Author: moepea

I like lilacs, mist and cold air.

No Doubt Clout: A’s sweep the Giants, win 15-3 with thunderous home run display

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By Morris Phillips

Normally, a trip to Oracle Park doesn’t prompt an offensive breakout. But these aren’t normal times: from protective masks, empty stadiums to overnight thunderstorms by the Bay, baseball in 2020 has a different rhythm.

The A’s undoubtedly have caught that rhythm. And they’re not a normal team, in fact, through 22 games of a two-month season, they’re exceptional.

Friday and Saturday, the A’s were merely good when they absolutely had to be, winning with a pair of epic, ninth inning rallies. On Sunday, they were fabulous from first pitch to last, drubbing the Giants 15-3 behind 17 hits, nine of which went for extra bases including a pair of massive homers.

“For a while we were winning close games, getting big hits and the pitching was ruling the day,” manager Bob Melvin said. “It seems the bats have woken up some.”

Melvin said woken, Oakland fans might say hella woke after Chad Pinder–first pitch swinging in a pinch-hitting role–touched off a three-homer, fifth inning with a majestic bomb that left the park traveling at 112 mph.

The reaction from the Oakland dugout to the crack of the bat reverberating through a near-silent ballpark? Priceless.

The cheers from Pinder’s fast reacting teammates almost seem verbalized, as in “I’ve seen home runs, but not like this..”

Pinder entered a 2-2 game, as Giants’ starter Logan Webb departed, and manager Gabe Kapler summoned lefty reliever Wandy Peralta to face Tony Kemp. Melvin played a hunch that the righty-hitting Pinder could incite a rally. The manager’s intuition–as often happens with hot clubs–was spot on. Pinder’s two-run shot led to a nine-run outburst that put the game away.

After Pinder struck, Mark Canha tripled home two runs, Stephen Piscotty hit a three-run shot, and Marcus Semien add a two-run blast. Incredibly, Piscotty’s homer measured thirty feet further than Pinder’s, and one-hopped the bleachers’ concourse.

“Not even in batting practice have I seen a ball go up there,” Melvin said afterwards via Zoom chat. “It looked like it was headed for the glove (yes, the giant-sized, leather glove above the concourse).”

Mike Fiers went six innings, allowing seven hits and two runs, and picked up the win. His 91-pitch effort was his lengthiest to date.

The A’s have won 13 of 15 after a 2-4 start to the season. Their 16-6 record is the best in the Majors.

Are they the best team in baseball? Maybe, maybe not, but they certainly looked like it in sweeping the Giants.

NOTES: Through 22 games, the A’s are a statistical conundrum that makes perfect sense when combined with these two facts: they don’t have any significant injuries, and after winning 95 games in back-to-back seasons with that group returning almost intact, they have more confidence-building experience than their opponents, especially on offense.

When have the A’s been able to say either of those two statements?

Now the conundrum: the A’s entered Sunday with a .219 team batting average, which ranked them 14th in the American League, ahead of only Cleveland (.196!!). But the A’s have drawn 92 walks (3rd in the AL), and been hit by a pitch 17 times (1st).

A dramatic juxtaposition indeed, the walks and hit batters keep the A’s above water despite their anemic batting average. But here’s an even more startling statistical twist.

The A’s have struck out 221 times in 22 games, more than 10 times a game, and the second most in baseball behind only the Braves, who struck out 16 times in their 4-0 win over Miami on Sunday.

Balancing those strikeouts? The A’s have hit 35 home runs, more than three for every two games played, a high number of which have come late in games to either tie, lead or win.

And making all those disparate offensive numbers sing? The A’s pitching staff has compiled a 3.49 ERA, fifth best in baseball, and a number almost a full run lower than the MLB average (4.41). When you have to wait a full nine innings for an offense to kick in, you need a pitching staff that keeps you in the game. The A’s staff does that.

