Author: kahlilnajar7

By Kahlil Najar

OAKLAND – Oakland rallied in the bottom of the tenth to tie the game at two but fell short on their second rally in the eleventh and lost to the Houston Astros 5-4. Eric O’Flaherty  suffered his second loss of the year and the A’s relievers are now a MLB worse 1-5 with an era over 4. Former Athletic Luke Gregerson earned his first win of the year even though he gave up two runs in the bottom of the 10th.

Both offenses were put on hold through the first nine innings. Scott Kazmir threw seven solid innings with zero earned runs and seven strike outs and Houston’s Dallas Keuchel lasted all nine innings and struck out four.

Dan Otero opened extra innings with an Altuve fly out and Valbuena strike out. Then came George Springer to the plate. After battling for five pitches, Springer smacked his third double of the season into right field. With red hot Jed Lowrie coming up next, the A’s walked him to get to Marwin Gonzalez. Gonzalez made the A’s pay as he also hit a double into center field and scored Springer and Lowrie to make it a 2-0 Houston lead.

In the bottom of the 10th, Bob Melvin brought out three pinch hitters to try and spark some offense in the lineup. It worked like a charm as Sam Fuld and Steven Vogt both grabbed a hit and landed themselves at first and second with Josh Reddick who was subbed in for Craig Gentry. Reddick hit a line drive double into center field and scored Fuld and Vogt to tie the game at two. After an errant throw from Houston passed Houston’s catcher Hank Conger Reddick tried to score from third but was tagged out to end the inning.

“Once I see the ball get by, I figure, why not try?” Reddick said. “The ball was soaking wet rolling in the outfield grass. You’ve got to make a perfect throw to get me. I’m trying to win the ballgame. We haven’t been scoring many runs the past two games. I don’t see a problem with trying.”

In the top of the 11th Eric O’Flaherty came into the game and gave up back to back walks to Chris Carter and Colby Rasmus. Conger then laid down a sac bunt and moved both runners over. Robbie Grossman then his a shart single to left field and scored both Carter and Rasmus and made it a 4-2 game. Fernando Abad came in to releive O’Flaherty but then gave up a single to Springer and he scored Grossman to make it a 5-2 game going into the bottom of the 11th.

In the 11th, Marcus Semien hit his third homer of the year with Eric Sogard aboard to make it a 5-4 game. However with Ike Davis standing at second after a single and a wild pitch and no out, the A’s were unable to drive him home and ended the night on a deep fly ball out by Brett Lawrie to center field and put this game to bed.

“It went from a starting pitcher duel to a little bit of a slugfest later,”said head coach Bob Melvin. “You gotta look at the positives in it. We continue to fight every pitch of the game even though it looked bleak a couple times.”

On O’Flaherty’s outing Melvin said, “He’s getting pretty good movement. He’s just not harnessing it. He’s not throwing it over the plate. Just right now, the last few times have been a bit of a struggle for him.”

The A’s try to turn it around tomorrow when they send Kendall Gravemen (1-1. 6.94 ERA) up against Scott Feldman (1-2, 5.09 ERA). Game time 1:05am.

Notes: BART this weekend will shut down train service and carry passengers on buses between the Coliseum and Fruitvale stations.  The weekend work will continue from 7 p.m. Saturday through 4 a.m. Monday.  The free bus link between the two stations will run continuously, making the 2.5-mile trip between stations in 10 to12 minutes. Riders should allow an extra 30 to 60 minutes for trips, or make alternate travel plans.

By Kahlil Najar

OAKLAND- Drew Pomeranz threw seven scoreless innings and only gave up two hits to earn his first victory of the year. Abad and Alvarez helped complete the shutout and close the door on one of the A’s biggest rivals from last year.

The Oakland offense was able to have what looked like batting practice in the fourth inning and ended the night with 12 runs off of 16 hits. The Oakland 1 thru five hitters when a combined 13 for 23 with 10 hits, 11 runs and nine RBI. In the three spot was rookie standout Mark Canha who went 3 for 5 with two RBI including his first ever Major League home run.

Speaking on Canha, Head Coach Bob Melvin said, “It’s pretty unbelievable. He’s never played in the big league before. What he’s done in the first few games has been special. He’s earned his time. No doubt.”

In addition to Canha a handful of other players contributed tonight. Ike Davis went 3 for 5 with two doubles and four RBI, Sam Fuld had three hits, Ben Zorbist also had three hits and three runs and Marcus Semien had two hits and two RBI.

With all the players contributing tonight, Melvin had this to say, “That makes it a lot easier when most of the guys are doing well. We’re seeing some good things but for a team that has a team with a lot of guys that haven’t played together for a while we’re seeing some great things.”

Oakland started off strong in the bottom of the first inning when they roughed up starting Seattle pitcher Taijuan Walker for 37 pitches.

“It’s paramount (to get to the other teams bullpen early). We have the ability to do it and even if youre not getting hits youre taking pitches and try to get into their bullpen,” Melvin said on attacking the Mariners pitching staff.

After the 3 run first inning, Mark Canha hit his first home run of his major league career to deep left center field with Fuld on base to make it a 5-0 Oakland lead.

