Month: August 2022

Seattle Mariners’ Adam Frazier, right, steals second base against Oakland Athletics shortstop Nick Allen during the second inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Sat Aug 20, 2022 (AP News photo)

Seattle (66-55). 3. 7. 1

Oakland (44-77). 4. 8. 0. 10 innings

Saturday, August 20, 2022

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–The Oakland Athletics always find a new way to surprise you. After publishing their starting lineup the team announced a change. Skye Bolt had injured his knee and had to be scratched.

This had a domino effect that included moving Chad Pinder from left to Bolt’s spot in right, shifting Kemp from second base to left, and inserting Jonah Bride as the second baseman This called for some juggling of the batting order, with third baseman Vimael Machín moving up from the seventh to the sixth spot and Bride filling the resultant void.

Before the game, the A’s announced the acquisition on waivers of right handed reliever Joel Payamps from the Kansas City Royals, replacing Oakland’s lone representative on this year’s AL All Star game, Paul. Blackburn, whom they placed on the 60 day IL.

If the team hoped to surprise its followers with a win, following last night’s 10-2 humiliation at the hands of the Seattle Mariners, they sure as hell succeeded. They pulled off a come from behind 4-3 victory. The baseball sure takes funny bounces. Just ask Mariner first baseman Ty France.

James Kaprielian, the A’s starting pitcher, began the day’s work with a record of 3-7, 4.33. He hadn’t gone deeper than six innings in any of his 16 starts this year. In one of those six frame stints, he beat the Mariners, holding them to one run, which was earned, in a 3-1 Oakland win at T Mobile Park on July 1.

That was his only time he had faced the M’s this season. He threw five innings against them today, leaving the game with the A’s trailing 2-0. Both of those runs were earned; they came on three hits and four walks. Kaprielian struck out three, and 47 of his 78 offerings were counted as strikes. He got a no decision, ending his day with a record of 3-7, 4.29.

Kaprielian’s opposite number was Logan Gilbert, making his second appearance of 2022 against the A’s. He had beaten them the day before Kaprielian’s win in Seattle, but hadn’t exceeded the limits of mediocrity with four earned runs yielded on eight hits over six frames.

Gilbert’s season record entering today’s contest was 10-5, 3.51, too, was on the mound for five innings and allowed two earned runs. But he also surrendered an unearned one for a total of three. He yielded six hits without granting a free pass, and he notched four Ks. He threw 66 pitches; 20 were balls. Like Kaprielian, he wasn’t involved in the decision, leaving him 10-5 but raising his ERA a smidgen to 3.52 for the year.

Seattle avoided The Curse of the Leadoff Double when Julio Rodríguez led off with a towering triple that bounced off the wall in right center field. Ty Franco promptly drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left center.

The M’s hit another three bagger in their half of the fourth. With a man down, Eugenio Suárez lifted a high fly to deep right field, in front of the Budweiser Terrace. Pinder jumped for the ball at the fence, and the ball landed on the dirt to his right.

It had been clear all game that the fielders were having trouble with the bright sunlight, and this meteorological phenomenon cost the A’s a run when Adam Frazier sent Kent sprawling on the left field warning track dirt to catch his sacrifice fly. It now was 2-0 in favor of the visitors.

Murphy’s leadoff line drive in the bottom of that inning provided a scary moment. It banged off Gilbert’s leg, visibly shaking him up and, incidentally, went for a single. But Seattle’s starter shook off the pain and made a neat play on Voght’s comebacker that followed Murphy’s hit, converting it into a 1-5-3 double play, with third sacker Suárez taking the throw at second.

It was in the fifth that Oakland erupted. Machín led off with a grounder to second that Frazier couldn’t handle. Bride followed that with a single to left center. Allen then hit a fly to right that Jake Lamb lost in the sun.

That went as a single, unlike Frazier’s misplay, which was scored as an error. (Both scoring decisions were correct). Stevenson advanced the two runners with a sacrifice bunt to third, and Kemp’s single to center brought both of them home with the A’s second and third runs. They now were in front of Seattle, 3-2.

AJ Puk pitched a scoreless top of the sixth in relief of Kaprielian. Matthew Festa did as much for the M’s in the bottom of the frame.

Domingo Acevedo took over mound duties for the green and gold in the top of the seventh and, with a little help from a pitcher’s best friend, emerged unscathed.

Erik Swanson replaced Festa following “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and also kept Oakland off the board.

Zach Jackson had to face the heart of the Mariners’ order when he entered the fray in the visitors’ eighth. Cleanup hitter Mitch Haniger touched him for a one out single to center, and one out later, Oakland nemesis Eugenio Suárez drove him in with a game tying single to left.