A’s-Giants series numbers for the A’s offensively: 29 strikeouts (14 on Saturday), 35 hits (17 on Sunday), nine home runs (multiple homers in an inning, once in each of the three games), 15 walks (five off starter Logan Webb, who departed in the fifth inning on Sunday).

 

 

 

 

 

Giants dig too deep of a hole in 6-4 loss to the Astros, fall to 2-6 on road trip

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By Morris Phillips

The series opener at Minute Maid Park afforded the struggling Giants one of two scenarios:

A well-placed opportunity against a good club on a bad stretch in the Astros, just off an ugly brawl and getting swept in Oakland, another distraction for the Major League’s most burdened ballclub in recent memory. Add to that Monday’s starter Lance McCullers Jr. sporting an alarming 9.22 ERA after three starts…

Or another sobering example of the marginally talented Giants being dealt too many road games against contending clubs in unforgiving stadiums in the first 20 games of a gone-before-you-know-it, 60-game season.

A 6-4 loss had the Giants firmly relegated to the second rendering with the Astros blasting off to 6-0 lead only to hang on as pinch hitter Evan Longoria lined out to end it with runners at the corners. McCullers was at his best, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh, after he allowed a career-worst eight runs in his last start.

The 26-year old right-hander retired 19 of the first 20 Giants he faced, with the one hiccup a hit-by-pitch facing Austin Slater leading off the third inning. Donovan Solano broke up McCullers’ gem with a sharply-hit grounder that eluded third baseman Alex Bregman and went for a double.

“We needed a win tonight. We needed to start the homestand on a big, positive note and we did that,” said McCullers, who missed the 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery.

While the Giants couldn’t buy a hit, they stacked up the errors, two by Solano filling in at third, and one by catcher Chadwick Tromp, all in the first four innings. Those miscues made life tough for starter Logan Webb, who was charged with five runs, only two of which were earned, before he was lifted in the fourth inning.

“I think he can be proud of going through that lineup and not really giving up on much hard contact,” manager Gabe Kapler said in Webb’s defense. “I think we have better in us behind him that’s for sure.”

Connor Menez steadied the Giants with two plus innings of relief marred only by Martin Maldonado’s solo shot. That homer was the 28th allowed by Giants’ pitching, and it marked the 15th consecutive game they’ve allowed at least one home run, tying an ignominious  franchise record for the second time.

Solano’s double extended his hit streak to 15 games. He doubled again in the ninth, part of the Giants’ three-run rally to make things interesting. The 32-year old Solano is hitting .458, second only to Charlie Blackmon at .484 in the majors.

The Giants are 4-8 on the road, with all 12 road games at Dodgers Stadium, Coors Field and Minute Maid Park, traditionally tough places to play. The Giants’ stretch of 14 of 20 on the road to start the season ends on Wednesday.

Tyler Anderson starts Tuesday for the Giants on a matchup against Houston’s Brandon  Bielak.

 

 

Not Socially Distant: Astros get closer to the A’s physically and verbally than with their play in a 7-2 loss

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By Morris Phillips

Just to be clear: no masked men or well-to-do baseball players were seriously injured in Sunday’s un-socially, close-up basebrawl at the Coliseum. Combatants got face-to-face–a no-no in 2020 in itself–and choice words were exchanged, clearly audible in an empty stadium. But both sides were fully aware their actions will draw suspensions and hefty fines. More than bearhugs, the likelihood of penalties prevented things from escalating.

The dustup grabbed the headlines, but the bigger takeaway was that the A’s dealt the Astros a technical knockout with a sweep that gives them a sizeable, division lead in a pandemic-truncated season.

Simply, the A’s are hot, and that’s changing things in the AL West.

A 7-2 win completed the three-game sweep over the Astros, giving the A’s a 5 1/2 game lead (5 games ahead of second-place Texas) over their rivals. The A’s have won nine straight, and have their best record after 16 games since 2013.

“It doesn’t damper anything. We swept these guys, and that was our intent,” manager Bob Melvin said of the brawl. “That won’t damper what transpired.”

