OAKLAND, Calif. -- It took about four months, along with injuries to some key starters, for Kendall Graveman to evolve from a pitcher at the back end of the Athletics rotation to the anchor of manager Bob Melvins staff.He certainly looked the part against one of the best-hitting teams in baseball, relying heavily on a nasty sinker and an even more effective cut fastball.Graveman pitched seven strong innings, Billy Butler hit a tiebreaking single in the sixth and Oakland beat Baltimore 3-2 on Monday night despite another home run from Orioles slugger Manny Machado.He was kind of splitting the plate with the sinker and cutter today, Melvin said. When he has both those working, he can use both sides of the plate and it can be effective against any team.Stephen Vogt homered, scored twice and had two RBI for the As. Butler added two hits.Machado, who homered in his first three at-bats Sunday, belted his 26th of the season off As reliever Ryan Dull with two outs in the eighth.It wasnt enough to prevent the Orioles from falling into a first-place tie with Toronto in the AL East. The Blue Jays beat Tampa Bay 7-5 earlier Monday.Vogt homered leading off the fourth against starter Kevin Gausman (3-9), walked and scored the go-ahead run in the sixth and added an RBI single in the seventh.Adam Jones had three hits for the Orioles.We wanted to give Kevin some breathing room, Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. We saw a lot of groundballs. We knew (Graveman) was on top of his pitching, and he was.Oakland scored three runs total while getting swept in a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs last weekend and didnt get much going against Baltimore, either.Graveman (8-7) and two relievers made three runs hold up.Oaklands best pitcher over the past two months, Graveman allowed one run and six hits with four strikeouts.The second and third time through we started mixing in some of the breaking balls that I havent thrown in the past four or five weeks, Graveman said. I thought that really got hitters off and it kind of got us some early strikes.Dull retired three batters and Ryan Madson worked the ninth for his 23rd save.Gausman pitched well but is winless in 12 road starts this season. He struck out six and allowed two runs over six innings.THE GOOD AND BADAs center fielder Coco Crisp made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Mike Trout of extra bases in the second. The following inning, Crisp and right fielder Danny Valencia appeared to have trouble communicating on Hyun-Soon Kims one-out fly ball that landed just in front of both of them for a single that loaded the bases, one batter before Machado drove in a run. Dannys just starting to play some right field, Melvin said. It might have had something to do with it there.TRAINERS ROOMOrioles: Steve Pearce received a cortisone shot in his right forearm that Showalter hopes will prevent the newly acquired outfielder from having to go on the DL. Pearce has been bothered by a flexor mass strain for the past few days.Athletics: An MRI on RHP Sonny Grays right forearm revealed some inflammation and light fluid buildup but he wont require surgery, Melvin said. ... INF Jed Lowrie (bunion) will see a foot specialist later this week. ... LHP Ross Detwiler will be called up from the minors Wednesday to make his As debut. The left-hander was acquired from Cleveland in a July 17 trade.UP NEXTOrioles: LHP Wade Miley (7-9) makes his second start since getting traded by Seattle. Miley left his Baltimore debut after taking a line drive off his left calf in the fifth inning.Athletics: RHP Zach Neal (1-1) will come out of the bullpen to make his second career start. Neal has not allowed a run in three relief appearances since July 21. Randy White Cowboys Jersey . The 29-year-old Baines has established himself as one of the top attacking full backs in the country and was the subject of two bids from United during the last off-season. Everton manager Roberto Martinez says that keeping Baines at the club is a "massive boost and exciting for the future" because he brings "maturity and football knowledge in a very specialized position on the pitch" and an "infectious and positive influence to the rest of the squad. Emmitt Smith Jersey . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. https://www.cowboyssportsgoods.com/Womens-Dak-Prescott-Inverted-Jersey/ . Fernandez, coached in Toronto by former two-time Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser, scored 267.11 points and is the first champion to successfully defend since Russias Evgeny Plushenko in 2005 and 2006. Randall Cobb Jersey . Both players have lower body injuries that will keep them out of the lineup until at least January 31, which is the first game they can be activated from IR. Jason Witten Cowboys Jersey . Listen to the game live on TSN Radio 1050 at 7pm et. The Raptors traded Rudy Gay, Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray to the Sacramento Kings on Monday, in exchange for Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes. OMAHA, Neb. -- Creightons up-tempo offense is hard enough to deal with for an opponent thats at full strength. One thats short-handed is going to be left gasping for air.The 10th-ranked Bluejays let Buffalo stick around into the middle of the second half and then pulled away against the worn-out Bulls for a 93-72 victory on Tuesday night.The reality of it is, our pace isnt going to have that much of an impact in the first half, but over the course of the game theyre going to get tired, Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. Were going to get easy ones in transition, theyre not quite as aggressive going to the glass because theyre tired, and theyre a little apprehensive to go to the offensive glass because they know whats coming when we get that rebound.Creighton (7-0) has outscored its last four opponents by 12, 15, 25 and 19 points in the second halves and are averaging 92 points a game.The Bulls (4-3) were winding up an 11-day road trip thats taken them 8,400 miles, with a week spent at the Great Alaska Shootout and the stop in Omaha before a return to western New York. They also were missing starters in point guard C.J. Massinburg (mononucleosis) and Quate McKinzie (concussion). Also, guard Dontay Caruthers was limited to 15 minutes because of foul trouble.Theyre deep and they play fast, and if youre not in shape or you dont have a deep team, youre in trouble with them, Bulls coach Nate Oats said.Marcus Foster scored 22 points and Justin Patton and Khyri Thomas had their first double-doubles. Patton had season highs of 21 points and 10 rebounds and Thomas had 18 points and 12 rebounds. Maurice Watson Jr. added 15 points and eight assists.Foster had nine points during the decisive 13-0 run that made it 67-51 after the Bulls had cut Creightons lead to 544-51.ddddddddddddhats part of my game, Foster said. Ill score a bunch of buckets real quick. Thats how Ive always been.The Bulls got no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.Blake Hamilton and Willie Conner scored 21 points apiece to lead the Bulls, and Raheem Johnson added 14.BIG PICTUREBuffalo: The Bulls made it a game until midway in the second half before losing a second game to a top-10 opponent. Xavier beat them by 33 two weeks ago.Creighton: The Bluejays elevated their game in the second half, getting a boost from Thomas, who had 14 of his 18 points and eight of his 12 rebounds in the final 20 minutes.POLL IMPLICATIONSCreighton has been one of the fastest movers in the Top 25 , going from No. 22 in the preseason to No. 10 this week. The Bluejays have never been higher than No. 9, but the way theyre playing, they could go higher than that soon.EMOTIONAL OATSOats became emotional at his postgame news conference when he brought up the support he received from McDermott after he found out in October 2015 that his wife, Crystal, had cancer. McDermotts wife, Theresa, also has battled the disease.He was unbelievable during the whole deal with my wife. Financially he helped out with some stuff, Oats said. For all you writers in Omaha, youve got a big-time coach. I called him when I found out because I knew his wife had gone through it. He talked to me the entire time Crystal was going through treatment. Hes been as good as anybody in the business on that deal.UP NEXTBuffalo visits St. Bonaventure on Saturday.Creighton hosts another MAC opponent, Akron, on Saturday.---More college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org ' ' '