Oakland A’s pitcher Osvaldo Bido delivers against the Toronto Blue Jays in the bottom of the first inning at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Sat Aug 19, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

Saturday the Oakland A’s (49-69) were looking to get the offense warmed up and tie up the series and Brent Rooker ended up providing all the offense the A’s would need with his 29th home run of the season as the A’s defeated the Toronto Blue Jays (54-63) 1-0 . Osvaldo Bido took the mound for the A’s and Yariel Rodriguez started for the Blue Jays.

It was a three up three down for Rodriguez and Bido handled the Blue Jays in the first inning allowing a single hit from the ever dependable Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Other than the single, he dismissed the first, second and fourth at bats going into the second inning. It was good start for Bido.

There was a little bit of traffic in the second for Toronto. Ernie Clement reached first base on an infield single but that would be it for the Blue Jays. Bido had another good inning. Oakland would have to muster a whole lot more offense going into the third inning. The A’s productivity had wavered in their past few games and they were looking to turn it around as this game progressed.

Oakland’s leadoff hitter Max Schuemann walked in the third inning with Lawrence Butler at the plate. Butler grounded into a double play followed by a Miguel Andujar ground out and that would be all for the Athletics. They were struggling through the first three innings which put a lot of pressure on Bido who through three innings had handled the Blue Jays offense beautifully.

After four innings both pitchers had done a spectacular job. Oakland had been held to three hits and the Jays had been held to two. This had turned into a pitchers duel and now the question remained; who would crack first.

After a review in the top of the sixth inning it was determined that with two outs, Brent Rooker had indeed hit the ball out of the field of play. The ball hit the top of the wall and bounced back on the field.

Rooker had hit a home run, his 29th of the season, giving Oakland the first run of the day and the lead 1-0. That would be it for Rodriguez who finished 5 2/3 innings allowing five hits and one earned run.

Ryan Burr came in relief of Rodriguez finishing off the inning for Toronto. Bido continued his great work in the bottom of the sixth inning with a three up three down going into the seventh inning of this one run game.

Bido finished six innings of work with two hits, no runs, one walk and five strikeouts. He was relieved in the seventh inning by Scott Alexander.

Alexander finished off the seventh inning with a strikeout and now Oakland would be looking for an insurance run or two in the eighth inning. When they needed it most, the Oakland offense fell flat.

The A’s had two runners on base in the top of the ninth inning but Abraham Toro hit into a double play. Oakland would bring in Mason Miller to try and finish off this game and tie up this series.

It was “Miller Time”. George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Spencer Horwitz all suffered the same fate at the hands of Miller. Everyone of them struck out and that was the ball game 1-0 in favor of the Athletics.

Game notes: Friday the A’s dropped game one to the Blue Jays by the score of 3-1. Oakland had six hits in the game but game one was not a great one for the A’s offensively. They had the one home run from Darell Hernaiz but it was a lackluster showing for the most part. The A’s were competitive through the seventh inning but in the eighth inning Toronto scored their third run of the game which sealed the win for the Blue Jays.

Sunday, the A’s will play in the rubber game of this series. JP Sears will take the mound with a winning 9-8 win/loss record and a 4.35 ERA. A familiar name, Chris Bassitt will start for the Blue Jays. He has a 9-10 win/loss record and a solid 3.95 ERA. First pitch for this game is scheduled for 10:37 AM.