Jesus Luzardo pitched five plus innings to earn the win in just his second-ever, big league start. The 22-year old allowed two runs on five hits and outpitched 23-year old Cristian Javier in a matchup of up-and-coming arms.

Rex Grossman, Matt Olson and Matt Chapman homered off Javier as the A’s built a 5-0 lead after three innings. The A’s have homered 21 times in 16 games, the needed counterpoint to their 164 strikeouts and .214 team batting average.

Juli Gurriel’s two-run homer in the fourth put the Astros on the board, but they would be shut out the rest of the way. The A’s added on with Mark Canha’s infield single in the fifth that scored Marcus Semien, and Chapman’s RBI double in the seventh.

Laureano was hit in the back by rookie Humberto Castellanos’ pitch in the bottom of the seventh which prompted a jawing session between the batter and Houston coach Alex  Cintron who was yelling and gesturing on the dugout steps. The incident marked the second time Laureano was hit in the game, and the fifth time an A’s batter was hit by a pitch in the series.

Of course, these teams didn’t figure to be buddy buddy after A’s pitcher Mike Fiers blew the whistle on the Astro’s sign stealing scheme that aided their run to the World Series in 2017 and 2019. But the A’s somehow avoided confrontation with the earlier plunking, but not in the seventh inning with Cintron and Laureano yelling at each other as the batter moved toward first base.

“Ramon doesn’t go over there unless something completely offensive came out of the dugout,” Melvin said. “I think the league will know who that is. That person should get suspended. Hopefully, that’s the case. Nowadays, without fans in the stands and mics everywhere, my guess is they know who it was.”

“Everybody wants you to just control your temper, which you should, but sometimes things flare out of control,” Astros manager Dusty Baker admitted. Ironically, Baker was thrown out in the previous inning for verbally disputing balls and strikes’ calls made by home plate umpire Nick Mahrley. Baker departed without confronting Mahrley.

Laureano charged the Astro’s dugout, but was tackled and never reached Cintron, then Olson, from the on-deck circle, and Chapman arrived quickly in their teammate’s defense.

Commissioner Rob Manfred has promised heavy punishment for all on-field confrontations given the additional complications of the Coronavirus. Manfred delivered on that promise two weeks ago when Dodgers’ pitcher Joe Kelly was suspended for eight games after he threw a pitch in the vicinity of batter Alex Bregman’s head.

But no one charged the mound–or the opposing dugout–in the Dodgers-Astros’ bench-clearing incident. Laureano did. That probably will cost the valuable centerfielder five games or more.

The A’s travel to Anaheim for a three-game series with the Angels that starts Monday evening with Sean Manaea getting the start. Julio Teheran will pitch for the Angels.

Giants’ bullpen no match for Colorado’s bats in 6-4 loss on getaway day

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By Morris Phillips

The Colorado Rockies are crushing opponent’s bullpens, and they made sure the Giants got a reminder before the visitors left town Thursday afternoon.

David Murphy and Charlie Blackmon homered in a five-run, seventh inning as the Rockies overcame a late deficit and a flawless five innings from Giants’ starter Tyler Anderson in a 6-4 win.

Giants’ relievers had allowed just five homers in 56 appearances coming in. But the new rule requiring that each pitcher face at least three batters doesn’t allow managers to always match up–right vs. right, left vs. left–and that favors a power hitting lineup like the Rockies possess. After Thursday’s three homers and two doubles, Colorado is hitting .294 with 11 home runs after the opposing starter is lifted.

“Anything we can do to get to the ‘pen and have someone go through at least three hitters in our lineup, whether it’s lefty or righty, we feel good about that,” Trevor Story said.

Anderson didn’t issue the home team any favors, as the former Rockie dealt for five innings, allowing two hits, two walks and no runs.  In his first start of the season, Anderson appeared highly motivated by his fall from grace in 2019. Tabbed as the Rockies’ opening day starter, Anderson suffered a knee injury after making five starts, then was demoted to Triple-A before having season-ending surgery. After being waived by the Rockies, Anderson was claimed by the Giants in October.

