Pirate Galaxy » Italian championship in May. He finis

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Sonny Gray has been hearing the comparisons since his high school days in Tennessee. The references to Tim Hudson, another right-hander with a slight build and a big arm. Fittingly, in the very ballpark where Hudson shined as a member of Oaklands Big Three beginning in the late 90s, Gray dominated the Houston Astros with his fantastic fastball and snapping curve on the way to an impressive first major league victory. Grey struck out nine in his home debut, and the Athletics used Nate Freimans two-run homer and four RBIs to avert a three-game sweep by the lowly Astros with a 5-0 victory on Thursday. "Ive been getting comparisons ever since high school, the short righty," Gray said with a grin. "If you compare me to Tim Hudson, hes one of my favourite pitchers, one of the greatest pitchers." Fellow rookie Freiman had a two-run double in the first, and then hit his third home run in the third with a drive to the left-field stands. He finished with four hits. "Pretty special day for both those guys," manager Bob Melvin said. The 23-year-old Gray (1-1) allowed four hits and walked one over eight innings, throwing 118 pitches in his second career start and fourth big league appearance. Like so many other young pitchers in the As organization, the top prospect has been on the fast track to the majors since Oakland drafted him in the first round at No. 18 overall in the 2011 amateur draft. Melvin asked Gray after the seventh how he felt, and the pitcher wanted to keep going. "It was good for him to have the confidence in me to leave me out there," Gray said. Its a difficult call for a skipper, especially when dealing with a young pitcher. "With any of our guys, when theyre getting them out, theyre going to stay in," As pitching coach Curt Young said. "Were never going to get crazy with the pitch count. We thought it was doable and he ended up finishing a great outing. Hes just got nice composure in the two starts that hes had. Nothing seems to bother him." Grey still had his best stuff in the late innings. He retired leadoff man Robbie Grossman on a called third strike in the eighth, and then left to a warm ovation from an announced crowd of 16,487 in his first home start at the Oakland Coliseum. Fans yelled, "Come on, Sonny!" Dan Otero finished the five-hitter for Oaklands 10th shutout. Houston never found any kind of groove against Gray. "He got us to expand the zone," manager Bo Porter said. "He pitched a tremendous game." Freiman added singles to his impressive day in the fifth and seventh innings. He is batting .315 (40 for 127) since May 1 after batting .148 in April. Oakland jumped on Erik Bedard (3-9) in a hurry. He dropped to 0-6 over eight starts since a win against St. Louis on June 26. For the As, a sweep by the Astros would have been demoralizing. They already had lost two in a row to Houston each by one run, including in 11 innings Wednesday night. Oakland pulled within 1 1/2 games of idle first-place Texas in the AL West, avoiding falling three back for biggest deficit since May 31. After Chris Young beat out an infield single leading off the bottom of the first, Jed Lowrie hit an RBI double to stake Gray to a quick lead. Lowrie was the designated hitter rather than playing his usual shortstop spot as he nurses a sore lower right leg after being hit by a pitch Tuesday. Freiman doubled three batters later to make it 3-0. He faced Gray in the minors last season and predicted big things. "It was awesome," Freiman said. "We were all, This guys good. Im not surprised." Bedards day only got tougher. The lefty allowed five runs and seven hits in 4 2-3 innings. He is winless in his last three outings against the As since a victory at Oakland for Seattle on May 27, 2009. Houstons Chris Carter hit a liner at ex-As teammate and shortstop Eric Sogard in the seventh and the barrel of Carters bat broke off, sailed through the air and struck Sogard in the left leg. He stayed in the game. NOTES: Melvin said he didnt intend to get tossed Wednesday night, calling it one of the most surprising ejections of his career. He argued a close call at third in the eighth inning of the 2-1, 11-inning loss. While he has confidence in his coaching staff, Melvin said: "I cant get thrown out of that game. I feel bad. ... Everybody in the dugout has a job to do, and I wasnt there to do mine." ... As CF Coco Crisp will be re-evaluated Friday to determine whether he can play in the series opener with Cleveland, which would be three days after he received a cortisone shot in his ailing left wrist. ... The As are 18-20 against the division since May 10, compared to 34-14 against all other clubs. ... Umpire Angel Hernandez was booed by the crowd when announced before the game for his calls the entire series.Bill Bates Youth Jersey . Scott won the Australian PGA