Month: June 2017

Atlanta Braves pitcher Mike Foltynewicz works against the Oakland Athletics during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, June 30, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

By Matthew Harrington

OAKLAND–Sonny Gray had his best start of the season Friday night against the visiting Atlanta Braves, but Mike Foltynewicz fired the best game of his career, one-hitting the Oakland Athletics for eight innings in a 3-1 win. Matt Olson homered with no outs in the bottom of the ninth to break up the no-hitter and shutout in one swing. Rookie Dansby Swanson knocked in the lone run off Gray while Oakland reliever Sean Doolittle let in two runs on RBI hits by veterans Brandon Phillips and Matt Kemp. Ex-Athletic closer Jim Johnson nailed down his 17^th save of the year. Oakland continued its streak of being the team with the longest streak of avoiding being no-hit, a streak since 1991.

Foltynewicz (6-5, 3.83 ERA) was dealing, striking out 8 A’s hitters while coughing up just the one hit. He walked four A’s, but managed to work around the baserunners. He entered the ninth with his pitch count at 110, but a full-count battle with Olson resulted in a deep homer to the bleachers in right on a two-seam fastball from the 25-year-old.

With his starter’s pitch count at 119, interim manager Brian Snitker took the ball from Foltynewicz, handing it to Johnson for the save. Johnson allowed one hit before finishing up the game.

For Oakland, Gray’s eight innings of work were stellar in their own right and would normally have accounted for a win for the homer-happy A’s. Gray only struck out four but was highly effective, firing 62 of 98 pitches for strikes. He allowed only two hits, but they came in the same inning. Gray gave up a leadoff double to Johan Camargo to open the third, then Swanson doubled him home with one out to take a 1-0 Atlanta lead.

The Braves tacked on two insurance runs for the then-unhittable Foltynewicz off Doolittle in the ninth inning. Ender Inciarte scored from first on Brandon Phillips’ one-out double, then Phillips came around to score on Matt Kemp’s line drive single for a 3-0 lead at the time.

The young A’s will be tested Saturday when R.A. Dickey takes the hill Saturday for Atlanta, with many of the younger players getting their first looks at a knuckle ball. With Steven Wright of the Red Sox injured, this will be the first taste of the knuckler the A’s will get this year. The Green and Gold send Antioch native Paul Blackburn to the hill to oppose Dickey. Blackburn will be making his major league debut after going 5-6 with a 3.05 ERA for Triple-A Nashville.

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Jesse Hahn walks to the dugout after being pulled from the baseball game during the third inning against the Houston Astros Wednesday, June 28, 2017, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s had five homers on Wednesday but fell short of a victory 11-8 and Khris Davis is heating up again for Oakland he hit two home runs he’s a very streaky hitter and he’s got 21 homers for the season and he put the A’s ahead 5-4 and that was the only time Oakland had a lead. Unfortunately that would have been enough in most games to win. The A’s had eight runs on five solo homers to go along with Davis’ other home runs.

The relief pitching and Jesse Hahn just didn’t have it on Wednesday night. Hahn was pounded last week on Thursday with ten runs in two innings. Wednesday night he went two plus innings and gave up six runs to nine hits and Josh Smith came in and the Astros pounced on him and he gave up four more runs.

Jerry does the A’s podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Houston Astros’ Carlos Correa celebrates after hitting a two-run home run against the Oakland Athletics during the sixth inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 29, 2017, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

By Jerry Feitelberg

Houston- The Oakland A’s concluded their six-game road trip to Chicago and Houston Thursday as they fell to the Astros 6-1. The A’s won four of the six games and are 8-6 in their last fourteen games. Against the Astros, however, they are 2-10 for the season and have seven games left to play against this very talented team. The Astros, doormats in the AL West a few years ago, have been built into a possible World Series Championship team by Jeff Luhnow.

The Astros started the rebuilding process by signing Jose Altuve. Altuve is just 27 years old and is at the top of his game. The Astros drafted George Springer and Carlos Correia. Correa is one of the best shortstops in the game and Springer is a force in the outfield. He usually plays in right field, but the Astros often move him into centerfield.

The Astros signed former A’s standout, Josh Reddick as a free agent and he had a great series as he tormented his former team in this series. Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann, Evan Gattis, Jake Marisnick, and Alex Bregman have all made contributions to this team as they have run ramshackle over the entire American League so far this year.

The A’s, who are now going with younger players as they try to rebuild the team. They gave the Astros a fight as they won the first game of the series, slugged it out in the second, and lost on Thursday afternoon to another former Oakland Athletic, Brad Peacock. Peacock beat his former team twice in the last 10 days, once in Oakland and Once in Houston. Peacock’s line was five innings pitched, two hits, allowed, one run while he struck out seven and was a bit wild as he walked six. The A’s Daniel Gossett didn’t pitch poorly but the Astros 22-year old superstar, Carlos Correa took him deep twice and drove in four runs to send him down to his third loss of the season.

Oakland scored first in the game in the top fo the fourth inning. The A’s loaded the bases with no out and were hoping to get a couple of key hits to get a jump on this very potent Astro team. Brad Peacock, with one out, was able to get Adam Rosales to ground into a fielder’s choice. Ryon Healy scored on the play and Peacock retired the next hitter to escape with very little damage. The Astros scored twice in their half of the inning to take the lead for good. Josh Reddick doubled with one out. Gossett retired the ever-dangerous Altuve for the second out, but Carlos Correa connected on a 3-2 pitch that went over the wall in right-center-field. The Astros are ahead 2-1 after four complete.