“I hadn’t thrown a lot of pitches, and there’s been a lot of injuries going on around baseball,” Anderson answered when asked if should have been allowed to pitch deeper into the ballgame. “I think that was the right move there.”

After the game went scoreless for the first five innings, the bats broke out on both sides with Trevor Story’s solo shot off Wandy Peralta in the sixth, which was topped by Mauricio Dubon’s three-run shot in seventh to give the Giants the lead.

But Rico Garcia failed to hold that lead, allowing consecutive doubles to Garrett Hampson and Chris Owings before Murphy’s two-run shot in a pinch-hitting role. Manager  Gabe Kapler then turned to Caleb Baragar but he allowed a David Dahl single ahead of Blackmon’s homer and the Rockies led 6-3.

Jairo Diaz came on for the Rockies in the eighth and got the final, four outs for the save.

Teams were required to reduce their active rosters from 30 to 28 before the game, and the Giants opted to demote Steven Duggar and pitcher Andrew Suarez to their alternative training site in San Jose

The Giants have dropped four of five and open a three-game series at Dodgers Stadium on Friday night.

“I think it’s just, take the step right in front of you. We understand that there’s no architectural blueprint for this season, and we’re just going to fight tomorrow. Be ready and prepared to play the Dodgers in Los Angeles tomorrow.”

Jeff Samardzija is expected to start for the Giants on Friday with Johnny Cueto scheduled for Saturday.

 

 

 

Giants’ rally in the ninth comes up just short in 7-6 loss to the Rockies

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By Morris Phillips

The Giants offense has gone from feeble to fantastic in less than a week, led by early MVP candidates Donovan Solano and Mike Yastrzemski. 

Now if only the Giants’ pitching and defense could make the same dramatic leap.

Currently, the Colorado Rockies are serving up the NL West’s best combination of the critical, baseball elements, the latest example their come-from-behind, 7-6 win over the Giants at Coors Field on Monday.

The Giants jumped out to 4-1 lead in the fifth inning behind Johnny Cueto only to see the Rockies explode for five runs in the sixth to seize control. Colorado added a run in the eighth, then held on when the Giants rallied for a pair of runs in the ninth, leaving the tying run stranded at third base.

In the end, the Giants could only blame themselves and their inability to record big outs, along with less than stellar defense.

“It’s really important we tighten up our play, we play catch and make the plays, particularly in one-run games at a Coors Field,” manager Gabe Kapler said.

Nolan Arenado homered with Charlie Blackmon aboard to cut the Giants lead to 4-3 which ended Cueto’s evening two batters into the sixth. Despite the hiccup, Cueto proved again to be the master of the huge park and its mile high elevation. At that point, Cueto had done his part in a potential sixth team win in his seven starts as a Giant at Coors.

Reliever Wandy Peralta allowed Ryan McMahon’s drive to right that Alex Dickerson bobbled and dropped on the warning track for a triple. Matt Kemp’s single tied it, and subsequent base hits by Chris Owings and David Dahl gave the Rockies a two-run cushion.

Dickerson again contributed to the Rockies’ rally with an errant throw that forced catcher Chadwick Tromp to vacate his position as Kemp and Owings crossed the plate on Dahl’s hit. Kapler penciled in Dickerson for only his second start as a right fielder only to see the decision backfire with the miscues.

“Honestly I bet Dick makes that (catch) 19 out of 20 times,” Kapler said. “The throw, I bet he makes almost every time. There’s no question.”

Home runs by Tromp, Yastrzemski and Dickerson were squandered in the loss. The Giants have hit 10 home runs in their last six ballgames, a stretch in which the team has gone 3-3.

Pitcher Andrew Suarez was recalled before the game, and Andrew Triggs, who had a rough outing on Sunday, was optioned. The Giants have not announced a starter for any of the three, remaining games in Denver, the start of a 10-game, three-city, road trip that continues to Los Angeles and Houston.

