The San Jose SaberCats (5-3) demolished the Orlando Predators (5-2), 70-35. at the SAP Center on Saturday night. Quarterback Russ Michna was locked in and completed close to 60% of his passes and threw for 149 yards and five touchdowns. 14-of-24 passes for 149 yards and five touchdowns. Wide receiver Dominique Curry shined on both sides of the ball as he hauled in two touchdowns on offense and one strip fumble recovery for a TD on special teams. The Cats defense also played an amazing game as they sacked the Predators quarterback seven times for 31 total yards loss.
“Our defense is getting better and better every week,” said Head Coach Darren Arbet, “Our offense has had a lot of moving pieces, so our defense has to play the way it’s been playing for us to win right now.”
San Jose started the game great when they were able to get to the Predators in their end of the field and strip the ball from quarterback Jason Boltus and the Sabercats Luis Vasquez was able to pick up the ball and run it in for an 8 yard score. On the very next Orlando drive Kenny Okoro intercepted the ball and gave San Jose the ball on the Predators 20. Then immediately Russ Micha ran the ball in and quickly gave San Jose a 14-0 lead will than five minutes gone in the first.
Orlando’s third drive wasn’t any better as after three plays, Boltus fumbled the ball again and gave the ball back to the Cats at the Predators 17. San Jose was able to capitalize on the turnover when they found Curry in the end zone and made it a 21-0 lead.
Orlando, a normally explosive offense was only able to put up 35 points on the Cats. Predator receiver Khalil Paden had seven catches for 125 yards and a touchdown and their other receiver Greg Carr hauled in 11 passes for 143 yards and three touchdowns.
The Sabercats piled in more points through out the next two quarters and in the second half, the Cats defense was only able to come up with one touchdown. “We smelled blood in the water in the third quarter when they started to get their heads down, and we never let our foot off the pedal,” said Vasquez when asked about how the defense felt.
The Cats have next week off but them come back to play at the SAP Center on May 17th when they face off against the Portland Thunder.
BOSTON – Tonight was a night that the A’s pitching staff wishes they could forget. Dan Straily (1-2) threw more balls than strikes and the A’s relieving crew of Otero, Cook and Pomeranz gave up five runs in the last four innings including a grand slam to give Boston a 7-1 victory over the Athletics.
The A’s gave up two runs in the bottom of the second with a single from A.J. Pierzynski who was able to score Grady Sizemore and Jackie Bradley Jr. who hit a double to drive home Pierzynski. The A’s were able to get on the board in the third when Clay Buchholz threw a wild pitch and John Jaso was able to score from third.
The big hurt came in the bottom of the sixth when Dustin Pedroia hit a grand slam over the Green Monster and give the Red Sox a 6-1 lead. Pedroia now joins Carl Yastrzemski as the only players to hit 100 home runs and steal 100 bases in a Red Sox uniform. Mike Napoli added one more run in the bottom of the eighth when he singled home Shane Victorino and made it a 7-1 final.
On the A’s leaving 21 men on base Head Coach Bob Melvin said, “We hit some balls hard. We hit a lot of balls hard, actually — right at people and then didn’t get some hits when we did have some guys on base.”
For his pitching performance Straily said “I felt like every single time, every batter I was behind 2-0. That’s just not the way to pitch. It’s just a frustrating day.”
Boston and Oakland head back out tomorrow afternoon as Boston sends LHP Jon Lester (2-4) against Tommy Milone (0-2).
ARLINGTON, TX – APRIL 29: Derek Norris #36 of the Oakland Athletics hit a two run double for Coco Crisp #4 and Yoenis Cespedes #52 in the first inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington on April 29, 2014 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Rick Yeatts/Getty Images)
By Kahlil Najar
ARLINGTON – A day after beating Yu Darvish, the Oakland A’s beat the Rangers other ace Martin Perez 9-3. Derek Norris went 2 for 5 with 3 RBI and Yoenis Cespedes appeared to be feeling a lot better as he crossed the plate three times.
