Month: May 2023

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher James Kaprielian, right, walks back to the mound as Atlanta Braves’ Ozzie Albies, left, rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the fifth inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Wed May 31, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–The Atlanta Braves beat the A’s 4-2 on a cool Wednesday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum. The A’s had won the first two games of the three-game series. A’s manager Mark Kotsay hoped his team could find a way to beat the Braves and record their first three-game winning streak of the season.

That did not happen. The A’s starter James Kaprielian pitched well for the first four innings on Wednesday. Kaprielian was seeking his first win of the 2023 campaign. The Braves put together a three-run rally in the fifth to end Kaprielian’s hope for a win. The game summary follows below.

A’s starter James Kaprielian pitched extremely well for the game’s first four and 1/3rd innings. Things went south very quickly. With one out, Eddie Rosario singled. It was just the second hit Kaprilian had allowed.

The Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies blasted his 11th home run of the season to put the Braves ahead 2-0. Shortstop Orlando Arcia singled. Kap[rielian struck out Michael Harris for the second out. Ronald Acuna doubled to left center. The ball bounced on one hop over the wall.

Arcia would have scored had the ball not been ruled a ground-rule double. The A’s intentionally walked former A’s slugger Matt Olson to load the bases. Kaprielian hit Ustin Riley with a pitch to force in Arcia with the Braves’ third run. A’s manager brought in lefty Richard Lovelady to pitch. Lovelady retired Travis D’Arnaud for the third out.

The A’s rallied to put two on the board in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Brent Rooker doubled. Braves’ starter Jared Shuster walked Ryan Noda to put two men on with one out. The A’s right-fielder Ramon Laureano singled to plate Rooker with the A’s third run.

Noda went to third on the play. A’s manager Mark Kotsay had Noda running on the next pitch. It was a smart move, as the Braves shortstop had one play. He had to get the runner at first. Noda scored on the play. The Braves lead 3-2 after six complete.

With lefty Ken Waldichuk on the hill for the A’s in the seventh, the Braves put together a single, walk, and another single to make it a 4-2 game. The Q’s failed to score in the seventh, eighth, or ninth innings. The Braves win 4-2.

Game Notes: With the loss, the A’s record falls to 12-46. The Braves improved to 33-23.

The A’s line was two runs, three hits, and no errors. Atlanta’s line was four runs, seven hits, and one error. 

The winning pitcher was Jared Shuster. Shuster improved to 2-2 for the year. Kapielian took the loss, and he is 0-6.

There was just one home run in Wednesday’s game. The Braves Ozzie Albies homered for the 11th time this year.  

The A’s are off on Thursday. They are headed east to play three games with the Miami Marlins, three with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and three with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Lefty Logan Harris (0-0 ERA 10.13) will pitch for Oakland Friday night against the Marlins. The Marlins will counter with righty Edward Cabrera (3-4 ERA 5.02).

The time of the game was very fast, 2:14. 6429 fans were on hand to watch the A’s lose their 46th game.

Oakland Athletics’ Nick Allen, left, douses Jonah Bride with iced water after the team’s 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves in a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, May 30, 2023. (AP News photo)

Atlanta (32-23).  001 000 000 –  1.  4. 1

Oakland (12-45)  000 010 001. – 2.  5. 0

Time: 2:19    

Attendance: 5,116

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–On this day in 1899, the Cleveland Spiders split a Memorial Day doubleheader with the Boston Beaneaters, losing the first game, 7-3, but winning the nightcap by the score of 6-3. In the process they raised their season’s record to 8-25, .242. The combined attendance for the two games played in The Hub was 8,500.

On this day in 1962, the New York Mets lost both ends of a double header at home in the Polo Grounds to the by then Los Angeles Dodgers, 13-6 and 6-5. Sandy Koufax was the winning pitcher in the first game. The twin setbacks dropped the Mets’ record to 12-29, .293.

Tuesday, the still Oakland Athletics, having snapped their 11 game losing streak, won their second straight game in a thrilling come from behind walk off error committed by Braves third baseman Austin Raley who couldn’t handle the line drive off the bat of A’s hitter Seth Brown 2-1. For Oakland’s win over the NL East leading Atlanta Braves.

Before the game began, the A’s announced that they had reinstated Paul Blackburn from the 15 day IL. He hasn’t thrown a pitch in the major leagues since last August 4th and has gone 0-0, 7.50 in a half a dozen rehab starts for Stockton in the low class A California League and the AAA Las Vegas Aviators so far this year. They also recalled  infielder Jonah Bride from the Aviators. Remember that name.

Oakland also optioned Garrett Acton, whjo had been getting pretty lit up in relief for the parent team to their Vegas farm club and DFA’d veteran Jesús Aguilar.