In the fourth, the A’s poured on six runs to seal the victory. Semien started off the inning with his second double of the year and after a Sogard ground out Sam Fuld singled to center field to make it a 6-0 lead. Canha then singled and Zobrist was intentionally walked to load the bases for the A’s. Billy Butler came up to the plate and hit a sharp single to Willie Bloomquist who wasn’t able to get anyone out and allowed Fuld to score to make it 7-0. Ike Davis then followed up with his first double of the year and scored two more runners to make it 9-0.

Brett Lawrie popped out to first for the second out of the inning but Steven Vogt drew an intentional walk to load the bases again for Oakland. Semien came up to the plate for the second time in the inning and smacked a single to score Butler and Davis to make it a 11-0 Oakland lead.

Oakland added another run in the bottom of the 8th when Davis hit his second double of the season and of the night to score Ladendorf who was substituted in for Zobrist and made it a final 12-0 score.

Pomeranz is now 3-0 lifetime versus Seattle with an ERA under 1. This was also the third time in his career that Pomeranz was able to go seven innings.

“It was big for him (to go seven). It’s tough to do especially since we’re going 10 in a row and that’s awfully tough to deal with. Especially when you’re trying to keep your starters under 100 (pitches). It was key that he could give us seven innings tonight.”

Oakland and Seattle head back at it tomorrow at the Coliseum when the A’s send Sonny Gray (1-0, 0.00) up against J.A. Happ (0-0). Game time 1:05 pm.

by Kahlil Najar

Coming into tonight’s game the Oakland A’s had a 9 game winning streak overall and a six game winning streak over the Giants however one misplaced pitch by starting pitcher Kendall Graveman gave the Giants an early 3-0 lead and the Giants never looked back and beat the A’s 4-0.

Even with the one bad pitch, Graveman shined bright. Entering the game, Graveman was 3-0 with a miniscule era of 0.42. All runs that came in when he was on the mound were not charged to him because of two horrible errors by the Oakland defense. Graveman ended the night with a great looking stat line as he gave up only two hits in four innings of work and struck out six. His ERA even dropped to 0.36.

The real culprit of tonight’s loss was the A’s defense.

Two routine ground balls to Marcus Semien and Eric Sogard in the first inning landed two San Francisco runners on the bases just in time for Buster Posey to hit his first home run of Spring Training into deep center field and give San Francisco a 3-0 lead. In the sixth inning, a wild pitch by Eric O’Flaherty advanced two more opposing runners and Joaquin Arias singled to score Brandon Belt to make it a 4-0 lead.

The A’s stalled offensively tonight as hitters 6 – 9 went a collective X-XX. The only sparks tonight were brought by Ike Davis who hit his third double of the year and Eric Sogard who garnered a single in the 5th inning. Sogard had a deep hit over the right field wall that was just foul in the third inning that shocked a lot of the people in attendance at AT&T Park as fans on both sides of the Bay aren’t used to seeing Sogard hit for power.

The A’s and Giant’s square off one more time tomorrow at the Coliseum before the start of the regular season. The Giants will send Tim Hudson to the mound while the A’s have scheduled Drew Pomeranz, Barry Zito or Pat Venitte to start.

Notes:

Coco Crisp underwent successful right elbow arthroscopic surgery. The surgery was performed by Dr. Jon Dickinson at Presidio Surgery Center in San Francisco. The procedure involved the removal of two loose bodies and a debridement of the elbow joint. He is currently resting comfortably at his residence.

 

By Kahlil Najar

OAKLAND – The nervousness was palpable in the stands tonight as the A’s were trying to stop their three game skid and win their first game in their last home series of the year.

The A’s scored three times in the second inning and Jon Lester (16-10) went seven innings and struck out seven to lead the A’s (84-69) to a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies (70-84).

With the win and a Kansas City loss, the A’s are now back on top of the Wild Card race in the American League.

On the win tonight, Head Coach Bob Melvin said, “We’re at the point right now where a win right now makes you feel good and another loss doesn’t. Hopefully we’re in a good mood tomorrow and score some more runs.”

The A’s crammed all three runs in the second inning on back-to-back-to-back singles by Derek Norris, Eric Sogard and Coco Crisp.

Adam Dunn started off the second by hitting the ball off of Phillies starting pitcher David Buchanan (6-8) and it careened into center field. After a Brandon Moss fly out, a Stephen Vogt walk and a Jed Lowrie strike out the A’s started their singles barrage. The three singles brought in Dunn, Vogt and Norris to give the A’s the 3-0 lead.

“It’s nice to throw a crooked number up there – score more than one run in a inning,” said Melvin on the three run inning. The last time the A’s scored more than three runs in an inning was way back on September 9th in Chicago when they put a 5 spot on the board in the top of the ninth against the White Sox.

Lester had his 18th quality start in a row who over that span has a 1.68 ERA and brought his overall ERA down to 2.42 which is good enough for third best in the American League.

“He’s been terrific. Fortunately you feel like you don’t have to score that many runs for him because he’s going to do his job. Every time out there he’s deep in the game, 110-plus pitches and comes out with the lead. That’s all you can ask from him,” said Melvin.