The A’s got on the board first when Derek Norris smacked his fourth double of the year and drove in Coco Crisp who had doubled to lead off the game and Cesepedes who had ben walked right before he got to the plate. Josh Reddick added to the A’s lead in the top of the second when he drove in Craig Gentry from third on a ground out to Prince Fielder.The A’s then made it a 4-0 game when Norris hit his second double of the night and drove in Cespedes for his second run of the night.
The Rangers finally erased the zero from their scoreboard when Alex Rios hit a sharp fly ball double to center field and drove in Adrian Beltre to make it 4-1 after four innings. The A’s then added five runs in the top of the fifth with two bases loaded walks, a single from Reddick that scored Cesepedes and Callaspo and a wild pitch from the Rangers Jason Frasor that scored Brandon Moss who was at third to make it a 9-1 game.
The Rangers were only able to muster up two runs in the bottom of the fifth and closed the scoring on the game for a 9-3 win for Oakland.
A’s pitcher Scott Kazmir is now an impressive 4-0 and lasted five innings and only surrendered three runs and struck out four. Cook, Abad and Doolittle finished off the last four innings and only gave up one hit and struck out five.
The A’s and Rangers square off again on Wednesday in Arlington when the A’s send up Jesse Chavez against Robbie Ross Jr.
ANAHEIM – The San Jose SaberCats (4-3) beat the expansion Los Angeles KISS (2-4) 48-32 in their first regular season meeting at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Quarterback Russ Michna had another great game as he we 26-of-40 for 249 yards and six touchdowns. Rod Harper provided most of the offensive scoring power as he had nine receptions for 67 yards and four touchdowns.
On his performance tonight, Harper said, “Tonight it was me, but we have so much talent receiving that it could be anybody’s night but tonight, that’s how it shook out.”
“It was a physical game and that’s what I wanted. L.A. came out and played hard and they wouldn’t go away,” said Head Coach Darren Arbet.
It was a low scoring affair in the first quarter as San Jose was only able to fine Harper for a three yard touchdown pass and the Kiss handed the ball to Joe Mortensen for a 1-yard run. However after a missed extra point attempt the first quarter ended 7-6 in San Jose’s favor.
In the second quarter the Cats and the Kiss traded scores with Michna finding Harper again for two touchdowns and one to Doug Williams. The Kiss put up two touchdowns of their own to Morgan and Parker but missed on both extra point attempts and brought the score to 27-18 after the first half of play.
The KISS got the ball to start the second half but quickly turned it over when Raterink was intercepted by defensive back Clevan Thomas at the San Jose 1 yard line and gave the ball back to the Cats. Michna then connected with Harper for his fourth touchdown of the evening and brought the score up to 34 -18. The Cats got the ball back from the Kiss but then Michna tossed his only interception of the night to Kiss defensive back Andre Jones and Raterink ran the ball into the end zone for the score. After he went in for the touchdown, the Kiss went for two and handed the ball back to Raterink and he was able to pound it in and make it a 34-26 lead for San Jose.
In the fourth, the Cats scored two unanswered touchdowns with one going to Odie Armstrong and the other going to Rich Ranglin to make it 48-26.The Kiss scored with 1:37 left on a nice pass to Parker from Raterink but with a missed two point conversion it made the score 48-32. On the kickoff, Kiss tried an onside kid but failed and the San Jose recovered and ran out the clock to seal the victory.
The SaberCats now head home to face the Orlando Predators on Saturday May 3rd at 7:30 pm PST.
HOUSTON, TX – APRIL 25: Derek Norris #36 and Josh Donaldson #20 of the Oakland Athletics celebrate after Donaldson hit a two-run home run in the ninth inning of their game against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on April 25, 2014 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
By Kahlil Najar
Houston – The Oakland Athletics (15-8) put up a seven spot in the top of the ninth and beat the Houston Astros (7-17), 12-5. The A’s 12 runs are a season high for the team and they came after scoring ten runs last night against these same Astros. Daric Barton was the hero of the game tonight when he smacked a single off of Jose Altuve that landed in right field and scored three runs to give the A’s the lead. This was an extraordinarily long affair that lasted over four hours and the play wasn’t great by both teams as they combined for four errors and left a combined 21 runners on base.
