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ByKristieRieken TheAssociatedPress HOUSTON Sam Fuld hit a tie- breaking, two-run homer in the ninth inning to give the Oak- land Athletics a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros on Wednes- day night. The A's trailed by one entering the ninth before Eric Sogard's RBI single, and Fuld's two-out shot off Chad Qualls (1-4) landed in the seats in right field to put Oakland up 5-3. Fuld, who en- tered on a 0-for-9 skid, finished three hits, including a double. Oakland began the night one game behind the Los Angeles Angels for the AL West lead. The A's have won five of eight follow- ing a five-game losing streak. Dan Otero (8-1) pitched 1 1-3 innings for the win. Eric O'Flaherty allowed a solo homer to Chris Carter with two outs in the ninth before retiring Dex- ter Fowler for his first save since May 2013. Houston trailed 2-1 in the sev- enth after Coco Crisp's solo home run in the top of the inning, then tied it on Robbie Grossman's RBI single. Altuve's big league-leading 181st hit put Houston on top 3-2. The groundball single rolled just out of reach of a diving Alberto BASEBALL Fuld'shomerinninth liftsA'soverAstros Tiebreaking two-run shot provides cushion for Oakland in comeback victory on the road PATSULLIVAN—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS The Oakland Athletics' Sam Fuld follows through on a two-run home run against the Houston Astros in the ninth inning Wednesday in Houston. PAT SULLIVAN — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Oakland Athletics' Jonny Gomes watches the ball fly out to center field to score Josh Donaldson on a sacrifice fly against the Houston Astros in the sixth inning Wednesday in Houston. By Jerry McDonald Bay Area News Group OAKLAND The Raiders insist it's not an audition, just a chance for Derek Carr to get in some much- needed work. Yet with starting quarter- back Matt Schaub sitting out to- night's game against the Seattle Seahawks at O.co Coliseum with a sore right elbow, the Raiders quarterback of the future can speed up that process in front of a home fan base that is em- bracing his candidacy through social media. "The more that I can be out there, the happier I'll be," Carr said. "That's why we work so hard in the offseason. That's why you spend so many hours here before anyone's here. That's why you do all those things, because you want to go out there and help the team win and I'm look- ing forward to it." It is the last chance for play- ers on the bubble to secure a spot on the team, with rosters being cut from 75 to 53 players by Sat- urday at 1 p.m. Coach Dennis Allen has made it clear that Schaub is the starter assuming his elbow is better and he can get in the requisite prac- tice time heading into the regu- lar season opener Sept. 7 on the road against the New York Jets. NFL PRESEASON Raiders' Carr to get extended audition Oakland hosts defending champion Seattle in final preseason game of the year tonight DOUG DURAN — BAY AREA NEWS GROUP Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, dra ed out of Fresno State, warms up before their preseason game against Detroit on Aug. 15. Carr will see significant playing time today. ATHLETICS5,ASTROS4 Up next: Today, Oakland A's at Los Angeles Angels, 7:05p.m., TV on CSNCA, MLBN. THESCORE It's a new sea- son of high school football, where the No. 1 is actu- ally two or maybe it's even a zero. Wait, what? Typically the first week of foot- ball is dubbed Week 1, the second Week 2, I think you can follow along. Although in years past some teams do schedule a game the week before the Week 1 desig- nation in what's referred to as Week 0, it's usually a rather light day of gridiron action. However this year it seems an unprecedented number of Northern Section teams have scheduled games in what was supposed to be Week 0, mak- ing it the unofficial official first week of high school football. One of the few teams who didn't schedule a game in Week 0 is Corning. They'll hold a scrimmage Friday and will kick off their season Sept. 5 at Las Plumas. The Red Bluff Spartans will be playing Week 0 as they kick off 7:30 p.m. Friday in Shasta Lake City against Central Valley. In return for the Week 0 game, Red Bluff will have a bye week during the season. That bye week is Week 8 and happens to fall in between home games against Paradise and En- terprise. Lucky how that worked out. Back to Red Bluff's opponent Friday night, the Central Valley Falcons reached last year's Divi- sion 2 title game falling to West Valley. This year the Falcons have no hope of returning to the D-2 ti- tle game and it's not because they have a new coach. No the Falcons and basically everyone else in the Northern Section are in new divisions. The section has decided to align its own divisions with those the statewide California Interscholastic Federation uses. There's basically no changes except for all the divisions are bumped down a number. For instance the old North- ern Section Division 1 of schools with 1,000 students of more made up of Chico, Enterprise, Foothill, Las Plumas, Oroville, Paradise, Pleasant Valley, Red Bluff and Shasta is now Divi- sion II. And if you noticed the use of a Roman numeral in one instance there and not the other, unfortu- nately you don't claim a prize for catching a mistake. Our Daily News style has been to use regular old-fash- ioned numbers when it's a divi- sion the Northern Section cre- ated, but use a Roman numeral when it's a CIF sanctioned di- vision created because there's state champions crowned in that sport. It's subtle, but how else can we keep all these crazy uses of numbers straight. On to the previews and other random thoughts: RED BLUFF AT CENTRAL VAL- LEY, 7:30 P.M. FRIDAY After two straight years opening against Oroville, the Spartans face a more difficult start to a season. Like the Spartans, Central Valley may have a depth prob- lem, but this is a program that's used to winning. As previously mentioned the Falcons have a new coach in Matt Diskin after the offseason retirement of Matt Hunsaker. Diskin has been the Falcons defensive coordinator the past two seasons and the Falcons will continue to play a 4-3 scheme. On offense Diskin told the Redding Record Searchlight WEEK 0 PREVIEWS Whatever the number designation football starts on Friday Insurers can no longer reject customers with expensive medical conditions thanks to the health care overhaul. But companies still use wiggle room to discourage the sick- est patients from enrolling. HEALTH CARE OVERHAUL Insurerscandiscourage sick from enrolling FULL STORY ON PAGE B4 Red Bluff prepares for its season today with a practice match at Riverview Golf & Country Club at 1p.m. The Lady Spartans' first tourna- ment is Sept. 3at Sunset Whitney GC in Rocklin. GOLF Lady Spartans have tune up practice match The Lady Bulldogs open their season at 7p.m. against county rival Corning. Los Molinos won last year's match in four games. Mercy visits Dunsmuir at 6:30p.m. Mercy swept Dunsmuir last year. VOLLEYBALL Los Molinos heads to Corning for opener "All right, full auto," the firing-range instructor tells a 9-year-old girl. She braces the Uzi submachine gun and opens fire at a target. But the recoil wrenches the weapon up, and the instructor is killed. SHOOTING RANGE DEATH Shooting by girl, 9, ignites gun debate FULL STORY ON PAGE B6 Rich Greene FOOTBALL PAGE 2 RAIDERS PAGE 2 A'S PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, August 28, 2014 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1