Month: June 2015

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: A’s win streak reaches three get set to host two with San Diego

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by Charlie O Mallonee

After dropping two out of three in Anaheim the Oakland A’s had better luck in San Diego with a two game sweep over the Padres with a 6-5 win on Tuesday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum. The A’s have now won three in a row, it’s kind of systematic of who the A’s have been and will be for the rest of the season. Tuesday’s game a picture perfect game to describe the state of the A’s.

The A’s got some hitting they got some good pitching, they had some not so good pitching but they were able to pull it off. The A’s scored six runs and eight hits, they had six walks, Scott Kazmir had surrendered five hits on three runs six strike outs. They were selective, we talked a lot about runners in scoring position.

Also we had talked about the A’s lack of production effort the A’s in Tuesday’s game went three for nine with runners in scoring position. The A’s got some timely hitting, they got some good relief pitching, and then they got some not so good relief pitching but they were able to pull it off. The A’s were able to score six runs with eight hits and they had six walks.

The A’s hitters were selective at the plate throughout the game, we talked a lot about runners in scoring position and their lack of production they were 3-9 with runners in scoring position. You’ll take a .339 average with runners in scoring position all season long. They did well and they did well the other day on Sunday in Anaheim against the Angels.

So the A’s are starting to pick that up a little bit and their starting to get some timely hitting, Ben Zobrist a guy who’s not been hitting for high average but has been coming through with timely hits hit a two run home run his third homer of the season off Padre pitcher Andrew Cashner. Zobrist’s homer couldn’t have been timed any better.

Charlie O does A’s commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below

The Golden State Warriors Hold up the NBA Chmpionship Trophy as a Team

Warriors Stand on Championship Ground

Published on by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

AP Photo/Tony Dejak

By Matthew T.F. Harrington

Has the dawn of a Golden State Warriors Dynasty arrived? Will the Splash Brothers be on the front float of many a victory parade? Only time will tell, but for now Title number one is under the Dubs’ belt. But one can’t help but think of the future while watching Stephen Curry toss the rock into the crowd in the closing minutes of his first title reign.

The Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 105-97 Tuesday night in Cleveland to win the NBA Finals four games to two. The World Champions overcame a 12-point first quarter deficit before riding a 60-54 point second half to handedly top the Cavs for the Bay Area and it’s ardent supporters the first Larry O’Brien Trophy since 1975. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said it right when he said “You’ve waited a long time” in his post-game speech.

The Warriors led the NBA from wall-to-wall, notching countless franchise records on the way to a 67-win season. They then swept the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round of the playoffs, rallied from a 2-1 series deficit against the Memphis Grizzlies to win the Conference Semifinals and broke the wills of the Houston Rockets to claim the Western Conference crown in one of the most dominant playoff runs the league has seen.

Despite boasting the reigning Most Valuable Player in Stephen Curry, the Warriors were deemed the best team facing the best player in the World, LeBron James. The Warriors proved that team always wins out after receiving meaningful contributions up and down the bench Tuesday night.Head Coach Steve Kerr dialed all the right buttons in becoming the first rookie head coach to win the championship. No egos stood in the way, with former All-stars like David Lee and Andrew Bogut accepting diminished roles as the playoffs wore on.

Andre Iguodala went vintage after being given the starting nod, scoring a team-high 25 points. For his efforts, he was named Finals MVP, a feat special but not as great as being a champion for the first time in an 11-year career. Draymond Green, a star in the making after having to wait till the second round of the 2013 draft, converted the triple-double with a 16 point/11 rebound/ 10 assist line. The MVP scored 25 points as well on 8 of 19 shooting, earning his signature moment by hoisting the biggest trophy in the land. Shaun Livingston and Festus Ezeli earned their rings by contributing 10 points apiece off the bench.

James did his best to will the title-starved City of Cleveland to a game 7, coming an assist short of another NBA Finals triple-double. The King scored 32 points with 18 rebounds, but couldn’t will his ragtag troupe of title hopefuls. Despite losing both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in the playoffs, James still proved the toughest challenge for the Warriors.