After only four innings of play, the Athletics and Astros were tied at five runs a piece. Josh Reddick got the A’s on the board first when he hit a deep shot to center field that scored Alberto Callaspo and landed him safely at third. While on third, Daric Barton hit a grounder to center field and scored Reddick to give the A’s a 2-0 lead. After a single to Eric Sogard and a walk to John Jaso, hot hitting Jed Lowrie came up to the plate with the bases loaded and hit a line drive single to right field which scored Barton and Sogard and brought the lead up to 4-0.
Houston got on the board in the bottom of the third when Altuve doubled to left field and scored Villar to make it a 4-1 A’s lead.
In the fourth, the A’s John Jaso hit a sac fly to left that scored Sogard for his second run of the game and gave the A’s a 5-1 lead headed into the bottom of the fourth. The Astros scored four runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to a throwing error from Josh Donaldson that scored two and a single by Dominguez to make it a 5-5 game.
The top of the ninth was a mess if you are a Houston Astros fan. The A’s sent up 12 hitters in the inning and made the Astro relievers throw 53 pitches. It all started when Brandon Moss was hit by a pitch and then moved to second on a single by Callaspo. Craig Gentry laid down a bunt that was recovered but not thrown to any base so the bases were loaded for the A’s with no outs. Barton came up to the plate and smacked a single at Altuve who was playing in and scored Moss and Callaspo. When Astros right fielder George Springer couldn’t get the ball on the first try, Genrty scored all the way from first and gave the A’s an 8-5 lead.Nick Punto came up next in relief of Sogard and hit a double to right field that put him at second and Barton on third. Coco Crisp grounded out after Punto but was able to get Barton across the plate and make it a 9-5 lead for the A’s.
Derek Norris then hit his second double of the year and score Punto from second and made it an even 10-5 lead for the A’s. After a ground out from Lowrie, Josh Dondalson came up and hit his third 2-run homer of this series and make it a 12-5 lead.
Fernando Abad came in to close the game in the bottom of the ninth. After a fly out by Dexter Fowler, Abad hit Jason Castro on the backside. Both sides were warned and Houston Manager Bo Porter was eventually thrown out by home plate umpire Jordan Baker after he came out to argue something that Baker didn’t agree with. Adab then got a strike out and a fly out to end the game.
Both teams head back to Minute Maid field tomorrow at 4:10 pm PST when the A’s put up Dan Straily (1-1) against Dallas Leuchel (2-1).
Texas Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos tags out Oakland Athletics’ John Jaso in the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, April 22, 2014, in Oakland, Calif. Jaso was attempting to score on a fly ball by Jed Lowrie. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
By Kahlil Najar
OAKLAND –
The Oakland Athletics (13-7) gave up two runs in the top of the ninth and handed the Texas Rangers (13-8) a 5-4 win. Luke Gregerson (0-1) came into the top of the ninth with a one run lead but then gave up two doubles and a single to the Rangers and sealed them their second win of this series. With the loss, the A’s are the last team to lose back-to-back games as they lost to the Rangers last night 4-3. For the A’s, Josh Reddick continued his hot streak as he went 2 for 3 and a run. Only Eric Sogard and Brandon Moss were held hit less tonight but Sogard grabbed an RBI as he hit a sacrifice fly into center field and scored Reddick in the fourth.
On Gregerson giving up the run in the ninth, Bob Melvin said, “He wasn’t getting his slider to the other side of the plate. It was kind of hanging out there.”
The A’s didn’t exactly start off well as Tommy Milone who started the game, threw over 20 pitches in the first and loaded the bases after facing five hitters. Donnie Murphy, who was that fifth hitter came up with the bases loaded and hit a slow roller to third that Donaldson was able to grab but it was hit so slow that he had no play at first to get an out so the Rangers took a 1-0 lead. Robinson Chirinos was up next and on five pitches he was walked and scored Elvis Andrus who was on third and gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead after half an inning of play.
