Category: MLB

Oakland A’s runner Zack Gelof (20) gets a jump on the throw as the Cleveland Guardians Brayan Rocchio (left) anticipates the late throw in the top of the second inning at Progressive Field in Cleveland (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The Oakland A’s(8-14) fell to the Cleveland Guardians (16-6) in the third game of their series getting swept. It was a forgettable game with problems on the mound as well as not being able to muster much offense.

They did get hits but they could not string them together leaving runners stranded. The Guardians however delivered some clutch hits as well as putting some very good pitching on the mound for the 6-2 win. Cleveland is not the best team in baseball at the moment for no reason. They are having their best start in 25 years.

Game recap: The Guardians took it to the A’s from the get go scoring runs in the 2nd and third innings taking a 2-0 lead going into the fourth inning. Cleveland’s Will Brennan got the game underway for Cleveland with a home run in the second inning, a solo shot.

The Guardians added another run in the third inning when Andres Gimenez singled Brayan Rocchio home and Cleveland showed no signs of letting their foot off the peda in this series intent on sweeping Oakland.

In the fourth inning Oakland did get on the board via a Brent Rooker home run, a solo shot but the Guardians answered right back in the same inning. Gabriel Arias singled and Will Brennan scored giving Cleveland a 3-1 lead.

Oakland almost made a game of it in the sixth inning when they pulled to within one run 3-2. Lawrence Butler singled Ryan Noda home and we had a ball game. Unfortunately Cleveland broke this game open in the seventh inning.

The A’s had relieved starting pitcher Ross Stripling who had allowed five hits and three runs through five innings. Oakland trailed by a single run into the seventh inning but it all went haywire in the bottom of the seventh.

A’s Relief pitcher Mitch Spence got through the sixth inning very well but had a rough time in the seventh allowing a double and hitting Brayan Rocchio. With two Cleveland runners on base and only one out, T.J. McFarland relieved Spence looking to clean up the mess but only added to it.

Spence hit Gimenez and allowed a double that brought in three runners giving the Guardians a 6-2 lead. Josh Naylor doubled to bring in those three runners. He was making life pretty miserable for Oakland the entire series in fact the entire Cleveland offense had been on point the entire series. The final was 6-2.

This has been the best start for Cleveland since 1999 as they handed the A’s their second sweep of the season. The Guardians stepped up in clutch situations in the game and they delivered every time. On the other side, the A’s struggled offensively unable to string hits together although each team finished with seven hits apiece.

The timing of those hits were clearly on Cleveland’s side. Oakland could not muster much offense in clutch situations in this game. The Guardian relief pitching held the A’s scoreless over the final 3 1/2 innings.

Oakland now has lost seven games in a row in Cleveland. They also have nine players on the injured list so when it rains it pours. It does not get any easier for the A’s as they head to New York for a four-game series with the Yankees that starts Monday.

Game notes: Sunday afternoon, the A’s finished up their series in at Progressive Field against the Guardians with a sweep and a 6-2 win. Oakland was tried to avoid the sweep but in order to do that, they had to battle through one of the best offenses and defenses in MLB today.

The Guardians are relentless at the plate and the A’s had to be pretty much perfect on the mound. Oakland starter Ross Stripling got touched up for five hits and three runs Guardians. The A’s themselves needed hitting, start stringing hits together and stop leaving runners stranded. Far easier said than done.

JP Sears (1-1 ERA 4.35) will get the start for Oakland Monday in New York and Carlos Rodon (1-1 ERA 3.66) will take the mound for the Yankees. First pitch is scheduled for 10:05AM PDT in an early game for Oakland. It will all come down to what the A’s can produce at the plate and solid pitching will be a must. These guys will be sorely challenged in yet another rough series for Oakland.

Cleveland Guardians hitter Josh Naylor celebrated his home run off the Oakland A’s starter Alex Wood in the bottom of the fifth inning by hitting himself in the helmet with his bat. (AP News photo)

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Augie:

#1 Augie, the Cleveland Guardians Josh Naylor hit a home run on Saturday that he took the bat and hit himself in the head with the bat to celebrate. The Guardians took the second game of the three game series from the A’s 6-3 at Progressive Field.

#2 A’s pitcher Alex Wood was touched up for eight hits and four earned runs over five innings. He just had a tough time trying to get tracked against the Guardians line up.