What does the future hold for the Champs? First and foremost comes the parade. Then after that, it’s all about locking down Draymond Green, an upcoming free agent. After that, the Kerr will need to replace assistant coach Alvin Gentry. Gentry accepted the New Orleans head coach slot after the Warriors bounced the birds from the playoffs. If Kerr’s proven anything after his rookie year, it’s that the team is in good hands.

With general mananger Bob Myers building a young core that will keep Oracle Arena roaring for years to come and owner Joe Lacob committed to winning, the dark days of the Baron Davis-Gilbert Arenas Warriors are over. With one banner already on its way to the rafters, the Warriors are looking to claim the crown as the latest NBA dynasty, following the footsteps of the showtime Lakers, Russell or Bird’s Celtics and the Parker-Duncan-Ginobli Spurs. Perhaps in a few years these Warriors will be spoken of in similiar tones.

That’s Amaury’s Podcast, News, and Commentary: FBI probe into Cardinal officials hacking Astros GM Luhnow (photo John Luhnow right and George Postolos)

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

LOS ANGELES–The St.Louis Cardinals officials that are being investigated for hacking into the Houston Astros network are believed to have hacked from their home according to the FBI. The idea of a Major League team hacking into another club’s network is unheard of and this is something that is totally unprecedented. The computer world of hacking has now come to MLB.

The Cardinals are a very successful franchise way before the computer world, the won back in the days of the 1940s with Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial and those guys. Then in the 60s with Bob Gibson, Curt Flood, and Lou Brock. Then later with Albert Pujols and Mark McGwire. Pujols this year is doing very well with the Angels.

This is a unique case and were going to learn more as this case develops when the FBI finishes up their investigation. The FBI is a serious crew they don’t investigate just anybody they will look into this case thoroughly and that’s what investigators do. Who knows they might investigate if other MLB teams are doing the same thing.

Right now were not privy into all the forthcoming information and the FBI is looking into the St.Louis Cards hacking the Astros network and the FBI investigating is a serious organization. This is one of the most respected and feared organizations in the world and remember the FBI is the organization that investigated the FIFA money embezzlement scandal. This hacking case which involves the Cardinals is a very interesting case and this will be followed very closely.

Former Cardinals executive Jeff Luhnow was very smart with developing the Cardinals success and now the Astros huge success and Luhnow speaks perfect Spanish. He’s a very bright guy he ended up bringing a number of Cardinal executives to Houston with him and the Cardinals were seeking revenge and there was jealously and it wouldn’t be surprising if the Cards were not trying to get back at Luhnow.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the A’s and the Spanish TV voice for the Angels and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

https://soundcloud.com/sports-radio-service/thats-amaurys-news-and-commentary-tue-jun-16-2015

A’s win third in a row, nip the San Diego Padres.

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by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s surprised all their fans in San Diego Tuesday afternoon. How did they do it? They won a daytime game, and it was a one-run game, too. The A’s have performed miserably this year in both categories, i.e., one-run games and games played in the sunlight. The bullpen continued to make life difficult for A’s manager Bob Melvin as the blew the save giving up two runs to tie the game at five. The A’s, however, would not be denied. They scored a run in the top of the ninth and A’s closer Tyler Clippard entered the game and struck the side to save the day and preserve the win. The A’s triumph 6-5.

Lefty Scott Kazmir (3-4,2,96) started for Oakland, and he was opposed by the tall righty Andrew Cashner (2-8,4.45). The Padres struck first in the bottom of the third. The rookie catcher, 22-year-old Austin Hedges hit his first Major League home run. The ball went some 390 feet over the left-field wall for the score. The Padres added a run in the fourth. Justin Upton and Will Middlebrooks singled to put men on at first and third with one out. Clint Barmes bunted to first baseman Billy Butler. Butler fielded the ball, but Ben Zobrist did not cover first. Upton scored to make it 2-0.