The A’s didn’t take long to answer back as in the bottom of the first, Jed Lowrie smacked a double off the right center field wall and was then driven in by Josh Donaldson who hit a single to center field. After a Moss ground out, Yoenis Cespedes his the second double of the inning and drove in Donaldson to tie that game at two a piece.
The Rangers grabbed their third run of the game after back-to-back singles to Alex Rios and Prince Fielder, former Oakland Athletic Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a grounder to third which started a double play but still got Alex Rios to score from third and gave Texas a 3-2 lead.
The A’s took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth after an error on Rangers third baseman Josh Wilson landed Reddick at second and moved John Jaso to third who had singled earlier in the inning. Eric Sogard came up and launch a deep fly out to center field and scored Jaso to tie the game at three. Coco Crisp was the next batter and took Ranger pitcher Nick Martinez to center field on a line shot for his first double of the year and scored Reddick and made it a 4-3 Oakland lead.
Both teams smacked hits over the next few innings until the top of the ninth when the Rangers regained their lead and sealed the victory.
Luke Gregerson came in relief for Abad who finished off the eighth in relief for Ryan Cook.
Gregerson gave up a double to Mitch Moreland to start the inning. Chirinos gave up a sac bunt to move Moreland over to third and then Martin came up and laid down a bunt to Gregerson who threw the ball to home and got Moreland trying to score from third for the second out of the inning. Josh Wilson came up and hit a deep double off the wall and scored Martin to tie the game at four. Then on their very next batter, the Rangers Michael Choice hit a single into center field and gave the Rangers a 5-4 victory.
“This teams been real resilient. You get over a game like this tonight and come back tomorrow,” said Melvin.
The Rangers and A’s head back at it tomorrow afternoon when the A’s young star Sonny Gray (3-0) goes up against Rangers star pitcher Martin Perez (3-0).
OAKLAND, CA – APRIL 18: Josh Reddick #16 of the Oakland Athletics is congratulated by John Jaso #5 after Reddick hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning against the Houston Astros at O.co Coliseum on April 18, 2014 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
By Kahlil Najar
Oakland – Behind a seven run first inning the A’s (11-5) easily beat the Houston Astros (5-12) 11-3. Yoenis Cespedes and Alberto Callaspo provided the bulk of the offense tonight as they both contributed with one home run each and six combined RBI. Josh Reddick who’s been struggling from the plate for the last couple weeks broke out of the slump and went 3 for 4 with a home run and two RBI. Lead-off man Coco Crisp appears to be back as well as he went 2 for 3 and had two RBI.
Sonny Gray (3-0) who started for the A’s tonight gave up a career high nine hits in six innings but only gave up the three runs and struck out four. Francisco Abad and Ryan Cook came in for relief and pitched three scoreless innings and struck out five Houston batters.
“He got behind some guys but we’ve seen him recover. He continues to be good and we haven’t seen his best yet,” said Athletics coach Bob Melvin.
“We gave Sonny a lot of breathing room early even though he doesn’t need it,” said Josh Reddick who was able to grab two singles and the home run tonight.
“I actually helped in the game for once, it felt good. I went straight into batting practice today and skipped the cages and it just felt good.”
On Reddick, Melvin said, “It was good for him to get some hits. He’s been going through a rough stretch. It was good for the team to get off to a good start.”
The A’s really did get off to a great start when they scored seven runs in the first inning coming off of home runs from Alberto Callaspo and Reddick and a RBI single from Cespedes. In the bottom of the first, Jed Lowrie was up and he attempted to bunt the ball over to the third base side but was eventually thrown out at first.
The Astros didn’t take to kindly to that bunt attempt that in his next at bat, Lowrie was thrown to and almost hit.
“They were giving me the shift (in the first inning) so I went for it. We’ve seen teams before come back from seven down so each run in the beginning of the game is important. I would never do that if we were up by seven in the seventh or eighth inning.”