#3 The A’s will have to go out and face Naylor again who been hitting like Ted Williams this opening month of the season swinging for a .429 average with five homers and 11 RBIs scoring eight runs in eight games.

#4 On the other hand the A’s are not just hurting in getting some good starting pitching in the series but also they need runs badly and the hitting production is off.

#5 First pitch in game three Sunday is scheduled for 10:40 AM. Ross Stripling (0-4 ERA 5.32) will get the start for Oakland and Tanner Bibee (1-0 ERA 4.82) will take the mound for the Guardians.

Augie Mesenburg is a podcast contributor for http://www.sportsradioservice.com and is a reporter for KHAI 103.2 Honolulu radio

Oakland A’s Max Schuemann slugs a top of the fifth inning home run off of the Cleveland Guardians pitcher Logan Allen at Progressive Field in Cleveland on Sat Apr 20, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The Oakland A’s (8-13) were a lot more competitive than they were in Friday’s game although coming up short losing to the Cleveland Guardians (15-6) 6-3. The Cleveland pitching is a tough nut to crack, one of the reasons that they are the best team in baseball right now.

Game recap: Unlike the game Friday, it was the Guardians first up on the board in the first inning taking a 2-0 lead. Jose Ramirez doubled and David Fry scored for the early 1-0 lead. Cleveland would add to their lead in the first off the bat of Ramon Laureano driving Ramirez home for a 2-0 tally.

Neither team would score in the second, third nor fourth innings. Oakland tied up this game in the fifth inning when both Ryan Noda and Max Schuemann hit back-to-back solo home runs. This was Schuemann’s first MLB hit and it was a dandy, in fact he came very close to a home run in his first at bat in this game.

This tie game was short-lived. In the bottom of the fifth inning the Guardians broke the tie taking a 4-2 lead. Josh Naylor homered with Steven Kwan on base and Cleveland had a 2-run lead 4-2.

Oakland pitcher Alex Wood went five innings before being relieved by Michael Kelly. He allowed 8 hits, four runs with 4 strikeouts. It was a challenging game for Wood on the mound. Kelly pitched one inning allowing one hit, no runs with 2 strikeouts.

In the sixth inning, the A’s Abraham Toro tripled and Oakland was threatening to tie up this game. The A’s were unable to tie up the game but Shea Langeliers hit a sacrifice, Toro scored and Oakland trailed by a single run 4-3 in this highly competitive contest. The question now, could the A’s remain competitive.

Oakland’s Austin Adams relieved Kelly on the mound in the seventh inning. The Guardians added another run in the inning taking a 5-3 lead with one out and runners on first and second. Josh Naylor singled Steven Kwan home for the 5-3 tally.

Cleveland would strike again in the seventh when Tyler Freeman singled and David Fry scored for a 6-3 Guardian lead. Through seven innings the A’s had five hits while Cleveland had 13. There was some lop-sided offense going on in this game. Again it was the Guardian pitching that was giving Oakland a lot of trouble.

In the top of the eighth inning, the A’s tried to put something together. They had a runner, Zach Gelof on base on a walk with one out and Abraham Toro at the plate. Toro struck out and Shea Langeliers came to the plate and pop flied out and the A’s were unable to add to their score continuing to trail by the score of 6-3.

Oakland was running out of innings. In the bottom of the eighth inning there was a pitching change for the A’s as TJ McFarland took over on mound. He faced Steven Kwan who had been on fire the entire series.

Kwan singled with two outs after already having 4 hits and two runs. David Fry struck out looking for the third out and the A’s had the ninth inning to make any sort of move. Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase got the job done striking out the A’s Lawrence Butler for the final out and that was the ballgame 6-3.

After the first two games in this series it is easy to see why Cleveland has one of the best records in MLB. They now have a 15-6 record with the Yankees right on their heels. They have extraordinary starters and an excellent bullpen.

These were a couple of tough games for the Oakland A’s. They had six hits while the Cleveland Guardians finished with 14 hits. Oakland did have two home runs in the game but both were solo. The highlight of this game for A’s fans in attendance was the home run coming off the bat of Schuemann his first career hit, which turned out to be his first career home run.

