Month: September 2022

James Kaprielian deals as the Oakland A’s starter allowing two hits in seven innings against the Seattle Mariners at the Oakland Coliseum on Wed Sep 21, 2022 (@Athletics photo)

Seattle (81-67). 1. 4. 1

Oakland (55-94). 2. 6. 0

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–At game time, your (for the time being) Oakland Athletics had played 148 games this season. They needed to win nine of the 14 remaining contests to avoid losing 100 for the year. There is just a hint of a glimmer of hope that they might achieve this.

They’d gone 5-12 in September in spite of their wonderful victory over the apparently playoff bound Seattle Mariners last night.

The A’s managed to increase their slim chances of avoiding the infamy of triple digit loss column when they won a thriller, 2-1.

They sent right hander James Kaprielian to the mound with a record of 3-9, 4.70. Hidden in those doleful digits is his disappointing, to say the least, numbers for his last six starts, 0-4, 5.76 and an opponents’ batting average of .283, higher than the BA of any of the Athletics’ hitters with more than a handful of at bats.

After throwing the first pitch of the night at 6:42, Kaprielian showed that the past isn’t always a reliable indicator of future performance. After yielding a two out single to Haniger in the first and a base on balls to Cal Raleigh in the second, Oakland’s starter didn’t allow a Mariner to reach base safely until there were two away in the top of the sixth when Julio Rodríguez touched him for a clean single to center.

Kaprielian ended up hurling seven frames of two hit ball, striking out six and walking one. 62 of his 93 pitches were considered strikes. He earned the win and improved his numbers to 4-9, 4.43.

Toeing the rubber for the M’s was veteran southpaw Robbie Ray. The 30 year old portsilder came to work at 12-10, 3.72, which is consistent with his lifetime mark of 74-68, 3.96. Against the A’s, he was 1-1, 2.41 for ’22 and 2-1, 2.30 for his career.

Although Ray experienced some trouble with his control in the opening frame, he stymied the A’s offense for xx innings, allowing only three hits and an equal number of walks before being relieved by Erik Swanson . Ray threw 101 pitches, 63 of them qualifying as strikes. The game was a scoreless tie when he exited, so the M’s starter’s won-lost record remained 12-10, but his ERA dropped to. 3.60.

The two teams traded goose eggs for six and a half episodes. In the bottom of the seventh, Erik Swanson took over on the mound for the M’s and walked leadoff hitter Jordán Díaz. Vimael Machín pinch hit for Sheldon Neuse and whalloped a double to left that sent Díaz to third.

When the ball got away from Winker, Díaz scored on the error. Cristián Pache then singled to right, sending Machín to third and Swanson to the showers. His replacement, Andrés Múñoz fanned Allen but surrendered an RBI single to Kemp before retiring the side with the A’s ahead 2-0.

AJ Puk pitched the top of the eighth in relief of Kaprielian. Kemp, who had moved from left field to second base, made a tremendous catch in shallow right to capture pinch hitter Sam Haggerty pop fly for the second out of the inning, but Chad Pinder’s leap at the right field fence wasn’t enough to prevent Luis Torres’s pinch hit homer from going into the stands and close the gap between the teams to 2-1.

Diego Castillo put Oakland down to a conga beat in the eighth, and Domingo Acevedo came on for the A’s in the ninth to try to nail down what had become a reprise of last night’s cliff hanger.

Julio Rodríguez led off with a bouncer to the mound that got past Acevedo and died before Kemp could field it. That infield single was wiped out by the tailor made 6-4-3 double play that Acevedo induced from Ty France.

The count on Mitch Haniger went to 3–2 before Acevedo struck him out to give the Athletics their second straight win and keep alive their hopes for 99 or less loss season.

Swanson was charged with the loss, making his balance sheet for the season 2-1, 1.49. Acevedo earned his fourth save in seven opportunities and lowered his earned run average to 3:34.

Tomorrow afternoon at 12:37 the Mexicalense Adrián Martínez (4-5, 5.77) will try to complete the trifecta. His opponent will be George Kirby (7-4, 2.98).