After getting thrown at Lowrie gave a menacing stare to the Astros pitcher. “He definitely tried to hit me on that second pitch,” said Lowrie.
For Houston, Jarred Cosart (1-2) had a night he wishes he could forget. Cosart only went for 1/3 of an inning and gave up seven runs on three hits and walked four. Paul Clemens who came in for Cosart gave up three runs on five hits in a little over four innings of relief. Offensively the Astros were able to scatter 10 hits but left 12 men on base.
The A’s and Astros go head to head again tomorrow afternoon when Scott Kazmir (2-0) takes on Brett Oberholtzer (0-3).
ANAHEIM, CA – APRIL 15: Josh Donaldson hits an RBI double in the 11th inning against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on April 15, 2014 in Anaheim, California. All uniformed team members are wearing jersey number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day. The Athletics defeated the Angels in eleven innings. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
By Kahlil Najar
Anaheim – The Oakland Athletics (10-4) defeated the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (6-8), 10-9 Tuesday night in extra innings on a game winning double by Josh Donaldson in the top of the 11th.
A’s starting pitcher Dan Straily struggled as he gave up seven hits and six runs in 3 2/3 innings and was only able to strike out one. A collective of five other A’s pitchers came in to seal the win with the winning pitcher being the recently relieved closer Jim Johnson (2-2). Johnson threw for two innings and only surrendered one hit.
“Jim Johnson was terrific,” said Oakland manager Bob Melvin. “That was huge. I didn’t have Gregerson or Abad tonight, so it was his game. He knew it, and that was impressive.”
Donaldson echoed his coaches sentiments on Johnson. “It’s so early… so quick to jump to any conclusions about a guy. He didn’t save 100 games the past two years for no reason. The guy’s good.”
The Angels took the first lead of the game when Mike Trout drove home Kole Calhoun on a double to left field. Then two batters later, Howie Kendrick smacked a single to center and drove in Trout to give the Angels a 2-0 lead.
The A’s took the lead from the Angels in the third when Eric Sogard got his first hit of the game and drove in Josh Reddick who had walked to start off the inning. Jaso followed with a ground out to first but was able to score Gentry from third and Jed Lowrie got his second double of the year and drove in Sogard to make it a 3-2 Oakland lead.
In the fourth the Angels put up a four spot on a double from Chris Iannetta and homer to Kole Calhoun and gave the Angels the lead again 6-3.
The A’s the scored six unanswered runs with clutch hitting again from Sogard, Brandon Moss, Alberto Callaspo and Derek Norris to make it a 9-6 lead going into the bottom of the eighth.
In the bottom of the eighth, Howie Kendrick was walked by Ryan Cook and then Dan Otero gave up back to back singles with the scoring hit going to David Freese and made it a 9-7 Oakland lead.
After a scoreless top of the ninth for the A’s, Sean Doolittle was up to face Calhoun. On a full count, Calhoun took Doolittle’s fastball to left field and landed himself at second and brought up Mike Trout who represented the tying run. Then on the fourth pitch of his at bat, Trout took the ball deep and out to left center field and tied the game at nine a piece.
“I threw a thigh-high fastball in the middle — that’s never good,” said Doolittle, “There’s nothing to say. I messed that up.”
After a scoreless tenth, Lowrie came up for the A’s in the 11th and hit a line drive single to left field and brougt up the streaking Donladson. On the very first pitch, Donaldson smacked his fourth double fo the year to left field and scored Lowrie from first and gave the A’s a 10-9 lead. Jim Johnson grabbed three ground outs and sealed the victory for the A’s.
The A’s go for the sweep on Wednesday when they send Tommy Milone to the mound against Tyler Skaggs.
