Month: June 2021

Quick recovery after getting hit with a piece of a splintered bat the New York Yankees Gio Urshela hit a eighth inning go ahead home run off Oakland A’s pitcher Jesus Luzardo at Yankee Stadium in New York on Sat Jun 20, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Jessica Kwong

NEW YORK–The Oakland A’s had their seven-game winning streak – the longest active in the league – snapped on Saturday afternoon by a relentless New York Yankees team that won 7-5 at Yankee Stadium. Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela in the second inning swung at a pitch that splintered his bat and Urshela said a piece of the bat bounced off his eye and didn’t stick, “I saw just the piece of wood come into my eye.” said Urshela “I didn’t even see the ball and where I was running. Just my eye, started to feel like a little pain. Thank God (I was OK).”

A’s right-handed pitcher Chris Bassitt held the Yankees to two runs in six innings and had five strikeouts. Urshela hit a two-out RBI single off Bassitt and Gary Sanchez hit a homer.

Tony Kemp, a star of Friday’s 5-3 A’s victory, hit a home run on a fly ball to right center field in the first inning to put the A’s up 1-0. Matt Chapman hit a homer on a fly ball to center field in the fourth inning to extend Oakland’s lead to 2-0. But Urshela singled on a sharp line drive to center field and allowed Aaron Judge to score, cutting Oakland’s lead to 2-1.

In the fifth inning, Matt Olson singled on a sharp ground ball to center field and Elvis Andrus and Mark Canha scored to boost the A’s to 4-1.

But the Yankees rallied starting in the sixth inning, with a homer by Gary Sanchez that cut the A’s lead to 4-2. In the seventh inning, Judge singled on a sharp line drive to Canha and Clint Frazier scored, narrowing Oakland’s lead to 4-3. Giancarlo Stanton singled on a ground ball to right field and Judge scored, tying the game at 4-4.

In the eighth inning, Urshela hit a home run on a fly ball to center field to give the Yankees a 5-4 lead. LeMahieu singled on a line drive to left field and Tyler Wade and Clint Frazier scored, lifting New York to 7-4.

Oakland’s Ramon Laureano in the ninth inning singled on a ground ball to right field and Canha scored to cut New York’s lead to 7-5, but it was too little too late.

Oakland’s bullpen was unable to hold on to their late lead. Right-handed pitcher Burch Smith allowed one run and left in the seventh inning with two outs and a runner. Right-handed pitcher Yusmeiro Petit filled in but LeMahieu struck a single off him.

A’s manager Bob Melvin said that he used the relievers who were available and was going to use Petit in the lineup.

The A’s lost for only the third time in 16 games this month. They dropped to 34-3 when holding the lead after seven innings.

Saturday’s attendance was 23,985, slightly lower than Friday night which was the first time that coronavirus attendance limitations were lifted at Yankee Stadium.

First pitch for the third and final game in the split series is Sunday at 10:05 a.m.

The Oakland A’s Tony Kemp (5) looks heavenward as the A’s line up for the conga congratulations line behind Kemp after defeating the New York Yankees at Yankees Stadium New York (AP News photo)

Post game Oakland A’s commentary: Oakland Celebrates Seventh Win In A Row

By Barbara Mason

With Game One in the books it is on to Game Two of this series.  The A’s continue to breathe fire and the Yankees continue with the ups and downs they have suffered this season.  Oakland continues to string together those hits and homeruns.  

While slugger Matt Olson had a home run in the first inning it was the bomb by Tony Kemp in the sixth inning with two runners on base that sealed the deal for Oakland.

 
In Game Two of this series the A’s will be lookingfor Chris Bassitt to bring home their eighth straightwin.  Bassitt has been having a great season witha record of 7-2 and an ERA of 3.43.  This guy hasbeen sensational allowing four runs or fewer in eachof his past twenty-five starts over the past two years.

This is the longest streak since Dave Hamilton’s streak in the 70’s.  He is really making some waves as Oakland continue to ride the wave.  

The Yankees will have Domingo German starting in Game Two.  He was having a great run of success until that came to an end at the hands of Philadelphia this past Sunday.   In this game he took his first loss since May 27 giving up seven runs on ten hits. He has a 6.05 ERA in four career starts against Oakland.

 Tomorrow the stands are again expected to be packed with full capacity allowed.  It has been agreat thing for not only in-person fans but also adds so much excitement for TV viewers.

 Nothing beats the sights and sounds of a live baseball game and with no masks required it is as normal as we have seen in several seasons.

The starting pitching certainly indicates an edge for the Green and Gold and possibly a second win for Oakland in this series.  Will the Oakland A’s win their eighth game in a row?   Tune in to Sports California for first pitch at 10:05.        

The Oakland A’s Ramon Laureano is back in the line up and look for him to make more of these exciting plays such as his over the fence fourth inning catch of the Los Angeles Angels Justin Upton at the Oakland Coliseum on Wed Jun 16, 2021 as Laureano and the A’s open a three game series in New York Fri Jun 18, 2021 (San Francisco Chronicle photo)

Athletics VS Yankees—The Series—Game One

By Barbara Mason

The Oakland A’s are probably playing the best baseball that we have seen them play this entire season. They have now won six games in a row, the latest a sweep of the Los Angeles Angels who were red hot coming into the series. The A’s cooled off the Angels in all three games, in fact the Angels weren’t quite sure what hit them. Stringing together hits, home runs coupled with remarkable defensive play rendered the Angels relatively ineffective.

Now we have the long anticipated series between the Oakland A’s and the New York Yankees this weekend. Whether it is played in Oakland or in Yankee Stadium it is without doubt one of the most popular series played all season.

The good news for the A’s is that they are playing even better baseball on the road than they are playing at home. After Oakland’s last two series at home it’s really hard to imagine what that would look like. Right now every player on this team is playing at an extremely high level not only offensively but defensively. The pitching; starters, relief pitching and closers have been sensational.

This Friday night Yankee Stadium will be rocking with the park open at full capacity, which is 46,537, for the series. This will be the biggest house that the Oakland A’s have played in front of since 2019. Since 2013 Oakland has seen some nice results as it pertains to the win column for the A’s vs Yankee series. This is of course a new season and we will find out if history will repeat itself tomorrow night in Game One.

Oakland’s James Kaprielian will take the mound for Game One and for the Yankee’s it will be Jameson Taillon who will get the nod. Kaprielian has had a great start with a 2.51 ERA though his first six games. He has proven to be tough against right-handed batters. He has held them to a .131 batting average which could mean trouble for New York. New York’s Taillon has a 5.74 ERA with a 1-4 record coming into this game.

When it comes to team leaders, Oakland’s biggest threat is Matt Olson who comes into this game with18 home runs. His batting average is .297 and he has 49 runs batted in. The Yankees have a threat of their in Aaron Judge with a batting average of .282 and 15 homeruns. He has brought in 36 runs. New York will be leaning heavily on him.

This series is bound to be a dandy because you never know what to expect from New York. They have had their struggles from time to time this season but have nicely recovered from those setbacks. First pitch is scheduled at 4:05 PT.