The A’s took the lead in the top of the fifth. With one out, Max Muncy doubled to deep right field. Sam Fuld walked to put men on at first and third. Kazmir singled to drive in Muncy. Billy Burns then tripled to deep right center field to drive in Fuld and Kazmir. A’s lead 3-2. The Lead didn’t last long as San Diego tacked on another run without the benefit of a hit. Melvin Upton, Jr. reached first on a Scott Kazmir throwing error. Upton stole second and advanced to third on a ground out; Kazmir was called for a balk allowing Upton to come home with the run.

Ben Zobrist hit a two-run homer to give a 5-3 lead in the sixth. Kazmir was done after five innings of work. Fernando Rodriguez and Drew Pomeranz pitched the next two innings and kept San Diego off the board. The eight inning, however, was a different story. The bullpen has not been an asset for Oakland this year, and it failed again. Pomeranz was out for his second inning of work. Melvin Upton, Jr and Yonder Alonzo singled to get the rally going for San Diego. First and third with no out. Melvin took Pomeranz out and brought in Evan Scribner to pitch, Scribner got Justin Upton to hit into a 5-4-3 double play.His brother, Melvin, scored on the play. The net batter, Matt Kemp, homered on the first pitch from Scribner to tie the game.

The A’s untied the game in the top of the ninth.  The Padres brought in their closer, Craig Kimbrel, to shut the A’s down, but the A’s would not quit. With two out. Billy Burns walked and promptly stole second base. Eric Sogard singled to drive in Burns with the go-ahead run. A’s closer Tyler Clippard was brought in to pitch, and all he did was strike out the side to win the game for the A’s.

Game notes. With the win, the A’s own a modest 3-game win streak as they return home to play San Diego again Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon. The A’s record improved to 28-39 and has a record of 17-21 on the road. San Diego falls to 32-25 and has a 16-19 record at Petco Field.

Game 3 of the series will be at O.co Coliseum at 7:05 PM PT

Ouch!: Giants drop record ninth-straight home game in 5-1 loss to the Mariners

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Seattlebration

By Morris Phillips

For eight, briskly played innings Monday night, Giants’ fans patiently waited, and then it happened.   After witnessing the best act of the night by someone wearing a Giants’ uniform, the home crowd roared with approval.

Just one thing: the kid in the Giants’ uniform full of verve, variety and dancing uncontrollably for the in-between innings’ Dance Cam isn’t a major league ballplayer. He’s a kid. And his act did little to impact the game where the Giants offered more of the same in what’s developed into a disastrous stretch of ball along McCovey Cove.

So in a nutshell: After dropping a 5-1 decision to the visiting Mariners, the Giants have lost nine straight at AT&T Park, their worst stretch at home since 1940 when the New York Giants lost 11 in a row at the Polo Grounds. The Giants haven’t won a home game since knocking off the Braves, 4-2 on May 29.

And, it hasn’t been pretty with the exception of the kid, who had at least 15 distinctive dance moves, and was so compelling the camera hung with him for a good 90 seconds. Conversely, the Giants’ offense hasn’t been watchable, scoring just three runs in the first four games of the home stand.

On Monday, Mariners’ starter Taijuan Walker made it look easy, shutting down the Giants for seven innings, allowing one run on seven hits. Walker’s had a nice stretch of four starts, but he’s still the highly touted prospect that hasn’t yet panned out, losing nine of his 20 career starts to date. But against the Giants, he got ahead of hitters, pitched effortlessly, and as pitchers so fashionably say these days, Walker let the hitters get themselves out.

“We’re just making better pitches, not trying to throw anything harder or trying to be too cute with anything, just making better pitches,” Walker said of a stretch of four starts in which he’s won three times and posted and ERA of 1.55.

Quite naturally, Giants’ hitters looked overanxious as well. Three of the first five innings concluded with a Walker strikeout, and eight of the nine Giants’ hitters to bat with a runner in scoring position, failed to reach. For those counting, that’s 21 baserunners stranded in the last four games.

