Author: Sports Radio Service

Oakland A’s Robbie Grossman left and Matt Olson (28) share congratulations after Olson hit a two run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning at the Oakland Coliseum against the visiting Houston Astros on Thursday afternoon (AP News photo)

A’s Win Astros Series 4 games to 1 – Basically won the Division

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–The Athletics will not have to face the Houston Astros anymore during this “regular” 2020 season. They won four games of the five game series at Oakland, from Monday, through Thursday.

A’s manager Bob Melvin, who said he wanted to open-up a larger lead on the second place team, got his wishes. The first place A’s left for a road-trip with a 6 1/2 game lead over the Astros, their largest lead in the division since September, 24, 2013, that 2013 the Athletics won the division with a 96-66 record, 5 1.2 games over the Texas Rangers.

With a record of 27-15 and with just 18 games left to complete the 60-game season, the Oakland Athletics have basically the AL Western Division inside their pockets.

The club embarks on their last long road trip of the season. Tomorrow open a 4 game set at Arlington, vs. Texas Rangers, then move on to Seattle for 2 games (a double header) on Monday, before they fly to Denver for 2 games in 2 days against the Colorado Rockies.

They are scheduled to return home the 18th for a three game weekend series against the San Francisco Giants, whom they swept earlier in August during a three-game weekend series at Oracle Park.

The Athletics bullpen continues to lead all bullpens in baseball this season. Their starters, during this series against the Astros, completed seven innings of work in three of the last five starts.

The Houston Astros left Oakland in a very precarious situation. Astros only lead the third place Seattle Mariners in the standing by a couple of games. Although they still have a chance to advance to the postseason, this current team who won the division in 2019 with 107 wins, is very shaky.

They need José Altuve to comeback healthy, keep Alex Bregman also in the lineup and no more injuries the rest of the way. Those are manager Dusty Baker plans. Baker recently said he expects his top starter Justin Verlander to return to action by the end of the season.

POST SEASON: Reports (not-confirmed yet), have all MLB division winners hosting at least a division series. Best of three wild-card rounds to be held at the home site of the top four teams in each league. For example the A’s would open the first round at the Oakland Coliseum. American League: As the postseason advances, Southern California locations, Angel Stadium(Anaheim), Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles and PETCO Park (San Diego). National League: Minute Maid Park (Houston) and Globe Life Field (Arlington)

Stay well and stay tune.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish radio lead play by play talent on 1010 KIQI San Francisco and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s starter Sean Manaea threw for seven innings gave up two hits and one run against the Houston Astros for the A’s fourth win in five games against the Astros on Thursday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum (AP News photo)

Houston 1 2 0

Oakland 3 5 0

September 10, 2020

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–No one who saw Sean Manaea pitch two years ago can doubt his bona fides as a top of the line. Just ask the Red Sox; he no hit them on April 21 of 2018. But by August 26 a sore shoulder in his pitching arm sent Manaea to the disabled and then to surgery, another stay on the DL, prolonged and closely monitored rehab, until, finally, on September 1, 2019, he returned to active duty as the rosters expanded all over MLB.

The Throwin’ Samoan was masterful in his first start and went 4-0, 3.55 in the 29-2/3 innings he pitched over the rest of the season. But his performances were progressively weaker as the pennant race ran down until he was driven from the box after having surrendered four runs in two innings against Tampa Bay in the wild card game.

This year, the concerns about his mound work center around his reduced velocity and the difficulty he has getting past the second time around his opponents’ batting order. He hadn’t thrown more than 5-1/3 innings before today, and his record stood at 3-2, 5.09, although manager Bob Melvin had been encouraged by the lefty’s last outing, in which he held San Diego to one run on four hits in five innings.

Today he showed that Melvin had reason to feel as he did. If Manaea’s work this afternoon at the Coliseum didn’t all but concern him to rest, they sure went a long way towards doing that. – Menaea and Houston’s José Urquidi traded zeroes—and I mean zeroes, no runs, no hits, no errors—for the first four innings. The only men to reach base were Marcus Semien and Matt Olson, whom he walked in that frame.