Gossett started the sixth inning but couldn’t get anyone out. Josh Reddick led off the frame with a single. Altuve doubled off the wall in right-center-field to drive in Reddick with Houston’s third run of the game. Gossett had to face Correa once again, and Correa won the battle as he hit a monster shot that went way over the 409-footoot mark in centerfield to make it 5-1. Gossett was finished for the day and A’s manager Bob Melvin brought Liam Hendricks in to pitch. The Astros scored another run in the seventh as they won the game 6-1.

Game Notes- The Astros bullpen shut the A’s down the last four innings of the game allowing them no runs and just three hits. Chris Devenski pitched the sixth and seventh, left Reyman Guduan the eighth, and James Hoyt the ninth.

The A’s return home for a six-game homestand against the Atlanta Braves and Chicago White Sox. The Braves are just a couple of games under the .500 mark and appear to be on the upswing. The A’s swept the Chisox in Chicago last week, and they hope to do the same next week when the series starts on Monday.

The A’s will send Sonn Gray to the hill Friday night, and he will be opposed by the Braves’ Mike Foltynawwicz. Gray is 3-3 with an ERA of 4.45.  The right-handed Foltynewicz is 5-5, and his ERA is 4.10. On Saturday, Jharel Cotton goes for Oakland and his opponent will be the 42-year-old veteran knuckleball master, R.A. Dickey. Dickey, who won a Cy Young Award a few years ago, has won six and lost five.

The series finale on Sunday will feature Lefty Sean Manaea, who at 7-4, is the A’s most consistent and reliable starter this season. Julio Teheran, with a record of 6-6, will pitch for Atlanta. After the A’s finish the series with the White Sox, they travel to Seattle for four games with the Mariners then have four days off for the annual All-Star game which will be played in Miami. The A’s first baseman, Yonder Alonso, probably will represent the A’s at the mid-season classic.

by Jerry Feitelberg

Houston-The Houston Astros showed the A’s why they have the best record in baseball as they pounded Oakland pitching for 17 hits and snapped Oakland’s four-game win streak as they downed the A’s 11-8. A’s starter, Jesse Hahn, was hoping to rebound from a very poor outing last week when the Astros pounded him for ten runs in just two innings of work. Hahn did not have it again Wednesday as he went two-plus innings and gave up six runs on nine hits. Josh Smith didn’t fare much better as he was rocked by the Astros for three more in the third. The A’s didn’t quit, but the Astros answered every challenge and their bullpen shut the A’s down in the 8th and 9th innings.

The Astros’ George Springer, leading off the bottom of the first, hit a rocket into the right field seats give Houston an early 1-0 lead. The Astros, who clobbered Hahn last Thursday in Oakland, scored the second run of the inning on a double by Jose Altuve, an infield single by Carlos Correa and Brian McCann singled to drive in Altuve. Hahn was able to escape with no further damage, but he had to throw 30 pitches in the inning. The A’s Khris Davis sent a ball into the stratosphere leading off the second inning to make it a 2-1 game.

The Astros scored two more on three hits and a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second.With one out Nori Aoki singled. He went to third on a booming double to left field. Our old friend, Josh Reddick, hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Aoki. The next hitter, Jose Altuve, singled to drive in Springer with Houston’s fourth run of the contest.

In the third inning, the A’s scored four times to take a 5-4 lead. Singles by Jacob Brugman, Matt Joyce, and Jed Lowrie produced the first run in the inning for Oakland. Khris Davis, who homered his first time at-bat, homered again when he took Paulino deep into the Crawford Boxes. It was his third two-homer game of the season and his 21st  dinger of the year. The Astros, in their half of the inning, had six hits and tallied five runs to regain the lead 9-5. Hahn was lifted after giving up singles to McCann and Beltran. Hahn had a rough outing last week against Houston, and the Astros continued to pound him. Josh Smith came into the game, and he couldn’t hold the Astros down. The Astros sent ten men to the plate in the inning.

The A’s Ryon Healy hit his 19th homer leading off in the fourth, and Matt Olson homered in the sixth to trail by just two runs 9-7. A’s manager Bob Melvin is hoping that his bullpen can keep Houston from scoring and the team will be able to rally. The Astros kept the pressure on the A’s as they score their tenth run of the night in the bottom of the sixth.

Both teams continued to hit the ball in the seventh. Jed Lowrie hit a solo homer to make it  10-8 but the Astros continued to hit the A’s pitching. John Axford, now pitching for Oakland, gave up hits to Yuli Gurriel and George Springer. Josh Reddick had another hit to drive in Gurriel to up Houston’s lead to 11-8 with two out. Michael Brady, now pitching for the A’s struck out Jose Altuve to end the inning.

Houston’s Luke Gregerson retired the A’s 1-2-3 in the eighth The Astros’ closer Ken Giles retired the side to record his 18th save of the year. The Astros snap the A”s four-game win streak by a score of 11-8.

Game Notes- The A’s hit five home runs in the game, but four were solo jobs. The A’s also struck out 17 times. The A’s used five pitchers and Astros manager A.J.Hinch used six. The line score for Houston was 11 runs on 17 hits and no errors. The A’s had 8 runs on 8 hits, and they did not commit a miscue.

George Springer and Josh Reddick were the hitting starts for Houston with three hits apiece.

A’s first baseman, Yonder Alonso, had to leave the game when he fouled a ball off his knee and he dropped to the ground in a tremendous amount of pain. After the game, Bob Melvin said the Alonso suffered a bone contusion but did not know when Alonso would return.

Time of game was three hours and thirty minutes and 34,705 people watched the Astros pound the A’s.