With the offense scuffling, Giants’ starter Tim Hudson had his work cut out for him once again, and he held up until the fifth, when he allowed a pair of runs that put the Mariners up 3-1. Four of the seven Mariners to bat in the inning singled off Hudson, including Logan Morrison, who placed perfectly a pop up in between Angel Pagan and Jarret Parker, who were charging, and a retreating Joe Panik.

Morrison’s seeing-eye hit scored Brad Miller and drew a visible reaction from Hudson. The veteran would depart in the sixth on the hook for the loss, which would become his 23rd loss in an interleague game, the most all-time, a dubious record Hudson now shares with former teammates Derek Low and Barry Zito.

In the eighth, the game’s only fireworks came off the bat of Kyle Seager, who took reliever Jeremy Affeldt authoritatively into the right field arcade.

The Giants look to avoid a winless homestand on Tuesday afternoon Tim Lincecum takes the mound in a matchup with Seattle’s J.A. Happ.

NOTES: Matt Cain’s rehab start in Sacramento on Monday was a mixed bag. Cain threw 3 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on six hits with seven strikeouts. Cain threw 75 pitches, displaying a healthy mix of fastballs that topped out at 91 MPH and changeups that registered 77 MPH. The veteran starter is expected to make one or two more such starts before any decision is made on his return to the big league club.

Hahn hands Padres loss

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By Pearl Allison Lo

~ In the Oakland Athletics’ first interleague game this season, Jesse Hahn held San Diego at bay, for a 9-1 win Monday.

Hahn won the battle of both pitchers facing their former teams for the first time. He went 6.2 innings, gave up three hits, tying a season-low, one run and two walks while striking out four.

Padres’ starter Tyson Ross only had one clean inning, though the second was pretty close. He went five innings, tying a season-high with four runs and five walks, as he struck out six and gave up seven hits.

The last time the two teams faced each other at Petco Park was in 2009.

Runwise, the A’s and their opponents are respectively 17-2. Oakland’s Stephen Vogt hit a two out, first pitch grand slam in the top of the eighth. He also had two hits and another RBI. Brett Lawrie went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Ben Zobrist walked a career-high four times with a hit and three runs scored.

San Diego has only scored four runs their past three games.

Both teams put up runs in the third inning, one run for each coming off a walk.

Singles surrounded the A’s walk. Eric Sogard had a one out single, then stole second, Josh Reddick singled him in, Zobrist walked, Vogt singled in Reddick and Lawrie brought Zobrist home with an infield single to make it 3-0.

In the bottom of the third, Alexi Amarista led off with a walk, Tyson Ross sacrificed and Will Venable doubled in Amarista to make it 3-1.

With one out in the top of the fifth, Zobrist walked and Vogt singled to put runners at the corners. This resulted in a mound meeting, after which Lawrie made it 4-1 and the bullpen started warming up.

San Diego started the top of the sixth with pitcher Nick Vincent on the mound.

The Padres threatened in the bottom of the seventh. Yangervis Solarte almost had a two-run home run. With two outs and runners on the corner, Oakland brought in Drew Pomeranz to pitch. Upton Jr. stole second, but Pomeranz eventually got Venable to ground out.

The A’s did not let up in the top of the eighth. They had no outs and runners on the corner, due to a lead off walk by Marcus Semien and a pinch-hit single by Billy Butler. Burns then made it 5-1 on a single before Vogt’s slam later.

Game notes: Long-time San Diego manager Bud Black was fired before the game, and replaced by Bench Coach Dave Roberts. The Padres are now in the hunt for a 2015 Interim Manager. Game two of this four-game series kicks off at 12:40pm Tuesday.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Get away night games wore out Giants coming back to S.F. for homestands

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by Michael Duca

SAN FRANCISCO–The San Francisco Giants who brought a eight game consecutive home loss streak into AT&T Park and by all means necessary want to avoid a franchise record 11 game home loss streak. The club is not too panicky right now just being 3.5 games behind first place Los Angeles. You have to go back to the 1940 New York Giants to find the last Giant team that lost 11 straight at home.

