Crisp just misses cycle in A's win over Pirates

Coco Crisp had three hits and Ben Sheets won for the first time in more than a month when the Oakland Athletics beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 14-4 on Friday night.

Crisp singled, doubled and tripled in his third game since coming off the disabled list earlier this week. He just missed becoming only the seventh player in Oakland history to hit for the cycle after flying out, walking and grounding out in his final three plate appearances.

Neil Walker homered and had a career-high three hits for the Pirates. Walker, who needed a triple for the cycle, appeared to get hit in the back of the head by teammate Ryan Church's knee as they chased a foul ball.

Walker remained face down on the turf for several minutes. He was eventually helped to his feet and left the field under his own power.

Coming off a three-game sweep by Cincinnati, the A's had 17 hits and a season-high for runs. Every starter except Rajai Davis had at least one hit while eight players drove in at least one run.

That was big for Sheets (3-7), who hasn't received much run support in his first season in Oakland.

Sheets, who signed a one-year, $10 million contract with the A's in the offseason, scattered eight hits over six innings and had a season-high nine strikeouts to end his personal eight-game losing streak.

The Oakland right-hander labored through a 13-minute first inning when he gave up three straight hits and two runs, then allowed single runs in the third and fifth. Sheets, who hadn't won since beating Tampa Bay 4-2 on May 8, retired eight of the final 10 batters he faced before giving way to the bullpen.

Crisp, who singled in the first and doubled in the second, hit a leadoff triple in the fourth and scored on Daric Barton's sacrifice fly to break a 4-4 tie. He also walked and scored as part of Oakland's seven-run seventh inning when the A's sent 11 men to the plate.

Cliff Pennington singled three times and had three RBIs while Ryan Sweeney added three hits and scored three times for Oakland, which improved to 7-0 against Pittsburgh in interleague play.

Brad Lincoln (0-2) gave up five runs in six innings for the Pirates, who have lost 15 consecutive road games and 22 of 27 overall.

This could be a costly defeat, too.

Walker was shaken up after his collision with Church and appeared woozy as he walked slowly off the field, a towel draped around his neck.

Before getting hurt the rookie second baseman was Pittsburgh's best offensive weapon. He doubled and scored in the first, singled in the third, then homered off Sheets with one out in the fifth.

Both teams struggled with their defense early.

Davis tried to backhand Andrew McCutchen's double to left in the first inning, allowing the ball to skip past him and roll to the fence as Walker scored. One batter later, first baseman Daric Barton allowed Ryan Doumit's sharp grounder to skip between his legs for an error while McCutchen scored.

Pittsburgh's defense wasn't much better and cost Lincoln two unearned runs in the bottom of the inning.

Walker fumbled Sweeney's two-out grounder, allowing Crisp to score, and Jack Cust followed with an RBI single that McCutchen, the Pirates center fielder, appeared to make a diving catch of before the ball squirted out of his glove.

Notes: The A's had scored one run or less in seven of Sheets' previous 15 starts. ... Oakland, which led the AL West by one game on May 31, is 10 games behind first-place Texas.