pitched a scoreless 15th and 16th.

Seo, however, gave up a leadoff single to Marco Soutaro in the 17th inning and walked three, including Crosby with two out.

As for the Dodgers offense, it got worse as the game progressed.

Rafael Furcal reached base for the fourth time by beating out a ground ball to lead off the 16th, but was stranded. Furcal is trying to gain some momentum with his bat and glove before being faced with some healthy competition.

Even though Dodgers brass is doing everything possible to avoid putting more pressure on him than he is putting on himself.

Cesar Izturis is expected to be activated for the first time since Aug. 22 as soon as Tuesday. He is batting .288 in 52 at-bats at triple-A Las Vegas. Izturis, a Gold Glove shortstop in 2004, has resisted playing anywhere except the middle infield.

However, Little and General Manager Ned Colletti steadfastly back Furcal, who had a closed-door meeting with Little a few days ago.

“He’s not satisfied with how he’s played,” Colletti said. “Some days he presses too much and tries to do too much. He tries to live up to everybody’s expectations.”

Although Furcal doubled in the 14th, he has struggled at the plate, batting .252 with a below average on-base percentage. And he has struggled in the field, making 16 errors.