Longtime KNBR talk host Ralph Barbieri passed away Monday after a long battle with Parkinson’s. The 74-year old Barbieri spent 28 years at KNBR, the last 15 with co-host Tom Tolbert, and was well known for his razor-sharp wit.

No Frustration When You Win: A’s slip past the Mariners 3-2 at T-Mobile Park

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By Morris Phillips

The pandemic-truncated season doesn’t allow much time for teams to figure things out. But the A’s bought themselves a few extra measures with an unlikely, 3-2 win over the Mariners on Sunday.

The A’s are in mental quarantine, having hit just .175 over their last six games while scoring a measly 16 runs and enduring a three-game losing streak.

But they won the last two, they’re back over .500, and they just might get their full allotment of 51 more opportunities to look more like their true selves.

Ramon Laureano’s two-out, three-run homer in the fifth was all the offense the A’s could muster, but they made it stand up in a one-run win. The big moment was set up by two, subtle pieces of good fortune.

Former A’s starter Kendall Graveman was cruising for Seattle, but after two seasons removed from action due to Tommy John sugery, Graveman isn’t going to throw 25 plus pitches in the fifth inning of any start in 2020. Frustration had set in as well as that 25th pitch turned into a well-placed, infield single from Marcus Semien, the A’s struggling leadoff man hitting below .200 coming into the at-bat.

With runners at the corners, manager Scott Servais summoned reliever Anthony Misiewicz, a lefty facing the right-handed hitting Laureano with two outs. Why a lefty? Maybe Servais was focused on the possibility of lefthanded hitting Matt Olson coming up with the bases loaded, and wanted Misiewicz for the possibility of that task. Instead, the hot-hitting Laureano saw a second, consecutive off-speed sinker, this one in the middle of the plate, and he pounced without having to protect and speed up his bat. Laureano, Oakland’s one in-sync hitter, saw his swing produce a leisurely home run ball that exited at 98 mph.

“A hit would have been great, but a home run is a whole different ballgame,” A’s starter Chris Bassitt said of the support he received from Laureano. “It changed the whole complexion of the game. It was a big sigh of relief for everybody.”

Bassitt would depart after facing three batters in the sixth and after throwing 83 pitches. Leading 3-1 at that point, Bassitt earned the first win of the season for an A’s starter after the first eight starts resulted in an 0-4 record.

The A’s are one of six American League teams with a winning record, along with the Astros, Yankees, Twins, White Sox and the surprising Orioles at 5-3. Oakland maybe the least impressive of the six, but in a season where the top eight will qualify for postseason a winning record is where it’s at, all the style points can be inserted in October and early November. CBS’s Jon Heyman picked the A’s and Braves for an unlikely Fall Classic an he stood with the prediction over the weekend.

So now is not the time to fret over meager batting averages and faulty starters. The A’s have to just hang in there and remain positive.

“Now, we just gotta hit the ball on the barrel and find some holes,” Laureano said.

Frankie Montas faces Justus Sheffield in the finale of the four-game series on Monday.

Giants hit all four S’s–Splash, Scream, Safe, Socially Distant–in dramatic, 7-6 win over the Padres

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Mike Yastrzemski doesn’t have an ounce of demonstrativeness in his body. Low-key, business-like, and surprisingly productive, let’s call the Giants’ outfielder the prototypical star for socially distant times.

Yastrzemski’s second homer of the game in the bottom of the ninth propelled the Giants to an improbable 7-6 win over the Padres, their first at home in a pandemic-shortened season. The homer, which sailed just inside the right field foul pole and into McCovey Cove enlivened 30 of the 300 or so people scattered throughout Oracle Park, all 30 of whom came streaming out of the home team’s dugout to greet their hero. With only their voices audible in a 40,000-seat stadium, the celebration at home plate was surreal and brief.

“Obviously we’re trying to do our best to stay safe and avoid as much contact as possible,” Yastrzemski recounted. “Sometimes in that situation you just have to follow the lead and everybody was doing the right thing. We just jumped around.”