Oakland A’s Tony Kemp (5) gives first base coach Eric Martins (3) a fist bump. Kemp in the bottom of the fifth inning connected for a three run home run that helped Oakland take the lead for good at the Oakland Coliseum on Tue Sep 20, 2022 (@Athletics photo)

Seattle (81-66).      1.  1.  1

Oakland (54-94).   4. 7.  2

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND-Tonight’s game at the Coliseum was an important one . . .

for the visiting Seattle Mariners. They woke up this morning occupying the last American League wild card spot with a record of 81-65, a half a game behind the Tampa Bay Rays (none in the lost column) and five games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles.

Tampa Bay was shut out by Western Division champion Houston tonight, and the O’s fell to the Tigers, so, after the Mariners had fallen to the Athletics, 4-1 in an improbable joint one hitter, the visitors from the Puget Sound still  trailed the Rays by a half a game and led the Orioles by five.

Before the game, Oakland announced that the team had promoted Conner Capel from the AAA Aviators and optioned Cody Thomas to them. Both players are outfielders, and the A’s had claimed Capel off waivers from the Cardinals on September 9. He was in tonight’s starting lineup, batting seventh and playing in right field.

In onfield  pregame activity, veteran utility man Tony Kemp received the Roberto Clemente Award for being the big leaguer who “best exemplifies […] baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team.” 

JP Sears, Oakland’s starting pitcher tonight, looked good when he was with the Yankees and was impressive in his first three starts  for the A’s. The numbers tell a story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Sears was 3-0, 2.05 with the Bronx Bombers; he went into tonight’s game at 0-2, 5.13 for green and gold. In his last start, the southpaw gave up five runs, all of them earned, on seven hits, in four innings.

He threw 80 pitches in that no decision  against the Rangers in Arlington. He had trouble early in the game, due to a bad bounce and an error behind him, and gave up an unearned run in the second. That was the only run he allowed in his five inning stint on the mound. 

The single that resulted from that bad bounce was the only hit Sears allowed.  His pitch count was 86, of which 53 counted as strikes. He was tonight’s winning pitcher and now has a won-lost mark of 5-3 while his ERA fell to 3.58.

Seattle also sent a two-team hurler to the mound. Luis Castillo was 4-4, 2.86 with the Cincinnati Reds. Since coming to the Mariners, he was 3-1, 2.37 before tonight for an overall record of 7-5, 2.68. The 29 year old righty lasted 4- 2/3  innings tonight.

He started off strong but ran up against a wall with two away in the fifth. He allowed four runs on six hits, one of them for the distance, and two walks, striking out four. He threw 85 pitches, 33 of them in his unfinished fifth frame. He was charged with the loss and returned to his hotel with a record of 7-6, 2.85.

Seattle jumped ahead in the top of the second. Carlos Santana led off, sending a grounder to third that took a bad hop, causing Vimael Machín to back up and delay his throw to first, which arrived late and drew Dermís García off the bag.

The play was scored, correctly, as an infield hit. JP Crawford followed with a ground ball to second, tailor made for twin killing. But Jordán Díaz, who had been called up from Las Vegas and made his big league debut on Sunday, let it get past him for  an error that put runners on the corners with nobody out. Sears bore down and struck out Dylan Moore and Abraham Toro.

But he walked Curt Casali and Sam Hagerty to force in an unearned run before Julio Rodríguez sent Seth Brown to just in front of the warning track in center to haul down his fly ball for the third out. It was Sears’ 37th pitch of the inning and 51st of the game. (Díaz atoned for his error by making a lightning grab of Santana’s scorching line drive to end Seattle’s scoreless top of the third.

Castillo was impregnable for 4-2/3 innings until Clemente Award winning Kemp breached his defenses with a three run homer to left that brought in Díaz, who had reached base on a force out, and Nick Allen, the recipient of Castillo’s first base on balls.

