by Jerry Feitelberg

What a difference a day makes. Monday night, the bullpen failed and the A’s lost the game, but the A’s defeated the Twins  2-1 Tuesday night in Minnesota behind the great pitching of Jesse Chavez and Tyler Clippard. Chavez was making his third start of the year and he was terrific. He went 7 and 1/3rd innings and allowed just four hits and one run and that run was unearned. Evan Scribner faced one hitter and he was replaced by Tyler Clippard who was able to get five outs to win the game for the A’s. Chavez came into the game with a record of 0-2 and an ERA of 2.55.  Trevor May (2-1, 4.43 ERA)  started for the Twins.

The A’s jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. Leadoff hitter, Billy Burns singled to start the inning. He stole second to get into scoring position and was driven in when designated hitter, Billy Butler singled to right. 1-0 A’s

There was no more scoring until the top of the sixth as Mays and Chavez engaged in an old-fashioned pitchers duel. The A’s scored again when Stephen Vogt walked with two out. Ike Davis singled and Vogt scored on a single by Brett Lawrie. May went 5 &2/3rds innings giving up five hits and two runs.

The Twins were held scoreless until the bottom of the eighth. Jesse Chavez gave up a single to Jordan Schafer. With one out, Danny Salazar hit a rocket that was fielded by Ike Davis. Davis should have stepped on first for the force out, but he elected to throw to second in the hopes of starting a double play, but his throw went past Marcus Semien who was covering second on the play. Schafer went to third on the error. Bob Melvin brought in Evan Scribner to pitch to Brian Dozier. Dozier hit a soft line drive to center to drive in Schafer with the Twins’ first run. Melvin replaced Scribner with Tyler Clippard. Clippard had to face two dangerous Twins’ hitters, Torii Hunter, and Joe Maurer. He retired both of them to end the inning. Clippard retired the side in order in the ninth to secure the win for Chavez and the A’s. Final score 2-1 in favor of Oakland.

Game notes- Jesse Chavez and Tyler Clippard’s performances gave the A’s what they desperately needed. Solid starting pitching and a great performance from the bullpen was exactly the A’s needed and Chavez and Clippard came through in a big way. Chavez went deep into the game and Clippard shut the Twins down. Clippard earned his third save of the year and the A’s won their first one-run game of the season. The A’s are 3-2 on the road trip and 12-16 overall.

Game 3 of the series will be Wednesday night at Target Field in Minneapolis at 5:05pm. Scott Kazmir will pitch for Oakland.