Coming into Wednesday’s game, the Giants ranked last in extra base hits, 29th in home runs and 28th in runs scored. With four home runs and triple among their 12 hits on the night, the unheralded squad look like a competent, offensive force for the first time in six games.

But most of that damage came after starter Johnny Cueto departed and Trent Grisham’s three-run homer off reliever Shaun Anderson left the Giants trailing 6-2 in the fifth.

But the Giants clawed back, first with Alex Dickerson’s solo shot to center in the sixth, and Donovan Solano’s improbable, three-run homer in the eighth to tie it.

The 32-year old Solano had homered just 13 times in 1,296 at-bats over seven big league seasons coming in, but that didn’t stop him from turning into a right-handed hitting Barry Bonds while facing veteran reliever Craig Stammen. On a 2-1 changeup running in on his hands, Solano some how got his hips turned and his bat moving with home run heft without sending the ball into foul territory.

“Luckily I have a short swing and I was able to do some damage,” Solano said through his interpreter Edwin Higueros. “The only thing I was trying to do was make solid contact and at least drive one run in.”

Reliever Tyler Anderson helped the Giants’ cause with 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief that kept the Giants within striking range before their rally began in earnest with two outs in the eighth.

“This team is full of fighters,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “These are their words and I believe them when they talk. They demonstrated that they can back those words up.”

The win prevented the Padres from claiming the major’s best record at 5-1, and an early lead in the NL West. San Diego got a two-run homer from Manny Machado, but they imploded late. Two Padres’ baserunners got picked off first base in the eighth, and three of the four San Diego relievers allowed home runs, preventing manager Jayce Tingler turning the ball over to All-Star closer Kirby Yates with the lead.

The Giants are expected to activate Evan Longoria and Brandon Belt from the disabled list prior to Thursday’s series finale. Kevin Gausman will be the Giants’ starter opposed by the Padres’ Dinelson Lamet.

 

Gott is Hot: Giants reliever trending with the fantasy baseball crowd

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By Morris Phillips

During six minor league seasons, the Giants’ Trevor Gott criss-crossed the U.S. similar to a well-known Johnny Cash song.

I’ve been to Louisville, Nashville, Knoxville, Ombabika
Schefferville, Jacksonville, Waterville, Costa Rica
Pittsfield, Springfield, Bakersfield, Shreveport
Hackensack, Cadillac, Fond du Lac, Davenport
Idaho, Jellico, Argentina, Diamantina
Pasadena, Catalina, see what I mean’a
I’ve been everywhere, man

Gott left the University of Kentucky after three seasons when he was selected in the sixth round of 2013 Major League Baseball Draft. That started a nomadic existence in which he pitched for nine minor league teams, including three stints in Syracuse and two with Arkansas. Each of Gott’s assignments to Syracuse followed a demotion from the Washington Nationals, one of his three major league stops that began with the Angels in 2015, then onto D.C. and the Giants in 2019. Groomed as a closer initially, the 5’10” Gott settled into a role as a setup man before his first big league promotion by Los Angeles.

With an effective fastball, but no established secondary pitch, Gott never stuck in one place or with one organization. But the Giants kept him on the big league roster for the entire season in 2019, and he rewarded them with 57 strikeouts over 52 innings in 50 appearances and 7-0 record.

Gott figured to earn some, not a bunch, of high leverage assignments in Gabe Kapler’s unheralded bullpen this season, but twice over the weekend, Kapler bypassed Tony Watson, and brought in Gott, who surprised with back-to-back saves against the powerful Dodgers.

Will Smith led off the ninth with a home run off Gott on Saturday to bring the Dodgers within one run, but the 27-year old rebounded, retiring Max Muncy, Mookie Betts and Clay Bellinger in a row for his second, big league save.

“I thought our bullpen did a nice job of holding it together under some tough conditions. In particular, Gotter did a nice job,” Kapler said of the season’s first victory.

Gott came right back Sunday night and finished off the Dodgers again, this time in a 3-1 win, and as the final piece of 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief by the Giants’ pen. Six relievers had a piece in it, but only Gott retired Smith, Betts and Muncy consecutively after he allowed a leadoff double to A.J. Pollock.

