Oakland Athletics’ Kirby Snead pitches against the Miami Marlins in the top of the ninth at the Oakland Coliseum on Tue Aug 23, 2022 (AP News photo)

Miami (54-69). 5. 8. 0

Oakland (45-79). 3. 8. 0

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–Monday night the A’s were handcuffed by Maimi’s novice hurler Edward Cisneros, who held them to a couple of hits over eighth innings in a riveting contest that the Marlins won, 3-0. Tuesday night, the home team came up against Pablo López, now in his fifth major league campaign after seven years’ seasoning in the minors.

He came to work today with a 7-8, 3.83 record for the 53-69 Fish and a well earned reputation as a strikeout pitcher. Indeed, last year he set a major league record when he struck out the first nine hitters he faced in a game against the Atlanta Braves.

When tonight’s contest ended with 5-3 win for the Marlins, the Venezuelan right hander got win, giving him a record of 8-8, 3.66. He shut out Oakland over six innings, allowing them only four hits and a walk while setting five of them down on strikes. He threw 91 pitches, 30 of which were walks.

The Athletics went with southpaw Zach Logue, who had logged a 3-7, 6.35 mark in the majors while shuttling a half dozen times between the Las Vegas and Oakland rosters. He went 3-4, 6.29 with the triple A Aviators.

Logue pitched effectively over 5-1/3 frames tonight, holding the Marlins to two runs on three hits , one of which went the distance, over that span. One of those runs was posthumous. Logue struck out seven and didn’t allow a walk. He threw 66 pitches, 47 of them counting for strikes. His bullpen let him down, and he ended up being charged with the loss, leaving him 3-8, 6.04 at the end of the game.

The teams swapped goose eggs for three innings until Brian Anderson, leading off the fourth for the fish, sent Logue’s second offering, a 90 mph four seamer 403 into left field, flying over the Mechanics Bank sign and into the sparsely populated front row seats. It was the 11th homer off Logue in 48-1/3 major league innings this year.

Logue recovered to retire the next six men he faced, but Luke Williams led off the sixth with a double to the left field corner and moved on to third on Miguel Rojas’ productive ground out to second. That ended Logue’s mound tenure, and he gave way to Domingo Acevedo.

The right handed reliever walked Anderson. The wheels started coming off the A’s wagon when Jesús Aguilar hit a bouncing grounder that Vimael Machín let bounce off his glove at third. Williams would have scored in any case, but Aguilar’s hit-for that is how it was scored-kept Miami in attack mode.

Joey Wendle grounded out to Machín, but Aguilar and Anderson each moved up 90 feet. That set up Jerar Encarnacióń’s double to left, which brought the two runners home and upped the Marlins’ lead to 4-0. But Miami kept on rolling.

Jacob Stallings singled to right center, and, when Kemp made a brilliant catch of Peyton Burdick’s fly to shallow right field to end the slaughter, the fish were five up on the battered Athletics.

Battered but unbowed, Oakland loaded the bases on López in their half of the sixth on an infield single by Cal Stevenson, a double by Murphy, and a walk to Brown. But Pinder went down swinging for the third out.

Recent addition Joel Payamps made his Oakland debut in the top of the seventh and gave up a two out double to Rojas but emerged unscathed when he got Anderson to pop out to Vogt at first. He also pitched a scoreless eighth, allowing a two out single to Encarnación.

Tommy Nance replaced López at the start of the home seventh and retired the side in order. He also pitched a scoreless eighth.

Kirby Snead performed the formality of pitching a perfect top of the ninth before Cole Sulser left the Miami bullpen to try to put the A’s away for the night. He gave up a leadoff double to right by Murphy.

After Brown flew out to left, Pinder’s single to right moved Murphy to third. Vogt then sent grounder past second sacker Williams into center that plated Murphy, moved Pinder to third, and ended Sulser’s brief mound tenure. In came southpaw Tanner Scott, so Jonah Bride pinch hit for the left handed hitting Machín. Scott retired Bride on a grounder to short, earning his 19th save.

Tomorrow afternoon at 12:37, ex-Athletic Jesús Luzardo (3-5,3.44) will start for the fish against his old teammates. Cole Irvin (6-11,3.33) will be on the mound for the A’s.