Month: August 2014

By Matthew Harrington

The Oakland Athletics fell victim to the hottest team in baseball Monday night, wasting a Sonny Gray gem to fall to the Kansas City Royals 3-2 at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals (64-53) knocked in a run in the first two innings each before Brandon Moss answered backed with a bases-loaded two-run single to knot the game at 2-2 in the third. With two outs in the seventh inning and fighting a losing battle with an 0-2 count, Alcides Escobar singled Nori Aoki home to give the Royals a 3-2 lead. Escobar finished the night with two runs batted, both coming on singles with two outs.

The tight-fisted trio Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and closer Greg Holland followed manager Ned Yost’s atypical final inning game plan, all pitching a scoreless inning apiece for one of the best bullpens in the major leagues. Herrera (3-2, 1.62 ERA) earned the win for his unblemished seventh inning while Holland converted his 35th save despite putting runners on first and second base with no outs. A double-play off the bat of Derek Norris and a Stephen Vogt fly ball to right field wrapped up Kansas City’s eighth-straight win.

Gray (12-6, 2.86) wound up the hard-luck loser, turning in one of his best performances of the season but hitting the showers empty-handed. The baby-faced ace went seven strong innings, allowing only two earned runs while scattering only six hits. Yordano Ventura, the Royals starter Monday evening, also performed exemplary. He yielded only two hits to A’s batters in his six innings, compiling five punch-outs and four walks.

The loss comes with a bittersweet round of news for the A’s (72-46). With the Tigers scuffling amidst the resurgent Royals run, Kansas now holds sole possession of the top record in the American League Central. The boys in blue have ousted Oakland’s playoff nemesis of the previous two seasons, placing the injury-plagued Motor City Kitties on track to play in the sudden-death wild card playoff game.

Tuesday night the A’s call upon Jon Lester to replicate his recent success. The lefty, acquired from Boston for Yoenis Cespedes at the July 31st trade deadline, pitched a complete-game shutout against the Minnesota Twins at the O.Co Coliseum last Thursday night. He’ll be opposed by Jeremy Guthrie.

By Morris Phillips

In a season where everything’s coming up A’s, it’s often the ex-A’s that make the headlines when the current A’s don’t.

Kurt Suzuki doubled home the tie-breaking run in the eighth inning, and Josh Willingham followed with a two-run homer in the Twins 6-1 win over the A’s at the O.co Coliseum on Sunday. Suzuki and Willingham’s big contributions allowed the Twins to stop a 12-game losing streak to Oakland, dating back to last September.

Despite the loss, the A’s four-game lead in the AL West was preserved when the Red Sox got past the Angels, 3-1 in Anaheim. In that one, former Athletic Yoenis Cespedes provided all the fireworks with a three-run shot for Boston in the eighth inning.

The A’s finished their 10-game home stand against the Royals, Rays and Twins with a 6-4 record. Among the biggest developments during the stretch was the pair of solid outings by newly acquired Jason Hammel after he began his Oakland career with four straight losses.

On Sunday, Hammel pitched into the seventh inning, allowing a run on four hits. But matching Hammel was Minnesota’s Phil Hughes, who pitched seven innings allowing a run as well. Hughes left after the seventh when his cracked nail on his pitching hand preventing him from continuing. But he was the pitcher of record when the Twins rallied in the eighth, and picked up his 12th win.

The Twins broke through against reliever Luke Gregerson, who allowed three hits and three runs. Both pitches thrown to Suzuki and Willingham were grooved, a departure from the streak Gregerson had built allowing no runs and just eight hits in his previous 15 appearances dating back to June 25. The cruelties of baseball math were in effect with the reliever’s poor outing: his ERA on June 25 was 2.43 and he lowered it to 1.81 during his streak, but Sunday’s outing saw the number jump back to 2.26.

The 35-year old Willingham has seen his profile drop since his breakout 2011 season in Oakland, but it did allow him to sign a rich free-agent deal with Minnesota. Suzuki was in Oakland from 2007 until the spring of 2012 when he was dealt to the Nationals. He returned to the A’s for 15 games last season during the playoff push only to sign with the Twins in the off-season.