The saves caught the attention of the fantasy baseball crowd, who were more than eager to add a pitcher racking up the saves who was on only 10 percent of fantasy rosters coming into the weekend.

For Gott, he’s just taking it in stride, given all the stops and starts in his career, and Kapler’s refusal to define roles at this early juncture of the season.

“I’m really, really happy I got the opportunity, but we’ve got a lot of good, young arms down there,” Gott said. “I think these past two games you all have seen that. That’s a good lineup over there, and I think the past two games we showed that we have arms that are going to be able to compete.”

Gott’s storyline is pretty defined: his fastball that’s electric and darts away from lefties is his only dependable pitch. His curveball has always been below major league standards so much so that he’s scrapped it at times for a changeup that wasn’t more than 8 mph slower than his mid-90’s heater. But this season, he’s been a problem by reinventing the curveball, and getting it across the plate at 80 to 83 mph, which is the desirable 10 mph slower than his fastball.

So far hitters can’t sit on his fastball when the curve is putting them behind in the count. Now the question is, can he keep it up?

NOTES: Jeff Samardzija has been named the starter for Tuesday’s home opener against the Padres, with Johnny Cueto to follow Wednesday.  This halts Kapler’s pattern of not unveiling his starting pitcher until just before game time after just four games. While the strategy likely kept the Dodgers off balance, it could also be disconcerting to the Giants’ staff, who are conditioned to preparing days in advance.

 

 

 

 

The O in Ohtani stands for zero outs in A’s 6-4 win over the Angels

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By Morris Phillips

Major League Baseball has quite a bit of anonymity running through it these days, so here goes in recapping the Angels and A’s on Sunday:

The biggest name came up a little bit short, the most transcendent name didn’t last long, and the newest name went the furthest in the A’s 6-4 win at the Coliseum.

The A’s took full advantage of Shohei Ohtani’s unraveled return to the mound, striking for five runs out the gate before the two-way star was removed without recording an out. But the A’s were stymied by starter-turned-reliever Matt Andriese (5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief) and superstar Mike Trout (4 RBI) which turned a rout into a tense game in the fifth.

We pause at this point to examine how Ohtani’s 11th major league start–and his first since Tommy John surgery in 2018–became his worst, and how Trout came tantalizing close to rescuing his teammate with a second, three-run homer in the game’s first five innings.

Ohtani, the singular big league talent who combines a home run swing with a nasty, mid 90’s fastball-slider combo wiped out the A’s in his second big league start, a 12-strikeout masterpiece littered with unhittable sliders in April 2018 at the Coliseum.  Despite being used conservatively by the Angels, as an occasional DH and having a no less than a full week between starts, Ohtani experienced arm discomfort that truncated his rookie season as a pitcher.  He kept hitting that season before having the surgery in the off-season, then missing all of 2019 as a pitcher, while continuing his designated hitter duties.

Ohtani’s summer camp procceded naturally–and trouble free–a ramp up of velocity and length over three appearances. He appeared ready to pitch effectively on Sunday, his first start for new manager Joe Maddon.

Marcus Semien, with just one hit in his first eight at-bats, took Ohtani back up the middle for a leadoff single. The next three batters all walked as Ohtani took deep breaths on the mound and looked less than comfortable. Singles by Mark Canha and Robbie Grossman increased the A’s lead to 4-0, and forced Maddon’s hand after the Japanese star faced just six batters.

“He just didn’t throw the ball very well,” Maddon said. “I can’t sit here making excuses for him. I’m not going to do that. It just wasn’t his day. The fastball wasn’t coming out, there was no deception in his pitches.”

Tellingly, Ohtani hit 94 mph as high–slightly off the 96 mph he regularly hit in 2018–and threw just two sliders. No doubt, healthy, but tentative, not surprising given his injury and infrequent pitching assignments going back over three years now.