Josh Reddick broke Manaea’s string on perfect innings with a lead off double down the right field line that was just barely fair. He advanced to, but stopped at, third when Aledmys Díaz followed with a line drive single to center.

It was good, conservative base running not to try to score in a no out situation like that, but it also was a tribute to Ramón Laureano’s strong arm. Martín Maldonado then hit into a 4-6-3 double play, La Stella to Semien to Olson, to wipe out Díaz, and Manaea struck out George Springer to escape further damage.

That one run deficit looked pretty imposing as the A’s came to bat in the bottom of the sixth. The situation seemed more dire when Urquidy got La Stella out on a warning track drive to right (which gave rise to some hope that the right handed wizard might be weakening).

Urquity got the second out, a grounder to Correa, his Astro counterpart at short. But then Urquidy walked Laureano on four pitches, and this time Houston’s hurler paid a price for his lack of control.

Olson blasted the first pitch Urquidy sent his way, a 93 mph four seamer, 377 feet to right for his twelfth homer and 30th and 31st RBI of this truncated campaign.It put Oakland ahead 2-1. Not bad for a guy who entered the game with a batting average of .190.

Urquidy had pitched an excellent game. In his six innings of work, he had given up two runs on only two hits to go with his one strike out. Although he had thrown only 88 pitches and might have lasted another frame, he had given signs of tiring.

So Dusty Baker called on Andre Scrubb to relieve his starter at the beginning of the home half of the seventh. Scrubb had surrendered one hit in two-thirds of an inning against the A’s last night. This afternoon, the toll was one hit and one run over the same distance.

Mark Canha led off by walking and stole second with Vimael Machín at bat. Chad Pinder, subbing for the still injured Matt Chapman at third, drove the runner home with a single to center. Houston was paying dearly for the bases on balls its pitchers were allowing, and Oakland went into the eighth ahead, 3-1.

Manaea had gone seven full innings, the longest stint of the year, and they were excellent. LIke Urquidy he had allowed two hits but only one run. He struck out four and, what’s very important, didn’t allow a single free pass. Indeed, of his 61 pitches, only 20 were balls.

Jake Diekman continued his nearly immaculate relief work, shutting out the ‘stros without a hit in the eighth (although he did surrender a base on balls to Reddick). That made 16 innings pitched by the southpaw reliever, with nary a run scored against him.

The Athletics wasted a chance for an insurance run in the eighth when Brad Peacock, pitching in relief of Scrubb, picked Robbie Grossman off at first. Umpire Adrian Johnson had ruled him safe, but that call was overturned on video review. Canha’s subsequent double to left was, as a consequence, unproductive.

Liam Hendriks mowed down the Astro , 1-2-3, in the ninth, earning his 12th save in 13 opportunities.

The A’s widened their lead over the Astros to 6 1/2 games. They trail Tampa Bay by a half a game for the best record in the American League and are in third place, four games behind the Dodgers for the top seat in MLB.

Melvin’s minions will continue their relentless pursuit of the pennant by flying this evening to Dallas-Ft. Worth, where they’ll meet the Texas Ranger tomorrow evening. The weary road warriors will return to the Coliseum on Sep 18th for a three game weekend series against the Giants.

 

 

The Oakland A’s Ramon Laureano gets an RBI single to send the A’s home in the bottom of the ninth knocking in the winning run against the Houston Astros on Wednesday night at the Oakland Coliseum (AP News photo)

Houston 2 4 0

Oakland 3 5 0

Wed September 9, 2020

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–During the Dodgers last three seasons in Brooklyn, they had a young left handed pitcher who hadn’t played even one inning of professional baseball before signing with, and playing for, the big team.

They had to keep him a year; those were the days of the bonus baby rule, under which a signing bonus of over $4,000 came with the additional cost of a year-long place on the 25 man roster. The kid was fast and wild, but raw.