Machín and Murphy followed that 371 foot blast with back to back doubles to left, and, just like that, Oakland was on top, 4-0. After walking Seth Brown, Castillo was taken out in favor of Matt Brash, who fanned Shea Langeliers, the only batter he faced,  to end the inning. It was Matt Festa who pitched the Oakland sixth and kept them off the board.

Sears was through after five innings. Joel Payamps retired the M’s in the sixth, allowing only one of them to reach base, and that on an error by Díaz, who made a brilliant play on a grounder by Haniger but drew García off first with his throw.  AJ Puk pitched a perfect  seventh.

Chris Flexen mounted the Mariners’ mound merry-go-round in the seventh, and Tyler Cyr replaced Puk in the top of the eighth. He had control problems, walking Jesse Winker, who pinch hit for Haggerty and Ty France on five. But, in between those free passes, the pitchers’ best friend came to his aid, he struck out Haniger to end his scoreless inning of work.

Domingo Acevedo set the Mariners down in order to gain his third save in six opportunities. Five, count ’em five, pitchers had combined to one hit the mighty M’s.

What new surprises are in store for us tomorrow, when at 6:40 the Athletics’ James Kaprielian (3-9, 4.70) will face off against the Mariners’ Robbie Ray (12-10, 3.72)?

Oakland A’s starter JP Sears gets the call on Tue Sep 20, 2022 at the Oakland Coliseum to open the first of a three game series against the Seattle Mariners. Here is Sears pitching against the New York Yankees on Fri Aug 26, 2022 (AP News file photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–The Oakland A’s have 15 games left on the 2022 schedule. For Oakland, it has been a long and difficult year. The A’s will probably finish with their worst record since 1979 when they finished 54-108. The A’s are currently 53-94. They have lost seven of the last ten and have to play two teams that will probably make the playoffs.

The A’s last fifteen games include six with the Seattle Mariners, three with the New York Mets, and six with the Los Angeles Angels. They play the first six at home against the Mariners and Mets, then go on the road to Anaheim and Seattle. They will play the Angels in Oakland for the last three games.

Let’s take a look at the series with the Mariners. Seattle will be the third Wild Card team. They lead the Baltimore Orioles by four games in the race for that slot. The Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays are in the first and second slots.

The Mariners will be looking to get some wins over the A’s. Seattle owns an 8-5 advantage over Oakland so far. The A’s would love to play spoiler. A’s manager Mark Kotsay will make sure his team will play hard in the series.

The players want to finish the season with a good run. It will not be easy, as Seattle has good starting pitching and an excellent bullpen. Seattle, however, is scuffling. The M’s are 4-6 in their last ten games. Teams want to finish the season with momentum on their side. The Atlanta Braves got hot near the end of the 2021 season, and that momentum carried them to a World Series crown.

The pitching matchups for the three-game series will see the A’s have lefty J.P.Sears on the mound. Sears is 5-2, with a 3.90 ERA. Sears has had a few rough outings lately, but he wants to show the A’s that he will be in their plans for 2023.

Seattle will counter with righty Luis Castillo. The M’s traded for Castillo at the trade deadline. In his time with Seattle, he is 3-1 and has an ERA of 2.37. James Kaprielian goes for the A’s on Wednesday, and Seattle will send lefty Robby Ray out to pitch. On Thursday’s day game, Adrian Martinez will be on the hill for Oakland. George Kirby will handle the pitching chores for Seattle.

The Mariners have owned the A’s the last two seasons. They have a lineup with several players that can cause damage. The M’s rookie sensation Julio Rodriguez is a candidate for Rookie of the year. Rodriguez is hitting .279 with 27 home runs and 73 RBIs. Other power hitters in the M’s lineup include Mitch Haniger, Ty France, Jesse Winker, Carlos Santana, J.P. Crawford, and catcher Cal Raleigh.

The M’s have one lefty in their bullpen, Matthew Boyd. All the other relievers are right-handed. The A’s will see these players come out of the bullpen: Chris Flexen, Matt Brash, Andres Munoz, Diego Castillo, Erik Swanson, and Penn Murfee.

The Mariners cannot afford to lose. The A’s have nothing to lose. It should be a very interesting series.