Cleveland Guardians’ Steven Kwan watches his RBI single during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum on Wed Apr 5, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND– The Oakland A’s (5-2) and the Cleveland Guardians (2-4) met in a matinee Wednesday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum. The teams had split the first two games played. The Guardians won Monday night 12-11 in the innings, and the A’s won a walk-off Tuesday night, 4-3.

The A’s offense was in snooze land for the game’s first seven innings. Oakland’s hitter managed just one single off the Guardians’ starter, Hunter Gaddis. Cleveland scored two runs in the sixth and two in the seventh. The A’s found a way to tie the game in the eighth.

A Ryan Noda solo homer and a three-run jack off the bat of Jesus Aguilar tied the game. The A’s had a chance to win the game. Alas, things went south in the tenth as Cleveland scored twice, and the A’s failed to counter. Cleveland downs the A’s 6-4.

The Guardians drew first blood in the top of the sixth. A’s starter Kyle Muller held Cleveland scoreless for the first five innings. Muller recorded the first two outs in the sixth. Muller then hit Cleveland’s third baseman Gabriel Arias with a pitch. Myles Straw singled. There were two men on with two out. Guardians’ catcher Cam Gallagher doubled to drive in both runners. Cleveland leads 2-0. 

levllThe Guardians added two more runs in the seventh to go ahead 4-0. The A’s offense for the first seven innings was one hit. Things changed in the eighth. A’s first baseman Ryan Noda led off the eighth with his first Major League home run to make it 4-1.

The Guardians’ reliever Tim Herrin walked Tony Kemp and Aledmys Diaz. The next hitter, Jesus Aguilar, hit his first home run as an Oakland Athletic to tie the game at 4-4. Neither team scored in the ninth.

Cleveland scored two runs in the top of the tenth. With men on at first and second, A’s reliever Zach Jackson uncorked a wild pitch. Both runners advanced a base. Will Brennan grounded out, and ghost runner Andres Gimenez scored on the play. Steven Kwan singled to drive in Myles Straw with the sixth run of the game for Cleveland. Emmanuel Clase held the A’s scoreless to preserve the win for the Guardians.

Game Notes: With the loss, the A’s are 2-4. The Guardians improved to 5-2. 

A’s starter Kyle Murray went five and 2/3rd innings and allowed two runs and four hits. He struck out five and walked three, one intentionally. He threw 95 pitches; 62 were strikes. Adrian Martinez, Dominic Acevedo, Jeurys Familia, and Zach Jackson pitched in relief. Jackson took the loss.

The Guardians also used five pitchers. Hunter Gaddis went six innings and allowed one hit. Reliever Eli Morgan, the fourth pitcher of the day, was the winning pitcher. Emmanuel Clase earned his second save of the year.

The time of the game was two hours and 58 minutes. 4930 people watched the A’s lose their fourth game of the young season

The A’s are going to Tampa Bay to play the Rays for three games starting Friday night. Lefty Ken Waldichuk will go for Oakland while the Rays will counter with righty Zach Elfin. The game will start at 3:40 pm.