Oakland’s starting pitcher, JP Sears brought an ugly 0-3, 4.70 season’s record to the mound, but those figures are somewhat misleading. He was 0-3, 5.97 on the road but 0-0, 2.86 at home. He pitched very well tonight, going six full innings before he was lifted for Austin Pruitt to start the seventh.

Sears held the Braves to four hits, including a home run that resulted in the only run scored against him; it was earned. He threw 90 pitches, 50 for strikes. He got a no decision but lowered his ERA to 4.37

Bryce Elder, Atlanta’s right handed pitcher was making his 11th start of the year and first ever against the green and gold. He came with a National League leading ERA of 2.01 and a 3-0 won-lost record.

He performed brilliantly tonight, going 7-1/3 innings and giving up  only five hits. He left having yielded one run, which was earned. He, like Sears, got a no decision. He threw 95 pitches, 63 for strikes and brought his already low ERA down to 1.92.

The Braves drew first blood, with Kevin Pillar taking Sears deep to lead off the third. His homer to left just eluded the glove of a leaping JJ  Bleday.

The Athletics drew even in the home fifth. Shea Langeliers smacked a strong single to left and made it around to third on Nick Allen’s single to center. Esteury Ruíz sent the A’s catcher home with another single, this one to center. Then Noda grounded into an inning ending 4-6-3 double play.

Pruitt retired the five batters he faced in the seventh and eighth before yielding to Sam Moll face Michael Harris II, Atlanta’s number nine batter and,  Moll, left handed. The tactic worked; Harris fanned, and we went to the bottom of the eighth with the score tied at one all.

Elder got Allen out on a pop up, but he walked Ruíz and was removed in favor of AJ Minter, the only southpaw in the Atlanta bullpen. He picked Ruíz off, a play that Oakland appealed but New York upheld.

Moll retired Ronald Acuña, Jr. and Matt Olson in the top of the seventh and then passed the ball to Shintaro Fujinami, who’s been reshaping  himself as a reliever. He got Austin Riley to foul out to Langeliers.

Atlanta turned to Raisel Iglesias to stave off the A’s in the bottom of the ninth. He walked Brown. Jace Peterson pinch hit for Díaz and went down swinging.  

Laureano walked on four pitches. Bleday walked to load the bases, bringing Bride, who had been 0 for 3, to the plate.  He hit a sharp grounder to third. Riley bobbled the ball and threw home … too late, and the A’s pulled off their second upset in a row.

Fujinami was the winning pitcher, improving his record to 2-5, 12.00.

The A’s will go for the – dare I say it? – a sweep tomorrow, Wednesday, afternoon at 12:37. James Kaprielian (0-5,8.45) is scheduled to go against Atlanta’s Jared Shuster (1-2, 5.33).

Oakland Athletics’ Ryan Noda watches his three-run home run against the Atlanta Braves during the fifth inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Mon May 29, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Troy Ewers

OAKLAND–In front of a majority Atlanta Braves crowd at the Oakland Coliseum, it was the Oakland A’s against the Atlanta Braves. The A’s snapped an 11 game losing streak with a five run 7-2 win.

The starters on the hill were making their 2023 season debuts, 2022 A.L. All Star Paul Blackburn for Oakland and Michael Soroka (hasn’t pitched in MLB since 2020) for Atlanta and in the first inning it didn’t take long for the Braves to get on the board.

Matt Olson, who got on base from a walk, was batted in from a Sean Murphy single. Blackburn got out the inning with just the one run and runners at the corners with back to back strikeouts. Soroka’s first inning was a quick three up three down and even received a standing ovation from the overwhelming amount of Atlanta fans in the Oakland Coliseum.

The duel between both pitchers made for a scoreless second, third, and fourth inning. Blackburn had six K’s by this point and Soroka had three K’s, both of these guys would leave the game with that number of strikeouts.

In the fifth inning for the A’s, they made a pitching change and brought in Lucas Erceg and he delivered a quick three out inning. In the bottom of the fifth, the A’s got on Soroka quickly.

Langeliers was hit by a pitch, Peterson got on base by fielder’s choice, Bride would get a single and advance Peterson. Esteury Ruiz’s double that was later called an E7, scored Peterson. Ryan Noda had the moment of the game with a three run bomb that scored Ruiz and Bride, 4-1 A’s.

The next two innings was a pitching duel, where both teams would go down quickly, but by the eighth inning we were right back to the scoring. Matt Olson hit a solo home run, but that would be the end for the Braves.

Oakland would score another three runs in a rally from Laureano, Langeliers, and Peterson, making the final score 7-2. Lucas Erceg would get the winning decision for the A’s and Michael Soroka would get the loss. Next game tomorrow will have JP Spears (0-3, 4.70) for the Oakland A’s and Bryce Elder (3-0, 2.01) for the Braves first pitch at the Coliseum 6:40pm PT.