Bewerbungen » o 15-40 on Williams serve, creating

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Three straight one-run wins and a series sweep of slumping Kansas City might be just the thing to get the Oakland Athletics going again. A late tiebreaking home run from Yoenis Cespedes helps, too. Cespedes hit a leadoff homer in the eighth inning and the As beat the Royals 4-3 to move back over .500. "I would rather see us win by 10 runs ... but it makes for a little bit more excitement, certainly at the end," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "What it does for me more than anything is it shows some tenacity that when you get down, you dont worry about it." Jerry Blevins (3-0) pitched one scoreless inning. Ryan Cook worked the ninth for his first save of the season. Cespedes hit his eighth homer, connecting against Kelvin Herrera (2-4). Cespedes also singled and scored the As first run in the second. Held in check by Kansas City starter Luis Mendoza most of the afternoon, Oakland benefited from a costly error by centre fielder David Lough that allowed the tying run to score in the seventh. Derek Norris hit a leadoff single and raced to third when the ball skipped over Loughs glove and rolled to the fence. One batter later Coco Crisps sacrifice fly tied it. "I kind of hesitated, pulled up and it took one of those sharp hops and just got by me on the top of my glove," Lough said. "If I would have went for it I would have caught it in the air, for sure." Still, Oaklands first sweep of the Royals since 2008 didnt come easily. The As squeaked out a pair of 2-1 wins on Friday and Saturday, then had to sweat out another tight finish in the series finale. Cook, pitching because closer Grant Balfour was unavailable, allowed two-out singles to Billy Butler and Eric Hosmer in the ninth. Mike Moustakas then worked a full count off Cook before grounding out to end the game. "Any time you can get three wins and sweep a team thats playing pretty decent baseball, it doesnt really matter how you do it," Norris said. "Its definitely a plus for us." Alex Gordon matched his career high of four hits for Kansas City. The Royals have lost 10 of 13 and fallen back to .500. Gordon hit an RBI single in the third, scored in the fifth and doubled in the seventh. Since moving to the third spot in the lineup on May 9, Gordon is batting .450 (18 for 40). The Royals, who scored just two runs and stranded 11 baserunners in the first two games of this series, went up 2-0 when Chris Getz singled in Hosmer in the fourth. Hosmer added an RBI double in the fifth. As starter A.J. Griffin had command problems most of the day. He walked three and struck out five but failed in his bid to become the second pitcher in Oakland history to reach 12 wins in his first 24 starts. Josh Donaldson had a sacrifice fly in the Oakland fourth and Jed Lowrie had an RBI single in the fifth. NOTES: Each of the As last 12 home runs have been solo shots, the second-longest such streak in Oakland history. ... Mendoza struck out four and didnt walk a batter for a second straight start. ... Gordon had 60 multihit games in 2012 but already has 20 in the Royals first 40 games this season. He has nine career four-hit games. ... Injured Oakland OF Josh Reddick continues to make slow progress from surgery on his right wrist. He was out Sunday after taking swings off a tee the previous day and is eligible to come off the disabled list Wednesday, though manager Bob Melvin thinks Reddick will need more time to heal. ... Kansas City RHP Jeremy Guthrie (5-1) pitches the series opener in Houston and is seeking to rebound from his first loss of the season. ... As RHP Bartolo Colon (3-2), who takes the hill against Texas on Monday, is winless in his last four starts.Arian Foster Jersey . 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Lonnie Johnson Texans Jersey . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan.NEW YORK -- Serena Williams serve was broken for the first time at this years U.S. Open. Twice, in fact. She dropped a set for the first time in the tournament, too, pushed to the brink by Simona Halep in the quarterfinals.In a match filled with fantastic shotmaking and enthralling exchanges, neither player budged until Williams righted herself in the third set to emerge with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Halep on Wednesday night to get back to the semifinals at Flushing Meadows.The No. 5 Halep, the 2014 French Open runner-up, was the first seeded player Williams faced in the draw.Im glad I got tested, Williams said. Her level really picked up in the second, but I had some opportunities that I didnt take. So what I gather from that is I really could have played better in that second set and maybe had an opportunity to win in straights. If anything, thats the biggest silver lining I take.Halep staved off all 12 break points held by Williams in the second set and forced a third.I wasnt very happy about that, but I tried not to let that get me down, Williams said about all the chances she let slip away. I tried to stay positive and I knew that if I did, I could just stay in the match.Right at the start of the third set, Halep held two break points at 15-40, but Williams came through to lead 1-0. Otherwise, Halep said, The story of the match would have been different.Instead, Williams converted the only break chance she would get -- or need -- in the deciding set to go ahead 3-1, and was on her way.She finished with 18 aces, a 50-20 edge in total winners, and won the point on 26 of her 32 trips to the net.Not bad for someone who entered the U.S. Open with questions about a sore right shoulder that began bothering her after she won Wimbledon in July.I dont really like coming to the net, to be honest, but Im good at the net, I guess, Williams said. I guess Ive got to do what Im good at.She is bidding for her seventh title at Flushing Meadows and 23rd overall at a major tournament -- both would be records for the Open era, which dates too 1968.dddddddddddd.A year ago in the semifinals, Williams attempt to finish off a calendar-year Grand Slam ended with a stunning loss to unseeded Roberta Vinci of Italy.Her opponent Thursday will be 10th-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who beat the 34-year-old Americans older sister, Venus, in the fourth round, then eliminated 18-year-old Ana Konjuh of Croatia 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the first major semifinal of her career.As good as Williams serve is, its Pliskova who leads the tour in aces in 2016.Williams, seeded No. 1, had held serve in 37 consecutive games over the past two weeks until Halep broke to get within 3-2 in the opening set. Still, Williams breezed through the rest of that set.Then came a pivotal segment of the second. Instead of trailing 3-0, which was nearly the case, Halep wound up ahead 3-1.First, she hung in there to erase seven break points -- yes, 7! -- in one game to hold for 1-all. Then she got to 15-40 on Williams serve, creating two break points that Williams made vanish with three aces in a row, at 117, 109 and 122 mph.Escape complete? Not quite. Then came two more break points, the last created by a huge Halep backhand that Williams tried in vain to get back with a desperation lefty shot. Williams second double-fault of the game followed, and Halep would need to save five more break points before finally cashing in on her fifth set point to send the match to set No. 3.Thats where Williams once again asserted herself, as she so often does.It was tough. Is tough, Halep said. Im a little bit sad.In Thursdays other semifinal, No. 2 Angelique Kerber plays two-time U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki. Kerber has a chance to end Williams record-tying string of 186 consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the WTA rankings.As Halep can attest, though, Williams does not relinquish anything easily.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich ' ' '