The 2015 Giants will need over three homestands to eclipse the New York record. With train travel in 1940 and not plane travel 11 game homestands were pretty common back then. The Giants want to avoid their third five game loss streak at home. Let’s face it you show up and you put on the uniform and you strap it on everyday with the intention of winning. It’s not a question of you wanting to avoid a five game losing streak you want to avoid a one game losing streak. You just come out to win everyday and that’s the goal that’s the reason why you show up.

The Giants had a successful road trip in Philadelphia and New York combined going 4-1, that was a good road trip, this is a good road team, this is one of the best road teams in baseball. These guys know each other they like each other and they get along well. To be perfectly blunt and honest with you one of the reasons these homestands have been terrible is that the schedule makers just butchered things for the Giants on this particular trip.

This is going to happen again very soon, the Mets had the option on get away day to determine the time o and they made the Giants play a night game. The game went a little longer than anybody would have hoped it wanted to go and as a consequence they missed the curfew at LaGuardia by six minutes. They had to get leave LaGuardia and take a bus to the other side of Long Island to JFK where the private terminal was being occupied by a Saudi Prince and they waited for that to be cleared before they can get on a different aircraft from the one they originally chartered to come back to SFO and they played a game that night.

That’s going to throw them off and get you out of your routine, it won’t be long and it will happen again, there’s another selected getaway night on a Sunday in Washington that the Nationals selected on July 5th which is scheduled as a 8:00PM EDT game and afterwards the Giants hop a charter again and fly out to SFO and then play that same night they arrive on Mon Jul 6th for a 7:15pm start.

Michael Duca does San Francisco Giants commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

That’s Amaury’s Podcast, News and Commentary: No I in Golden State as they set out to beat best in the world LeBron

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

As much as the Cleveland Cavaliers LeBron James says that he’s the best basketball player on earth the fact is he can’t do it all. The Golden State Warriors are just a different team. The W’s have too many weapons and Stephen Curry is a machine. Here again the Cavaliers are against the wall. They hope to win game six in Cleveland on Tuesday night and force a game seven which I really don’t want to happen because the A’s are playing at the Coliseum the same day the Warriors would be hosting game seven on a Friday night.

When the Warriors and the A’s play at the same time the parking lot will look more like morning commute traffic with everybody trying to get in the building. The Warriors definitely look like the best team and like LeBron said and he’s right he’s probably the best player in the world. So we’ll see what happens.

It’s not about A player it’s about A team. Right now the Golden State Warriors are the better team. The Warriors were ahead in game five and Cleveland came back and tied it up but the Warriors once again pulled it out. These two teams are taking it game by game and it’s going to go to seven games at this rate. I said on our last show at Flames restaurant in San Jose that the Warriors will win this series in six games.

So in game six Tuesday the Warriors could wrap it up, the thing about the Warriors is that they’ve been the best team the whole year. Sometimes in any sport like baseball the Giants who last year were the best thing in baseball they won 88 games. They got in by winning a one game playoff against Pittsburgh and they peaked at the right time and went all the way from there.

The Giants won the World Series and they had roughed it out all season long but won the World Series in the end, in the Warriors case they were the best team in the NBA from the beginning. Golden State is almost unbeatable at Oracle Arena, so my point is when a team plays that well for a whole season they’re confidence is sky high. The Warriors know themselves, they might not be as arrogant as LeBron whose the best player in the world which is true but still the Warriors have that factor and confidence.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the A’s and the former Spanish radio voice for the Warriors and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

Golden State Warriors Point Guard Stephen Curry in Game 5 of the NBA Finals

Curry Energizes Warriors to a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals

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AP Photo/Ben Margot

By Jeff Hall

OAKLAND –

The Warriors lead this series 3-2 with a 104-91 win because when the Cavs ran out of strength in the game the Warriors got stronger and Andre Iguodala was once again a strong presence for the Warriors The Warriors went on a 17-5 run in the final four minutes of the game. Stephen Curry scored 17 fourth quarter points and finished the game with 37 points. The Warriors have so many weapons and they proved again they have more weapons than the Cavaliers.