Paul Sewald was on the hump to face the Athletics in their half of the frame. He walked Sheldon Neuse, pinch hitting for Vogt, and then retired Pinder on a pop up that second sacker caught while dashing into right field.

Machín took a called third strike before Bride sent Dylan Moore, who had entered the game as a pinch hitter in the seventh, almost to the right field warning track to haul in his high and deep fly for the final out.

It fell to Dany Jiménez to attempt to preserve the tie through the top of the ninth. Raleigh went down swinging for the first out. Carlos Santana pinch hit for Moore. He lined a scorcher up the middle, but Allen, who was perfectly positioned in the shift, fielded the ball cleanly and shot it to first for the second out.

His diving backhand attempt to catch Rodrígiuez’s drive into left, however, wasn’t successful, and Ty France, batting .288 with 14 homers came to the plate with the potential leading run on first. Rodríguez swiped second, and potential tie breaker now was in scoring position. With the count a 2-1, France hit a hard line drive to left that Kemp corralled to end the threat.

Now it was the turn of Seattle’s Andrés Muñoz to pitch a pressure packed episode. He began by whiffing Allen on a 3-2 slider. Stevenson, who had gone two for two, also went down swinging. It now was Muñoz versus Kemp, mano a mano. Muñoz won, striking out the veteran on three pitches.

We went into extra innings with Jiménez. still on the hill for Oakland and France on second as the zombie runner. Winker lined out to first, bringing up Haniger. He hit a grounder to short. France unwisely tried to advance. Allen threw him out at third. The shift once more proved to be the right move for the A’s when Crawford hit a sharp line drive to Bride, stationed in shallow center field.

Diego Castillo came on for the bottom of the tenth and immediately granted an intentional walk to Brown with Kemp on second as the mandated runner. Murphy walked to load the bases. Then Neuse sent a little nubber to the right of the pitcher’s mound. France couldn’t handle it. The play went into the books as a fielder’s choice, and the Athletics had pulled off an improbable victory.

The rubber game of this series will start tomorrow at 1:07. Oakland’s JP Sears (4-0, 1.95) will go against Seattle’s Luis Castillo (1-0, 2.18). Who knows what surprises are in store for us?

Eugenio Suarez of the Seattle Mariners hits one of his two home runs against the Oakland A’s at the Coliseum this one coming in the top of the sixth on Fri Aug 19, 2022 (AP News photo)

Seattle (66-54). 10 13. 1

Oakland (43-77). 2. 6. 2

Friday, August 19, 2022

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–On his return from the Soviet Union in 1919, San Francisco born muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens proclaimed, “I have seen the future, and it works.”

The Oakland A’s returned last night from Texas, where we saw a glimpse of their future. Newcomers David MacKinnon and Shea Langeliers made their Athletics debut in Arlington during the team’s recent series against the Rangers, in which each team won two games.

MacKinnon, who had hit .189 in 37 at bats with the Angels, went 0 for 5 in his two games for Oakland, while Langeliers went 3 for 12 in his three with the Athletics.

26 rookies have played for the Athletics so far this season; with the addition of right handed pitcher Norge Ruíz, promoted today from Las Vegas, there currently are 15 of them on the roster. Three days ago, the A’s had four first year players in their batting order plus one, JP Sears, on the mound as the starter.

We know that Steffens was wrong about the Soviet Union, but at least he knew where the future he prophesied would occur.

We don’t even know where the newly incorporated members of Oakland’s active roster will play if and when they reach their peak years. How will they work out? We shall see what we shall see, although we might have to travel to Las Vegas to do that.

There were six rookies in the A’s starting lineup for tonight’s overwhelming 10-2 win by Seattle. They were, in addition to MacKinnon and Langeliers, Nick Allen, Jonah Bride, Skye Bolt, and Sheldon Neuse, who just sneaked in under MLB’s definition of “rookie,” 130 or less at bats in a previous season or seasons.

Tonight, Allen went 1 for 4 and had trouble with his baserunning and fielding. Bride went 1 for 3 and scored a run. Langeliers was held hitless in three ABs but drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Both Neuse and MacKinnon went 0 for two, and the latter made some pretty nifty plays at first.

A’s starting pitcher was Cole Irvin, in his first appearance against the Mariners this season. Last year, he went 0-5, 8.69 against them. He began the day at 6-10, 3.13 for 2022 but 0-3, 3.60 for August. Tonight Irvin left after six innings, in which he gave up six runs, five of them earned, on six hits, two of them homers, and two walks. He took the loss and now stands at 6-11, 3.33.