“Right now I feel like I was throwing the ball rather than pitching,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “There is still a little rust. I have to come up with a game plan.”

Trout came up in an advantageous situation in the third with a pair of runners aboard and gifted a 3-0 count by Fiers. Not through granting gifts, Fiers looked to get back in the count with a batting practice fastball that Trout launched. Not surprising, but the bomb was the first of Trout’s 286 career homers to come on a 3-0 count. In fact, only five times in 210 situations had Trout resolved an at-bat on a 3-0 pitch with a swing, and that produced just one single. Needless to say, Fiers had little to fear, except…

When Brian Goodwin and David Fletcher opened the fifth, as they did in the third, with back-to-back singles, Fiers got a relatively early hook as well. But Yusmeiro Petit back the starter with three consecutive outs, including a sacrifice fly that reached the warning track induced off Trout’s bat. That smash would have given the Angels the lead, instead it made Petit the game’s subtle hero.

Four other A’s relievers followed, concluding  with Liam Hendriks’ four-out save, and none allowed a run. The heroes in Oakland’s 2-1 start to the season? The bullpen with one run allowed in 15 plus innings of work.

“They’ve been fantastic,” Bob Melvin noted. “We knew the bullpen would be very important in the beginning of the year. They’ve been up to the task.”

Sean Murphy, the first A’s catcher to truly be handed the keys to the car by Melvin since Stephen Vogt departed, finished the Halos with a 455-foot home run in the sixth. First pitch swinging against reliever Noe Ramirez, Murphy was everything Trout wasn’t with his controlled, home run swing in the third: violent and powerful.

“He’s about as strong as anybody and can hit the ball as far as anyone on our team. All it takes for a guy like him is one pitch,” Melvin said of his young catcher.

The A’s conclude the wraparound, four-game series on Monday with Griffin Canning facing familiar face, Chris Bassitt for the A’s.

Slater, Giants bring the noise to Oakland in 6-2 Summer Camp win

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By Morris Phillips

Austin Slater knows he’ll be around, he just doesn’t know what his role will be. Given that, Monday’s exhibition in Oakland was about defining things.

Mission accomplished.

Slater had three hits, two doubles and five RBI in the Giants 6-2 Summer Camp win over the A’s. The utilityman was penciled into manager Gabe Kapler’s right-handed dominant lineup as the leadoff guy with pop. Given his success, and Kapler’s preference for platoons, don’t be surprised if Slater assumes the role again this weekend against the Dodgers, for the season-opening series in which the Giants expect to see lefty starters in three of the four games.

During spring and summer training, Slater seen time defensively at every position on the diamond except pitcher and catcher. The 27-year old carries a collection of gloves, and doesn’t seem rattled by all the uncertainty needed as a reserve. Kapler wasn’t around, but Slater’s sneaky good 2019 season helps his cause as well.

“I think guys are able to round out their game and not be so narrowed in on one specific position,” Slater said of his expansive skill set. “It helps you understand the game. It helps the team.”

Slater, singled in the first and doubled in the second off A’s starter Sean Manaea. The double came with bases loaded and cleared the bases. Then in the seventh, Slater took advantage of lefty reliever Jake Diekman with a two-run double.

Nine Giants pitchers, starting with Kevin Gausman, saw an inning of work, and none of the nine gave up more than one hit. Tyler Anderson surrendered Stephen Piscotty’s home run in the second, and 26-year Caleb Baragar gave up a hit, walk and a run in the fourth.

Chadwick Tromp doubled and scored, and Jaylinn Davis singled and scored twice for the Giants.

The abbreviated summer camp concludes Tuesday as the two teams meet again at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

Kapler and several of his players elected to kneel during the national anthem prior to the game. The socially conscious manager announced his plan to kneel before the game, while encouraging his players to kneel or do whatever they were comfortable with.

“I wanted them to know that I wasn’t pleased with the way our country has handled police brutality, and I told them I wanted to amplify their voices and I wanted to amplify the voice of the Black community and marginalized communities, as well,” Kapler said.