Closer Sean Doolittle added, “The fire that he has on the mound … he pitches with a lot of emotion, and I think guys pick up on that, feed off that. They want to make the play behind him. They see how committed to his job he is out there.”

Doolittle who came in tonight for his 22nd save of the year was coming off one of his worst performances the other day when he gave up 5 runs in the top of ninth to the Rangers.

“We all know how good Doo is, and we’re all human, we’re all going to have bad outings, bad innings, bad at-bats, and what happened the other day is obviously an anomaly, and for him to go out there tonight and do what he did was him getting back to being him,” said Jon Lester on the A’s closer.

In the top of the eighth there was a critical play when the Phillies had a runner on third and the ball got bounced to Josh Donaldson. Donaldson was able to corral the ball and launch it to home to get Freddy Galvis out at the plate and keep the score 3-1.

“It was a big play. He had to make sure he could get him and he’s got great instincts. It’s a shot in the arm when that run doesn’t score because the difference between a one run lead and a two run lead is one swing of the bat,” beamed Melvin on his third baseman’s play.

Donaldson summed it up best with this; “Every win right now is big for this team. Every win is important. It gets the momentum going on the right track, and hopefully we can build on this thing tomorrow and the rest of the year.”

The A’s look to build on tonight’s win when they head back it tomorrow afternoon when the Phillies send Jerome Williams (3-2, 2.84 ERA) against Drew Pomeranz (5-4, 2.53 ERA), game time 1:05pm PST.

By Kahlil Najar

Oakland, Calif. – The A’s scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Astro’s 4-3 and earn their 80th win of the year. Jed Lowrie smacked a single to left field off of Chad Qualls to bring in Josh Reddick for his first walk off hit with the Athletics.

“It was great! If you don’t experience that here, you haven’t really had the full A’s experience,” said Lowrie on his walk off hit.

The bottom of the ninth saw three A’s who were in a bit of a slump come up big at the right time. Josh Donaldson led off the inning with a single which snapped his 0 for 15 hitless streak. Josh Reddick who had a hit early in the game hit his 13th double of year on a long shot to center that brought in Donaldson and Burns who had got on base from a hit from Norris and tie the game at 3. Then of course Lowrie who in the last 15 games is now batting .344 with 10 runs and nine RBI.

Reddick took to Twitter to speak on the game.

“Wow we needed that win! That was awesome to be a part of! Let that be the start of the comeback!!!”

Lowrie continued, “We just need to keep that momentum, use that momentum moving forward, continue to believe what we set out to do from the beginning.”

Bob Melvin echoed his players sentiments later on.

“We’ve won many games like that this year, so hopefully they remember the feeling.”

Scott Kazmir who ended up with a no-decision had a great game. Kaz went 6 1/3 innings and only gave up three hits and two runs and eight strikeouts. In fact, his seven strikeouts in five innings matched his total strike outs from his last three starts combined.

“I think this is big for us. I think we needed a win kind of like this. You could look at everyone in this clubhouse, between all of us, we wanted this real bad. I think there were a couple games where I felt like the energy level just wasn’t there. It’s to the point where we just got to, you got to dig deep and finish strong. I feel like a win like this is something that could kick-start us,” said Kazmir.

Reddick summed up the day with this, “Our losses have been ugly, so to come back like this is hopefully something that gets us going…because that’s what we need right now.”

The Astros and A’s head back at it on Sunday when the Astros send Dallas Keuchel (10-9, 3.03 ERA) against Jason Hammel (2-5, 4.98 ERA).

OAKLAND NOTES

• The Oakland Athletics recorded their ninth walk-off win of the season (last: August 4 vs. Tampa Bay)…are 2-3 on this six-game homestand against Seattle (1-2) and Houston (1-1).

• Scott Kazmir tossed 6.1 innings and issued a season-high five walks…is now 3-3 with a 4.86 ERA (29 er in 53.2 ip) in 10 starts against American League West competition compared to 11-4 with a 2.73 ERA (34 er in 112.0 ip) against all other teams.

• Josh Donaldson (1 for 4, r) snapped his 0 for 15 hitless streak with a single in the ninth inning…is 2 for 20 (.100) on the homestand after hitting safely in all seven games on the last road trip (12 for 24, .500).

• Sam Fuld (0 for 3, r, so) is 10 for 56 (.179) over his last 21 games.

• Jed Lowrie (2 for 4, rbi, so) recorded his first walk-off RBI of the season .. .is batting .344 (21 for 61) with 10 runs, nine RBI and seven walks in 15 games against Houston…is a .320 (41 for 128) career hitter against the Astros.

• Brandon Moss (0 for 3, rbi, so, sf) is 5 for 47 (.106) with 12 walks and 21 strikeouts over his last 17 games…has not homered since July 24 and his 34-game homerless streak is the longest as an Athletic.

• Derek Norris (1 for 4, 2 so) is 6 for 18 (.333) over his last five games after going 9 for 61 (.148) over his previous 18 games.

• Eric Sogard (1 for 3) is batting .278 (32 for 115) at home compared to .173 (23 for 133) on the road.