SAN JOSE – The San Jose SaberCats (2-3) were defeated by the Arizona Rattlers (4-0) 57-51 in one of the most heartbreaking losses in recent history. The team is now on a three game losing streak and had a scare when big play Reggie Gray was injured in the second half however he seemed to recover well. Russ Michna had a great game for the Cats as he went 27-for-42 for 284 yards and five touchdowns. Gray was the leading receiver for San Jose as he grabbed 13 catches for 122 yards and three touchdowns. Dominique Curry who made his debut with the Cats tonight showed why he was added to the squad as he pulled in a timely 15-yard touchdown strike and even a momentum turning interception in San Jose’s end zone.
“I’m proud of the guys. They played hard tonight and we just came up a little short,” said Head Coach Darren Arbet. “They were focused all this week and they understood what this game was all about.”
On the three game losing streak – the longest for the Cats since 2011, Arbet said,”This is a twenty-one chapter book. This is chapter five. We have a lot of football yet to be played. They could have got down after those two loses but they came out and fought hard.”
The SaberCats got on the board first when Michna connected with Jason Willis for an 18-yard touchdown in the back of the end zone. On Arizona’s first possession Quarterback Nick Davila drove the team down the field in less than a minute and found their leading receiver Maurice Purify on a 20 yard touchdown to notch the score at seven a piece. After a crazy hit on Willis on the kick return the SaberCats drove down the field again and handed the ball over to Odie Armstrong who was able to dive into the end zone and give the Cats the one touchdown lead. Then like last time, Davila drove the Rattlers down the field again on three plays when he found Tyson Poots for the touchdown to make it a 14-13 game. The Rattlers missed the extra point to give San Jose the one point lead heading into the second quarter.
On San Jose’s first drive of the second quarter, Michna handed the ball to newcomer Curry and he was able to pound his way into the end zone to push the Cats lead up to eight. However Arizona answered right back on their very next play after kickoff when Davila found Purify for his second touchdown of the game on a beautiful 44 yard pass and make it a 21-20 San Jose lead.
The Cats then stalled on their next drive and gave the ball back to Arizona at their own one yard line. After two tremendous stops by the Cats defense, Arizona’s Alex Singleton was able to push it through and gave the Rattlers their first lead of the game and made it a 27-21 game. On their fifth drive of the game, the SaberCats were helped out by two Arizona penalties which led to Gray’s first touchdown of the game and gave San Jose the lead again 28-27. Not to be held without another score in the first half, Davila found his favorite receiver Purify again for this third touchdown of the night. The Rattlers decided to try and make up for the missed extra point and went for a two point conversion but failed and only gave them a 33-28 lead going into halftime.
Arizona’s Poots scored with 12:43 left in the third quarter to widen the Rattlers lead to 40-28. Then like Arizona, San Jose wasn’t to be outdone and Michna found Gray again who was flying through the back of the end zone. Unfortunately Pertuit missed the extra point and made it a 40-34 lead for Arizona. On Arizona’s next drive they were only able to come up with a Ratanamorn 22-yard field goal and gave the Rattlers only a 9 point lead going into the last quarter of play.
With 11:39 gone in the fourth, Michna found Gray again for his third touchdown of the contest and brought San Jose within two points, 43-41. On Arizona’s next drive, Davila tossed up a deep pass into the end zone on third down that was deflected off the net and into the alert Curry who was touched down in the end zone gave the ball back to the Cats. With the momentum on their side, the Cats drove down the field and Michna found Curry streaking on a dig route in the end zone and gave the cats a 48-43 lead. Davila then found Purify again for his fourth touchdown of the night however they went for two again and failed and gave Arizona only a 49-48 lead. San Jose then marched down the field again and after getting stopped on third down they went to their reliable kicker Pertuit who knocked in a 19-yarder to give San Jose a 51-49 lead with 46 seconds left. Unfortunately Davila still had some magic up his sleeve when with seven seconds left he threw his seventh touchdown of the night to Kerry Reed and then went for two and gave Arizona a 57-51 lead. Cats rookie Nathan Stanley came in the game to toss up a Hail Mary at the end of the game but to no avail and ended the game.