Once again Warrior’s coach Steve Kerr decided to start Andre Iguodala for defensive purposes.

Neither team shot well at the beginning of the game. The Warriors scored the first points after a Klay Thompson lay-up three minutes into the game. The Cavaliers turned the ball over four times in the early minutes. The Warriors scored their first three baskets in transition all on the turnovers of the Cavs.

Draymond Green got off to a hot start scoring 9 points in the first 7 minutes of the game.

Carried on the back of LeBron James the Cavs took their first lead of the game mid way through the first quarter.  James scored eight points in the first quarter. J. R Smth scored eight points for the cavs. Smith had been struggling scoring earlier in the series.

Green led the Warriors in scoring in the first with 10 first quarter points. Stephen Curry had 7 points in the first.

Despite the slow start by the Cavs, the game was even at 22 points at the end of the first quarter of play.

In the second quarter J.R. Smith continued the hot hand in scoring. Smith was 4 of 7 from beyond the Arc and provided the Cavs with much needed scoring from someone besides LeBron. Speaking of LeBron he was just shy of a triple double in the first half of action in the game. James scored 20 first half points. He had eight rebounds and eight assists in the first half. Matthew Dellavedova was held to just two first half points.

Curry responded with what the Warriors needed. Curry was 3 of 4 from 3-point land and 15 first half points

The first half of play was wild on both sides and there were 12 lead changes in the first half.

On the final play of the first half, Curry drove to the basket and led the ball to Harrison Barnes who followed the ball dunking it into the basket and was fouled giving the Warriors a 51-50 lead at the end of the first half.

Igoudala scored just three points in the first half but played well. He had 7 rebounds and six assists in the first half.

“Andre was brilliant for us tonight. He does everything for us. He’s our best defender on LeBron. He’s a Brilliant defensive player. He missed some free throws down the stretch, but it didn’t matter.”

The Warriors shot 54% from the field in the first half. The Cavs shot 42% from the field.

After the first half, The primary question of the game would be will the Cavs have enough gas in the tank to finish the game in another hard fought game at the Oracle Arena.

In the third the Warriors were the stronger team and went on a 13-4 run in the final minutes. The Warriors increased their lead to seven and took advantage when LeBron James was sent to the bench to get a much needed rest. James began to show struggles and signs of fatigue.. James scored just four third quarter points. And was just 9 for 21 from the field.

With 6:47 remaining in the Game, James had scored nearly half of the Cavs total points as a team. James had 34 points and the Cavs had 80 points total and trailed the Warriors by five.

With five minutes to play it was a another nail biter with the two teams with the Warriors holding onto a one point lead. The game took a turn after James made a long distance 3-point shot. Seconds later Curry responded with a 3-point shot of his own.

“That was big, because that was he first three of the fourth quarter and we didn’t let the momentum slip. “said Curry

Next it was Klay Thompson that made a 3-point shot and the Warriors lead began to grow and they started to pull away from the Cavs and increased their lead by 10 points.

James scored 40 points, had 14 rebounds and 11 assists for a his second triple double in the finals.

This game is just a reminder that Cleveland does not have enough to get their offense going consistently. J.R. Smith who had a great start in the game did not score a single point in the second half. Dellavedova had just five points in the game.

Game Six returns to Cleveland and the Warriors need one more win to win the championship.

Kerr talked about the difficulty of winning the deciding game. “It’s going to be hard, we are going to have to play better then we did tonight”

The Warriors stuck with the small line-up and Andrew Bogut did not get any action in this one. “It’s a small series and It works well for us, we’re comfortable with this style..” said Kerr regarding the line-up adjustment to stay small.

The Series returns to Cleveland for game six on Tuesday.

Notes:

Curry has made 16 of his last 23 3-point attempts.

Sonny Gray to the rescue – A’s win 8-1

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sonny gray

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).