His first big-league hit was his first big-league homer, a very special moment for Schuemann and his family and friends in the stands supporting him. This was Oakland’s 6th game with 2+ home runs.

Game notes: Friday, the A’s took a beating at the hands of the Guardians in game one of this series at Progressive Field. The A’s hit solo home runs in the first and the ninth innings but the Guardians scored ten runs in innings two through nine for the 10-2 win. Cleveland was relentless and the A’s had a lot of trouble offensively. Cleveland had an excellent game on the mound and Saturday’s game was no exception either as the won again beating Oakland by three runs 6-3.

Oakland will try to salvage the series Sunday and avoid the sweep in game three of this series before moving on to New York and a four-game series with the Yankees on Monday. First pitch in game three Sunday is scheduled for 10:40 AM. Ross Stripling (0-4 ERA 5.32) will get the start for Oakland and Tanner Bibee (1-0 ERA 4.82) will take the mound for the Guardians.

Oakland A’s who opened a three game series against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on Fri Apr 19, 2024 were shelled 10-2 (Oakland A’s X photo)

By Barbara Mason

It was matching bookends for the Oakland A’s (8-12) Friday night as they took on the Cleveland Guardians (14-6). They opened the game with an Abraham Toro home run and added a Brent Rooker home run in the ninth inning. The only problem, the Guardians piled a bunch of runs throughout the rest of the game for a 10-2 win.

Game recap: Oakland got this game going in the first inning with an Abraham Toro home run taking the early 1-0 lead. The Guardians answered in the bottom of the second inning with a homer of their own. Tyler Freeman hit a 2-run homer with Will Brennan on base taking a 2-1 lead.

The Guardians broke this game wide open in the bottom of the fifth inning scoring five runs. Steven Kwan got the flurry of hits going with a double driving both Bo Naylor and Esteven Florial home for a 4-1 lead. Cleveland was just getting started.

Andres Gimenez singled driving two more runners home, Brayan Rocchio and Steven Kwan, extending Cleveland’s lead to 6-1. The Guardians scored one more run in the fifth inning when Jose Ramirez singled Gimenez home for a 7-1 lead.

The inning mercifully came to an end for the A’s. They were facing an uphill battle through the next four innings. The hits were not showing up for Oakland struggling against Cleveland pitcher Triston McKenzie. McKenzie pitched through five innings allowing 3 hits and one run with 6 strikeouts. Tim Herrin relieved him in the 6th inning allowing no hits, no runs with 2 strikeouts.

The Guardians Tyler Beede took the mound to start the 7th inning pitching two back-to-back strikeouts and a ground-out to retire the A’s. Oakland pitcher Kyle Muller took over on the mound in the bottom of the 7th inning. Muller got through the inning allowing only one hit as Cleveland continued to lead 7-1.

Seth Brown left JJ Bleday, who had singled, stranded in the 8th inning when he grounded out to first and this game went into the bottom of the eighth. The A’s allowed their 11th home run of the season off the bat of Josh Naylor for an 8-1 Cleveland lead.

An outfield error from Seth Brown, his first of the season, allowed Tyler Freeman to score for an 9-1 lead. Next at bat for the Guardians Esteven Florial singled Bo Naylor home and the Guardians had built a 10-1 lead going into the ninth inning.

The A’s were able to add another run in the ninth inning, a home run, off the bat of Brent Rooker for a final score of 10-2. The A’s finished this game with 6 hits to the 9 hits from Cleveland.

Game notes: After avoiding a sweep Wednesday, the A’s who beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 in the first series of this road trip at Busch Stadium in St Louis. Friday night Oakland got clobbered by the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field in Cleveland 10-2. The A’s faced some hitters against Cleveland, to start the three game series, which will be followed by a four game series starting Monday against the Yankees. Oakland will be challenged in both of these matchups, in fact, they have a slew of tough games coming up the pike. Oakland’s Joe Boyle took the mound in this game and lasted six innings giving up five hits on seven earned runs. Triston McKenzie started for the Guardians went five innings giving up three hits and one earned run.

It was a rough outing for Oakland to start this road trip. The A’s will take on the Guardians Saturday in game two of their series with first pitch at 3:10 PM. Alex Wood (0-1 ERA 8.10) will take the mound for Oakland and Logan Allen (2-0 ERA 5.05) will get the nod for the Guardians.