San Diego Padres starter Blake Snell serves them up against the Oakland A’s in the first inning of game one of the two game series at the Oakland Ring Central Coliseum on Tue Aug 3, 2021 (AP News photo)

San Diego 8 – 14 -0

Oakland 1 – 7- 0

By Lewis Rubman

Tuesday August 3, 2021

OAKLAND–Tonight’s southpaw starters, 2018 AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell (4-4, 5.44 at game time) for the Padres and Sean Manaea (8-6,3.01), whose ERA speaks for itself for the Athletics are no strangers to each other. They were mound rivals last Wednesday at Petco Park, where Manaea retired the first 16 Friars he faced before walking his erstwhile teammate Jurickson Profar in the sixth frame.

Manaea ended up pitching a full six innings before leaving the game, which Oakland eventually won 10-4 with a 10-0 lead. Obviously, Snell wasn’t as effective. He got chased after surrendering seven runs in a scant four inning stint on the mound.

Tonight, it was a different story. The Padres took the lead in the first and never relinquished it, going on to win by the lopsided score of 8-1. Tommy Pham, leading off for the Friars, drove a 3-2 sinker 401 feet into left center field for his 12th home run and 36th RBI of the year to get San Diego off and runnning-I should say trotting-to a one run lead.

Snell, for his part, got through the first undamaged, although the A’s put men on second and third with no outs on a single by Mark Canha and Starling Marte’s double. Leaving runners in scoring position has become an unfortunate tendency over the last month or so for the green and gold.

The Padres added on in the second, with two out singles by eighth and ninth hitters, Ha-Seong Kim and Jake Marisnick, driving in Austin Nola, who also had singled. Then Tommy Phan brought in Kim with a single to center just before Jake Croenenworth’s infield single brought in Marisnick with San Diego’s third tally of the frame.

The A’s threatened in their half of the second but were done in by another of their recently displayed short comings, bad base running. With the bases loaded and one out, Josh Harrison, who was part of the July 30 trade with Washington that brought Yan Gomes to Oakland, tried to score on Canha’s fly to medium right field.

The result was an inning ending 9-2 double play. To give the Athletics´performance on the basepaths its due, Harrison and Chapman pulled off a duble steal as part of the threat, and Oakland stole a total of four bases over the course of the game. (Marte and Laureano swiped the other two).

It was the curse of the lead off double that did the A’s in in the fifth. The two bagger came off the bat of Laureano, who followed it uo with his 12th stolen base of the season. But Chapman struck out, and Andrus flew out to the warning track in left center, and the A’s once more had left a man stranded on third. (Their total for the game was eight).

When Manny Machado doubled to left with one down in the fifth, that was it for Manaea. He lasted 4-1/3 innings,and surendered five runs, all earned, on eight hits, including Pham’s lead off home run, but didn’t walk anyone. He threw 99 pitches, 68 for strikes, and, at game’s end, was the losing pitcher, leaving him with a record of 8-7, 3.26.

Deolis Guerra relieved him and closed out the inning but not before he’d walked Wil Myers and allowed Austin Nola to double to left, scoring Machado, a run charged to Manaea, and Myers, whose run went on Guerra’s account.

The A’s finally got on the board when Marte blasted his eighth round tripper of ‘21, and first as an Athletic, with one down in home fifth. It came on a 94 mph four seamer and traved 413 feet into the left field seats.

Burch Smith took over for Guerra to start the sixth and set the side down in order but gave up two runs on four singles (by Machado, Hosmer, Nola, and Grisham) in the seventh. A walk to Cronenworth was all he allowed in eighth.

Snell came out after the fifth, having thrown enough innings to earn the win, improving his record to 5-4, 5.24. He threw 105 pitches, 65 for strikes, and allowed one, earned, run on six hits and three walks, striking out six. His replacement was Craig Stammen, who pitched a flawless sixth before giving way to Emilio Pagán in the seventh and Matt Strahm in the eighth.

JB Wendelken mopped up for Oakland in the top of ninth, and Miguel Díaz closed the book on the A’s for San Diego.

Barring a post season match up, the two teams will play each other for the last time this year Wednesday afternoon at 12:37. Frankie Montás (9-8, ERA 4.08) and Joe Musgrove (7-7, ERA 2.94) are scheduled to face each other in a battle of bleary eyed righthanders.