While Suzuki described the 12-game losing streak as one of those things, in part probably because he contributed to the A’s success in it last September, Willingham was far more conscious of the slide given his comments after the game.

“If we would’ve come in here and lost today, that would’ve been a very big disappointment,” he said. “We needed to get this win.”

The A’s open a seven-game trip in Kansas City on Monday evening with Sonny Gray facing Yordano Ventura at 5:05pm. The red-hot Royals took two of three from Oakland last weekend and are riding a seven-game win streak after sweeping the Giants.

By Morris Phillips

Trevor May—one of baseball’s ten highest ranked minor league prospects—couldn’t contain his excitement in his highly-anticipated major league debut.

Unfortunately for May, baseball’s highest scoring team as well as baseball’s best home team noticed right away that he was probably a little too amped up in front of friends, family and his new Twins’ teammates.

So the A’s did what they normally do. They watched and waited with fantastic results.

May’s debut was brief as he lasted just two innings and allowed seven walks in the A’s 9-4 win that gave them wins in each of the first three games of this four-game series. When May departed the A’s were up 4-1 and well on their way to their 12 straight win against the youthful, but hapless Twins.

“Your brain can get scattered in several different ways,” A’s catcher Derek Norris said. “Some guys are able to harness it, and unfortunately the kid tonight, he just wasn’t able to harness all the adrenaline (and) stuff that was going on.”

May retired A’s leadoff batter Coco Crisp on one pitch. But then Sam Fuld singled, Josh Donaldson doubled, and Brandon Moss walked to load the bases. Norris was next, and he appeared to be in a tough spot down 1-2 in the count. But May issued three straight balls to walk Norris and give up the game’s first run.

May escaped further damage in the first when Josh Willingham turned a nifty double play by catching Josh Reddick’s fly ball to right and throwing Donaldson out at the plate. Still, the A’s had their jump start, scoring in the first inning for the first time in their last 18 games.

In the second inning, May appeared to settle, retiring the first two batters. But then he walked the bases loaded and allowed a two-run single to Donaldson. Then just as he had done in the first inning, May walked Moss and Norris to put the A’s up 4-1. Notably, Norris picked up a pair of RBI without putting the ball in play as May couldn’t gather himself after starting Norris with three straight balls.

“He could gather himself,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “They took a lot of pitches and we walked a lot of people. That was pretty much the story.”

Gardenhire, well known for his disdain for free passes, probably developed an ulcer watching the display. Since 1986, the Twins have employed just two managers—Gardenhire and Tom Kelly—who are well known for pulling pitchers quickly who issue walks. But somehow, Gardenhire let May finish the inning, making him only the second Minnesota pitcher to issue seven walks in just two innings of work. Consequently, the young May had a lot of explaining to do after the game.

“It was a lot of factors: some excitement, getting used to the ball,” May said. “All kinds of stuff. But at the end of the day there’s no excuses not making pitches when you need to and not executing.”

The quick start was just what the doctor ordered for A’s starter Jeff Samardzija. Plagued by poor run support as a Cub earlier this year, Samardzija knew exactly what to do when staked to an early lead. The former Notre Dame All-American wide receiver allowed single runs in the first and fifth innings on his way to his third straight win as an Athletic at home. Samardzija allowed seven hits and two walks, but made big pitches when he needed too in a 109-pitch, six-inning performance.

After May departed, Stephen Vogt and Derek Norris greeted reliever Samuel Deduno with home runs and the rout was on. The A’s registered their 26th win by five runs or more. The A’s improved to a major-league best 40-20 at home, which includes wins in 34 of their last 45 home dates. The A’s maintained their four game lead over the Angels in the AL West after their southland rivals outlasted the Red Sox in 19 innings Saturday night in Anaheim.

On Sunday, Jason Hammel, coming off his best start and first win as an Athletic, faces former Yankee Phil Hughes in the series finale at 1:05pm.