The scary moment in the second half for the SaberCats came when Reggie Gray was running a crossing route towards the boards and got hit then he just laid on the ground. After some initial panic by the Cats, Gray was able to get up and walk around and take himself off the field.
“I went low to get the ball and my chest just didn’t feel right. It felt like something was out of place, so I was kind of panicking,” said Gray on his injury. “After evaluation it began to feel better and I was trying to fight to get back on the field.”
Dominique Curry who’s Cats debut was tonight performed extremely well for someone who hasn’t played football in two years. Curry ended with two touchdowns and an interception.
On his performance, Curry said “It was good to be out there. I really hadn’t played football in over two years. I had jitters just from the rivalry of the two teams. I wanted to step up because of the rivalry. I have to get used to getting hit into the walls.”
San Jose now heads to Portland to take on the Thunder who have yet to win a game this year.
SEATTLE, WA – APRIL 11: Josh Donaldson #20 of the Oakland Athletics reacts after being called out on strikes with the bases loaded in the eighth inning against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field on April 11, 2014 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)
SEATTLE – King Felix continued his dominance over the A’s and he struck out 11 A’s batters and handed the A’s the fourth loss of the season with a final score of 6-4. The A’s mounted a nice rally in the bottom of the eighth as they were able to snag four runs but came up short when Coco Crisp struck out to end the game in the top of the ninth. The loss also ended the A’s four game winning streak.
Hernandez (3-0) didn’t allow a hit until the top of the fourth when Jed Lowrie his a single into the outfield and Josh Donaldson was able to run out a grounder and landed him safe at first.
The Mariners got on the board first when Robinson Cano drove in Abraham Almonte from third when he grounded a ball to Daric Barton who hesitated and didn’t get the ball to Milone who was going to cover first in time to get Cano. In the bottom of the fourth, Seattle received two gift runs from the A’s on two errors committed by Donaldson at third and Lowrie at short.
Dustin Ackley who was on second was able to score when Mike Zunino hit a ground ball to Donaldson that he threw wide to Barton and went past first base and landed Zunino at second. On the very next pitch, Almonte hit a sharp grounder to Lowrie that ricocheted off his arm and allowed Zunino to score from second and make it a 3-0 Seattle lead.
Zunino hit a two run shot and Brad Miller got himself solo homer in the bottom of the sixth to give the Mariners a what seemed insurmountable 6-0 lead.
The A’s were able to finally score in the 8th when Fernandez hit Daric Barton to start the inning then gave up a single to Eric Sogard. After the hit batter and single the Mariners who appeared to have the game in hand, sent Fernandez to the bench to make way for the relievers to take care of the game. Unfortunately for Seattle, the A’s had just started to make this game interesting.
New Mariner reliever Lucas Luetge came in to face Sam Fuld and walked him on four straight pitches to load the bases. Sensing that this could get out of hand if something happened, the Mariners pulled Luetge and put in Danny Farquhar to face Jed Lowrie. New pitcher but same results, Lowrie was walked and brought in Barton for the A’s first score of the game. After a Donaldson strike out, Brandon Moss hit a broken bat single over the jumping Cano and scored Sogard to make it 6-2 and keep the bases loaded. Cespedes came up to the plate and hit a grounder to third that was sent to Cano for the second out but Cespedes was able to beat the throw to first and that allowed Fuld to score to make it 6-3. On the next batter, Charlie Furbush who was now in for relief for Seattle threw a wild pitch that hit the back stop and brought in Lowrie to make it 6-4. Unfortunately Callaspo, who was at bat hit a high pop to end the inning and the A’s momentum.
Tommy Milone who started his first game of the season performed excellently as he went five innings and struck out 7. What has to be a highlight for the A’s tonight is that Jim Johnson who was recently relieved of his closing duties came in for the final two innings of the game and pitched them perfect and struck out four.
Oakland and Seattle head back to SafeCo park tomorrow night when the Sonny Gray (1-0, 0.75 ERA) takes on Erasmo Ramirez (1-1, 5.73 ERA), game time 6:10pm PST.
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