He excited fans whenever he pitched, especially contests like the Mayor’s Trophy game against the Yankees. He ended up in the Hall of Fame. You’ve guessed it; he was Sandy Koufax.

Jesús Lozano generates that kind of excitement. Of course, he comes with some minor league experience, and his has more command and control than the adolescent southpaw from Lafayette HS and Nathan’s Hot Dog amateur team.

And no one of Lozano’s age (he’ll be 23 this month) has a lock on a plaque at Cooperstown, but, if he can stay healthy, the Peruvian born, Venezuelan raised, and US educated lefty looks to have a bright future. That’s an unportant if.

The A’s already have shut down their other promising novice hurler, AJ Puk, for the rest of the season. Their main current concern about Luzardo, whose progress already has been interrupted several times by injuries, is to build up his stamina to the point that he can be counted on for seven strong innings.

Facing him on the mound tonight for Houston was another 23 year old wunderkind, rookie right hander Luis García, making his first big league start. In his brief minor league career, García pitched in 54 games, 32 as a starter.

Garcia went 18-7 ERA 2.50 in them. The highest level at which he appeared before throwing four and a third innings of relief for Huston earlier this season was in high A ball. In that game he gave up only one hit, a solo home run, walked three and struck out two. He throws mainly fast balls, but has an effective slider for a strikeout pitch and also features effective curveballs and change-ups.

One of Luzardo’s most noteable traits is his poise. He showed it in the opening inning when, later George Springer deposited the lefty´s third pitch over the center field fence, 410 feet from home, the youngster bounced back from a 3-0 count to Alednys Díaz to strike him out and retire Huston’s number three and four bats, Michael Brantley and Yuli Gurriel, to stop the bleeding before the blood had begun to flow.

The two prospects traded goose eggs for the next five innings until Yuli Gurriel jumped all over a Luzardo curve with two down in the sixth and sent it 405 feet into the stands in left center field.

García pitched superbly, but he didn’t come out to face the A’s after Gurriel’s blast. The youngster had allowed but one hit, a fourth inning single to right center by Matt Olson, and two walks to go with his four strike outs. He threw 86 pitches, only 36 of which were balls. When Dusty Baker replaced him with Andre Scrubb to start the sixth, García was in line for his first big league win. He didn’t get it.

Cionel Pérez, Houston’s second reliever of the night, walked Machín with one out in the bottom of the seventh. Out went Pérez; in came Josh James, who walked Sean Murphy but got Tony Kemp to foul out to third. Then, with two down, Tommy La Stella doubled to left to tie it up at two.

When Joakim Soria replaced Luzardo to pitch the Houston eighth he had struck out seven Astros, allowed two runs, each on a solo homer, given up four hits and a walk, and thrown exactly 100 pitches, only 40 of them balls.

Soria retired the side in order in the eighth, and Liam Hendricks repeated the trick the following inning.

The Astros, like the A’s, sent their closer into pitch the ninth frame of this time game, but Ryan Pressly wasn’t up to the task. He walked Murphy and hit Kemp with a pitch. Tommy La Stella forced Kemp out at second while Stephen Piscotty, running for Murphy, advanced to third. He was thrown out at home on Semien’s grounder to short.

That brought Laureano to the plate with runners on first and second and two down. He lashed a drive to left center that would have gone for extra bases, but since it drove in the winning run, counted for only a single. Once more, the walk off A’s emerged on top.

Liam Hendricks got the win. His record stands at 3-0,  ERA 1.40. The loss went to Pressly, who’s now 1-2, ERA 4.11.

They’ll face Houston at 12:40 tomorrow afternoon. The pitching match up will be José Urquidy (0-0, ERA 4.91) versus Sean Manaea (3-2, ERA 5.09)

A footnote on playing it by the numbers: Today was Roberto Clemente Day in the MLB. Houston shortstop Carlos Correa, who usually sports number 1, their catcher, Martín Maldonda (#15), and A’s third baseman, Vilmael Machín (#39) honored their fellow Puerto Rican by wearing number 21.