by Charlie O. Mallonee

Black Oak Arkansas’ signature song was “Jim Dandy to the Rescue”. When the Oakland Athletics (26-39) have been in trouble this season, their signature song has been “Sonny Gray to the Rescue”.

Sonny Gray(8-3) came to the rescue  for he A’s on Sunday as he used  a dominating pitching performance versus the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (32-31) to lead Oakland to an 8-1 victory.

The A’s had lost back-to-back one-run games to the Angels. A loss on Sunday would have resulted in an Angels sweep. Not only did the A’s avoid the sweep, they did it in impressive fashion.

Oakland scored single runs in the second and third innings and were leading 2-1 as they headed to the top of the sixth inning. The A’s scored three runs with two outs to open up a 5-1 lead.

The Athletics did not stop there as they tacked on three additional runs in the seventh inning.

Dominant starting pitching coupled with outstanding run production earned the A’s a win in the final game of the three-game series with the Angels.

On the Bump

Sonny Gray picked up his eighth win of the season on Sunday. He pitched 7.2 innings giving up just one unearned run on 5 hits. Gray struck out nine batters and walked none. He threw 100 pitches (65 strikes).

All of Gray’s pitches were working for him in the game. The fastball, sinker and change were all under control and working as planned.

Gray’s earned run average dropped to 1.60 in the win. An 8-3 record with that ERA are certainly All-Star numbers. They may even be American League All-Star starting pitcher type stats.

Fernando Rodriguez came into the game in relief of Gray in the bottom of the eighth inning. He faced one hitter and recorded a fly out to end the inning.

Tyler Clippard pitched the ninth inning for Oakland. He had not pitched since last Wednesday and the A’s wanted him to get some work in even though it was not a save situation.

The Angels were able to load the bases off Clippard, but the A’s closer was able to work out the situation by getting Kyle Kubitza to strike out to end the game. Clippard had throw 28 pitches in the bottom of the ninth.

Matt Shoemaker (4-5) took the loss for the Angels. He pitched 5.2 innings giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits. Shoemaker struck five hitters and walked none.

Four Los Angeles relief pitchers gave up four runs (three earned) on six hits.

In the Batters Box

Ben Zobrist, the designated hitter for the A’s, led the day on offense. Zobrist went 3-for-5 (including a double), scored three runs and added one RBI. Not a bad day for a .219 hitter.

Billy Burns and Josh Reddick had identical numbers at the plate. Burns and Reddick went 2-for-5, had an RBI and scored a run for the A’s.

Eric Sogard had a 2-for-5 game with three RBI and a run scored.

Stephen Vogt did not have a hit but did score a run after being walked intentionally in the seventh inning.

Max Muncy had a hit, RBI and run scored in the game. Muncy’s RBI-double in the sixth inning kicked of the three-run, two out rally that won the game for Oakland.

The A’s had 12 hits in the game and went 5-for-17 with runners in scoring position.

The Angels had just five hits in the game.

Defense

Neither team had a spectacular day on defense. The Angels committed three earns that resulted in two unearned runs. The A’s had two errors that allowed one unearned run.

Both of the A’s errors were committed by shortstop Marcus Semien. Semien could not handle an Erick Aybar ground ball in the fourth inning. A wild pitch and a passed ball allow Aybar to reach third base. He would score on a David Freese single.

Semien was charged with his second error in the bottom of the ninth inning when could not handle the throw from Clippard who fielded a come-backer. Frankly, it should have been a throwing error charged to Clippard.

Semien now has 22 errors for the season.

Up Next

The A’s boarded buses for the short trip south to San Diego where they will play a two-game inter-league series with the Padres. The Padres (32-32) lost to the Dodgers 4 to 2 at home on Sunday. San Diego is in third-place in the National League West.

The Padres will travel to Oakland for two games on Wednesday and Thursday.

On Monday night, RHP Jesse Hahn (3-5, 3.84) will face off with Padres RHP Tyson Ross (3-6, 3.81).

The Tuesday afternoon game will see LHP Scott Kazmir (3-4, 2.79) go up against San Diego’s RHP Andrew Cashner (2-8, 4.16).