Irvin’s mound opponent was Marco González, the 30 year old one time first round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals. He brought a lifetime mark 58-45, 4.08 and a season’s record of 7-12, 4.18, with him to the mound.

This was his fourth start of the year against Oakland. In the three that preceded it, he went 2-1, 4.42. His best performance in that trio of games came on June 21, when he went seven innings at the Coliseum, allowing two runs, both earned, on seven hits, on way to an 8-2 win over the home team. González lasted six innings tonight.

He held the A’s to a pair of runs, one of which was earned, on a half a dozen hits and two walks. He struck out seven on his way to eighth victory against 12 defeats and an ERA of 4.08.

Seattle jumped to an early lead in their first turn at bat. Julio Rodríguez led off by dropping a Texas League single to right. Ty France sent him to third with a solid single, also to right. With the infield conceding the run by playing at double play depth, the A’s pulled off a 4-6-3 twin killing that emptied the bases before Irvin got Mitch Haniger to. fly out to Bolt in left center to end the inning.

Oakland took advantage of Seattle’s mistakes to come back in their half of the first. With one out, González plunked Bride with an 85 mph cutter. A walk to Sean Murphy put men on first and second.

Chad Pinder followed with an RBI single that plated Bride and sent Murphy to second. Both Murphy and Pinder moved up a base on left fielder Sam Haggerty’s errant throw home. That paved the way for Langleliers sacrifice fly to center, the third RBI in his short major league career, and put the Athletics on top, 2-1.

That lead lasted until the top of the fourth. With one down, Haniger pulled a single to left. Then Eugenio Suárez hammered a hanging curve 307 feet to left for his 21st home run of 2022 and 3-2 Mariner lead.

The green and gold almost tied it up in the home fifth. Alllen sent a two out double down the first line. It looked like he got a late start running, as if he thought the ball was foul, but he made it safely to second, and it wasn’t a close call.

When Bride drove a sharp single to left, Allen seemed a cinch to score. But Haggerty atoned for his first inning error to snab the Oakland shortstop with a perfect throw to the plate for the third out of the frame.

Allen’s troubles carried over into the top of the sixth. Up to then, he had fielded his position with grace and distinction. But he had trouble with the transfer after fielding Haniger’s one out grounder with Winker on first.

Allen recovered the ball, but his throw arrived late at first. The A’s challenged the call, but the verdict from New York was “the call stands.” It was a bad time for Allen’s lapse to have occurred; Suárez smacked his second round tripper of the night, this one 416 feet to center field, to stretch the Mariners’ lead to 6-2.

By the time Irvin got Frazier to pop out to second to end the frame, he already had thrown 92 pitches. He didn’t come out for the seventh, being replaced by the newest A of them all, Norge Ruíz.

González also made an early exit. He allowed singles to Murphy and Pinder and a walk to Brown to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the frame.

Righty Matt Brash relieved him, a move that the A’s countered by sending Vimael Machín to the plate to pinch hit for Neuse. After he struck out, Tony Kemp batted for MacKinnon. He grounded out to short for a force out of Brown at second.

Ruíz, like Irvin, suffered from a faulty defense. After Haggerty beat out a bunt to open the visitors´seventh, Rodríguez sent Brown to the warning track with a towering fly, which he dropped. Ty France and Jesse Winker followed with sacrifice flies that scored Haggerty and Rodríguez.

Neither run was earned, but Seattle now led 8-2. Diego Castillo hurled the seventh for the M’s, striking out Bolt and Allen in the process.

Seattle continued beating up on Ruíz in the eighth. JP Crawford started it by beating the shift, going to the opposite field for a single to left. Cal Raleigh sent a seeing eye single up the middle to move him to second, and Jake Lamb hit another seeing eye single, this one to left that brought in the ninth Mariner tally.

Ty France sent a bouncer that just eluded Allen’s glove to go into left for a single that scored Fraziere and put Lamb on third. That was it for the 28 year old right handed Cuban rookie. Southpaw Sam Moll replaced and induced a foul out to left from Jesse Winker. It now was 10-2, Seattle.

Penn Murfee was given the none too arduous task of holding onto this lead in the home eighth. He did it in 1-2-3 fashion. Chris Flexen was given the ceremonial task of keeping the A’s in check for the final three outs. It took him all of nine pitches.

The A’s and M’s will go at it again tomorrow afternoon at 4:15. James Kaprielian (3-7, 4.33) will pitch for the hosts and Logan Gilbert (10-5, 3.51) for their guests.