last week in his first event in Australia since winning the U.S. Masters in April. American Matt Kuchar, ahead by two strokes with four to play and even with Scott with one to go, double-bogeyed the 18th after taking two shots to get out of a bunker. Taco Charlton Jersey . The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. https://www.cowboyssportsgoods.com/Womens-Leighton-Vander-Esch-Inverted-Jersey/ . DAmigo scored twice in regulation and added the shootout winner as the Toronto Marlies edged the San Antonio Rampage 5-4 in American Hockey League action. Roger Staubach Youth Jersey . Scott won the Australian PGA last week in his first event in Australia since winning the U.S. Masters in April. American Matt Kuchar, ahead by two strokes with four to play and even with Scott with one to go, double-bogeyed the 18th after taking two shots to get out of a bunker. Connor Williams Jersey . The Lightning are 2-0 so far on a four-game road trip, giving the club five straight wins as the guest and improving Tampas away record this season to 11-8-2.RIO DE JANEIRO -- When it was all over, when they had the title they had coveted for years, Serbias jubilant players hung the countrys flag over one of the floating cages in the pool.The soaked flag said it all. Serbia had finally conquered the Olympic mens water polo tournament.Dusan Mandic scored four times, Branislav Mitrovic made 12 saves and Serbia dethroned Croatia with an 11-7 victory at the Rio Games on Saturday.This is maybe the best feeling in my life, center Slobodan Nikic said. I feel like Im flying.It was Serbias first Olympic gold medal in perhaps its favorite sport. The former Yugoslavia won three gold medals and Serbia and Montenegro lost in the 2004 final in Athens, but Serbia finished third in each of the previous two Olympics.After winning the world and European championships, Serbias star-studded roster had to deal with the burden of expectations when it arrived in Brazil. Then the pressure intensified when the team opened with a pair of draws and a surprising loss to the host country.But Serbia eventually found its way and closed with five consecutive victories by a combined score of 53-38. No settling for bronze this time around.We want this from the whole beginning of our careers, said Filip Filipovic, who scored two goals in the final and was voted tournament MVP.We trained so hard and so much. We suffer so much for this gold medal. As we saw, the road to this Olympic gold was very tough and very stressful for us.There were hugs on Serbias side of the pool as the final seconds ticked off, and the players jumped right in when it was over.Coach Dejan Savic avoided the traditional swim with his team, even sneaking off the deck for a moment before returning to the bench to watch the celebration. He wagged his finger and blew kisses to his players as they beckoned him to join them in the water.This is it for us. Lets say its game over, a grinning Filipovic said.Sandro Sukno scored three times for Croatia, which won gold in London. Javier Garcia Gadea had two goals.ddddddddddddSerbia was the better team, Croatia coach Ivica Tucak said. We tried everything we had against them but they were just too physical and strong. The result shows that.Marko Bijac, who was voted the tournaments top goaltender and played a key role in Croatias run to the final, made five saves before he was replaced by Josip Pavic after Filipovic scored to make it 8-4 with 2:14 left in the third.They got easy fouls and they are such strong shooters, its very hard to stop, Bijac said.Italy beat Montenegro 12-10 for the bronze medal. Stefano Tempesti led the way with 10 saves, and Christian Presciutti scored four times.Its the second straight Olympic medal for Italy, which lost to Croatia in the London final. Italy also became the only country to medal in each water polo tournament in Brazil, with the women taking home silver on Friday.Its a great moment for (the) Italian water polo team, Tempesti said.The 37-year-old Tempesti had surgery on his right eye after he got hurt in the final match of the Italian championship in May. He finished with 51 saves in his fifth Olympics.Asked if the victory over Montenegro was his final game, he responded: I think so. Im quite sure, yeah.To be here with my eye, all the surgery, everything, day by day I had to learn how to come back in this Olympics, Tempesti said, and winning this medal, its the right reward, the best reward for what I have gone through in the last few months.Valentino Gallo added three goals for Italy, which lost to Serbia in the semifinals.Montenegro finished fourth for the third straight Olympics.We must make some changes, put some new players (on the team), but in this moment we dont have a lot of good young players, Montenegro coach Vladimir Gojkovic said. If we did they would be here now.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap ' ' '