By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Monday, March 14, 2016

AP photo of SF Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto warming up in Scottsdale AZ on Thu Feb 18, 2016

MESA, Arizona – If this were a regular season matchup, Monday night’s Cactus League mound dual between Oakland’s Sonny Gray and San Francisco’s Johnny Cueto would be marquee material.

Gray had the better of it, working 4 2/3 innings to get the win in a 10-3 verdict over the Giants before a sellout crowd of 10,080 at Hohokam Stadium.

The All-Star right-hander threw 64 pitches, struck out four without a walk, gave up two hits – including a home run in the fourth inning to Matt Duffy – and earned his second win of the spring.

“It’s a good atmosphere for playing (the Giants), no matter where we play,” said Gray, who is in the final year of his A’s contract. “I felt really good, I felt my stuff was sharp, and I didn’t walk anybody, which was good. I had a couple more three-ball counts than I’d like to.

“I didn’t know how many pitches I’d throw, or how many innings. I just tried to go out there and compete,” he continued. “A lot of people say ‘it’s just spring training.’ For me, every time I take the mound in the spring, it’s a game. You may want to just work on stuff, but it’s never fun to give up runs or hits. Mentally I think you’re in every game. You still want to put up zeroes, no matter who you’re throwing against.”

A’s catcher Stephen Vogt said Gray “looked good,” saying, “I thought he threw a lot of good breaking balls, he threw a handful of sliders – that was maybe his most inconsistent pitch, but he still threw some pretty good ones. He had good command of his fastball, and threw some really good changeups as well.”

“We threw everything today,” Gray said. “We treated it like a regular season start, and we got some really good work in, I think.”

Gray also dodged a line drive hit by Conor Gillaspie in the fifth inning.

“It was a fastball,” Gray said. “I don’t know where it went – I was just ducking.”

VOGT IMPRESSED
It’s not just the pitchers who get tuned up. Vogt was behind the plate for his first chance to catch Gray this spring.

“Being under the lights with Sonny out there against the Giants helps to get ready mentally,” Vogt said of his first game behind the plate this spring. “There was a lot of adrenaline. It felt great to get back there and get started catching.”

Vogt said it was important to be back behind the plate. “There were some things to work on, like my timing – I was a little jumpy on things like going down too early to block pitches and anticipating a little too much. But for the most part, I felt great.

“Now, it’s just a matter of building the arm strength back up, and I’m ready to go.”

“It’s nice to have him back out there,” Gray said. “We still need to see what we’re going with, especially in the early part. But it was good to get out there and work with him.”

CUETO STATUS
Cueto was taken to a local hospital to undergo tests for a possible concussion. Tests showed that Cueto suffered a contusion after Oakland leadoff hitter Billy Burns lined his first pitch of the game off his head.

After being examined by the Giants trainers, Cueto stayed in the game and worked three innings. As per Giants team policy in these situations, Cueto was not available to talk to the media.

Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said Cueto’s condition would be monitored Monday night through Tuesday.

“No signs of anything yet,” Bochy said. “That really shows you how tough he is. It shows how much he wanted to pitch, even in a spring training game.”

In Cueto’s three innings, a three-run homer to Josh Reddick was among the five hits he surrendered while striking out two and walking one.

THE GAME
Oakland 3B Danny Valencia hit his second home run of the spring, and Tyler Ladendorf hit his first CL homer in the eighth inning. Despite the margin of the final score, A’s reliever Felix Doubront worked the last three innings to get his first spring save.

MOVIN’ ON
San Francisco reassigned 11 players to its minor league camp: RHP Tyler Beede, RHP Sam Coonrod, RHP Chase Johnson, RHP Albert Saurez, C Aramis Garcia, C Tyson Ross, C Matt Winn, INF Christian Arroyo, INF Ryder Jones, INF Rando Moreno and OF Junior Arias.

The Giants also optioned eight players: RHP Ray Black, RHP Kyle Crick, RHP Ian Gardeck, RHP Joan (pronounced Joe-on) Gregorio, RHP Derek Law, LHP Adalberto Mejia, RHP Jake Smith and RHP Chris Stanton.

Meanwhile, the Athletics optioned RHP Andrew Triggs and RHP J.B. Wendelkin and INF Joey Wendle to Triple-A Nashville.

A’s ANNOUNCE TV SCHEDULE
The Athletics announced that all 162 regular season games will be televised, including 147 on CSN California. The remaining 15 games will be available in the A’s TV territory on MLB Network and ESPN.

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