second game of back-to-backs. The

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OAKLAND, Calif. -- Less than eight months after finishing third in voting for the AL Cy Young award, Athletics ace Sonny Gray is mired in the longest slump of his career.There is little indication that things are going to get better any time soon, either.Gray lost his sixth consecutive decision after blowing an early three-run lead and the Athletics offense was held to one hit over the final seven innings of a 7-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.This hasnt been his best year and hell figure it out and hell get better as the year goes on, As manager Bob Melvin said. Theres always going to be a year thats as not good as other years. So far this is the one for him. Hes been good for us.Gray was coming off two fairly decent starts before blowing up against Pittsburgh in the Pirates first trip to the Oakland Coliseum since June 27, 2010.Gray (3-7) gave up seven runs, hit a batter and threw two wild pitches in six innings while losing his sixth consecutive decision. The right-hander, third in the 2015 AL Cy Young voting, is winless since April 22.Once I got to two outs, I just wasnt able to get them out, Gray said. There were times, like in the sixth where I got two quick outs, I have to be able to shut that inning down and get back out there for the seventh . and not hit a guy and walk another. It just escalated from there.Jody Mercer homered and had an RBI single to help Pittsburgh rally from three runs down to beat. Matt Joyce added two hits, Josh Harrison drove in two runs while Andrew McCutcheon doubled and scored on a wild pitch to help the Pirates to their first win in their history at the Coliseum and just their second in 13 games between the two franchises.They did it by taking advantage of another shaky outing by Gray (3-7).We just stayed the course, Harrison said. We just put together some good at-bats as a team and it wasnt easy on him.Marcus Semien hit his 17th home run of the season for Oakland.Pirates starter Jeff Locke (8-5) also struggled early but retired the final nine batters he faced to win his third straight. He gave up three runs over five innings with three walks and three strikeouts.Three relievers combined to retire the final 12 batters and complete the four-hitter.Mercer homered in the third and added an RBI single as part of a two-run fifth.Harrisons two-out, two-run double in the sixth put the Pirates up 7-3.ALL-STAR PUSHSemiens home run was his fifth in nine games, padding his AL-leading total among shortstops. Melvin thinks Semiens offensive surge should be good enough to earn the young shortstop a trip to the All-Star game in San Diego later this month. Hopefully that merits some consideration going forward, Melvin said. You cant ignore the numbers. Not only is he doing it all offensively, he doing defensively too. He just maturing.LINEUP SHUFFLEJed Lowrie had decent results while batting leadoff for the first time this season. He drew a walk from Locke in the first before Semien homered on a 3-2 pitch. Oaklands second baseman added an RBI double in the second to make it 3-0.TRAINERS ROOMAthletics: Infielder Tyler Ladendorf was recalled from Triple-A Nashville before the game. Left-hander Dillion Overton, the losing pitcher against San Francisco on Thursday, was optioned down. Overton went 1-1 with an 11.42 ERA in two starts.UP NEXTPirates: Right-hander Chad Kuhl (1-0) pitches against Oakland on Saturday in his second career start in the majors after beating Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers in his debut.Athletics: Rich Hill is expected to come off the disabled list to start against Pittsburgh. The left-hander had been out since May 30 with a strained groin. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . -- Claudio Bieler hadnt scored since early September, and not from the run of play since mid-July. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . But now that hes in the NHL, the Calgary Flames centre showed big improvement in that department by scoring the winner in the eighth round of a 5-4 shootout victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! .500 on the season. The Jets are now 0-5-1 in the second game of back-to-backs. The game started the same way the Vancouver game started the night before, with the Jets taking the first two penalties of the game and killing off the first, but the Oilers getting on the board first, scoring on the second man-advantage. ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Braves may not be finished with the dramatic overhaul of their rotation.General manager John Coppolella told The Associated Press on Wednesday he hopes to add another starting pitcher, even after agreeing to deals with veteran right-handers R.A. Dickey and Bartolo Colon last week.Chicago White Sox ace left-hander Chris Sale might be available in a trade. The Braves apparently would make top prospects available for Sale, an All-Star in each of the last five seasons who could be a trade target of many teams.The Braves have focused on young pitchers while trading such stars as Jason Heyward, Andrelton Simmons, Justin Upton, Evan Gattis and Craig Kimbrel in recent years. Coppolella said hes considering all options, including a trade involving prospects, in his search for another starter.We would like to add another starter if possible, but that will be more a function of market factors than any other factor, Coppolella said in a text message.Sale, 27, would be the new top name for a rotation that includes Julio Teheran, Mike Foltynewicz and Josh Collmenter as the team moves into new SunTrust Park in suburban Cobb County next year.Sale was 17-10 with a 3.34 ERA for the White Sox in 2016. He will earn $12 million in 2017. His contract includes club options at $12.5 million for 2018 and $15 million for 2019.Dicckey, 42, and Colon, 43, are short-term links to such young starters as Sean Newcomb, Kolby Allard, Max Fried and Touki Toussaint.dddddddddddd Some other young starters, including Matt Wisler, Aaron Blair and Tyrell Jenkins, already have made their Atlanta debuts.The Braves one-year, $12.5 million deal with Colon and one-year contract with an $8 million guarantee with Dickey wont be official until the players pass physicals.The deal with Dickey, the first of the 158 free agents to switch teams this offseason, was reached last Thursday. The agreement with Colon came one day later.Sale has five straight seasons with double-digit wins. The Braves had no starter with as many as 10 wins last season. The hard-throwing Foltynewicz led the team with a 9-5 record.Teheran, a two-time All-Star, is the leader of the rotation. The search for other proven starters has been the top offseason priority for Coppolella.The Braves finished last in the NL East in 2016 but won 50 of their last 97 games, leading Coppolella to say the rebuilding effort was ahead of schedule. The promotion of rookie shortstop Dansby Swanson helped the team win 20 of its last 30 games, earning interim manager Brian Snitker the full-time job. ' ' '