Category: MLB

Oakland Athletics’ Esteury Ruiz hits an RBI double against the Seattle Mariners during the sixth inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Wed May 4, 2023 (AP News photo)

On the A’s podcast with Jerry F:

#1 On a rainy Wednesday night the A’s and Mariners battled it out which saw another heroic AJ Pollock home run help get Seattle the victory 7-2.

#2 The bottom of the sixth inning saw Oakland’s offense come alive as Ryan Noda started things off by getting walked. Following that up Esteury Ruiz knocked in Noda to get the first run of the game.

#3 However, the A’s were able to hold on to their lead until the ninth inning when a familiar foe struck. Once again Pollock played hero for the Mariners tying the game with a solo HR 2-2.

#4 Eugenio Suarez sent one to right center field and over the wall homering and giving Seattle a 5-2 lead. The run party was not over though as J.P. Crawford singled to right field sending home two runners extending the score to 7-2.

#5 Thursday, afternoon at 12:37. George Kirby (2-2,2.93) will start for the Mariners. Drew Rucinski (0-1, 4.76) will try to save the A’s from getting swept in the current series.

Join Jerry F for the Oakland A’s podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Seattle Mariners’ Eugenio Suárez hits a three-run home run against the Oakland Athletics during the 10th inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Wed May 3, 2023 (AP News photo)

Seattle.        000 000 101    5.  –  7. 11. 0

Oakland.    000  002  000 0. –   2.  6.  1 10 innings

Time: 3:07 (66 min. rain delay)  

 Attendance: 2,685

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–What do you do if you have a 1-0 lead and your starter, who has thrown no hit baseball for seven innings, reaches 100 pitches and you have a bullpen that can charitably be described  as shaky? If you’re the 2023 Oakland for a while longer A’s, you pull your starter and lose the game, 2-1. What do you do if you have a rookie outfielder who’s hitting .258?

That’s not a great BA, but  it’s 33 percentage points higher than your team’s average, so the kid’s holding his own against big league pitching. That, however didn’t measure up to the Athletics’ exigent standards, so the team took a look at its farm system and found a guy they’d gotten in exchange for AJ Puk, who was expected to take his place beside Jesús Luzardo as the mainstay of their rotation.

That guy is JJ Bleday, who was hitting .316 in the hitter friendly Pacific Coast League. Here is what the A’s media guide says in its first bullet point under the heading of “2022 Highlights” for Bleday: “Made both his Triple-A and Major League debuts … was batting .228 … in 85 games with 

Jacksonville when he was selected on July 23  … hit .167 … with the Marlins.” 

We had a chance to see this new acquisition tonight; he was the Athletics’ starting left fielder and batted fifth in the lineup the 6-24 A’s used against the 13-16 Seattle Mariners. Bleday went 0 for 4 and threw out a runner trying to take an extra base.  The A’s lost  7-2 in 10 innings even though they led 2-1 after eight.

But first we had to sit through a one hour and six minutes rain delay.

The home team’s starting pitcher, JP Sears, has thrown a lot of pitches this year, surpassing the 100 pitch mark once but never approaching Mason Miller’s marvelous performance of the previous evening.

The best outing Sears had under his belt in what had been an 0-2, 6.23 season, came on April 23, when his 101 offerings produced 11 strike outs but also allowed the Texas Rangers to score four runs, all earned, in six innings. The A’s won that contest, 5-4, but Sears didn’t figure in the decision

Logan Gilbert, who showed up to work with a 1-1, 4.23 mark, has four arrows in his quiver. He throws four seamers about 45.7% of the time, at an average velocity of 94.7 mph. That makes him somewhat getatable; opponents are hitting at a .356 clip against him when he uses it. Gilbert goes to the slider 23.9% of the time and with an average velocity of 88.5 mph. His two other deliveries are the curve (17.1%, 82 mph) and the split fingered fast ball (13.3% and 84.9 mph).

Sears pitched himself out of a jam in the top of the fourth. Tony Kemp bobbled JP Crawford’s lead off grounder to second and advanced to third on José Caballero’s single to left, Caballero taking second on the throw. Two strike outs and a fly to right center, and the threat was over.

The A’s broke a scoreless tie in the home sixth. Noda led off with a walk. Nick Allen moved him up a notch with a sacrifice between the mound and the late.  Ruíz sent a double to left, where Taylor Trammell had replaced Jarred Kelenic, who had been ejected in the top  of the frame for arguing a strike call.

 That brought Noda home with the first tally of the game. Then Kemp lined a two bagger down the right filed line that plated Ruíz. Gilbert recovered to retire Rooker and Laureano. But Oakland was ahead, 2-0.

Sears didn’t come out to pitch the seventh; Domingo Acevedo did. The southpaw starter had held the M’s to four hits in his six scoreless innings on the mound. He walked two and struck out seven, throwing 97 pitches, 66 for strikes.  Acevedo, who has not been pitching effectively this year, gave up a one out double to AJ Pollock and an RBI single Caballero that cut the A’s lead in half.

Gilbert also exited after six frames. The two runs he’d allowed were earned and came on three hits and two walks. He had six strike outs to his credit and had thrown 89 pitches, 51 of them for strikes.

Gabe Speier relieved him and allowed a couple of two out hits before Penn Murfee came to his rescue by striking out the  pinch hitting Jesús Aguilar.

Sam Moll  gave up a lead off single in the top of the eighth and then got a force out at second that was called a double play and then had the out call at first reversed upon a crew chief review. He picked off the surviving base runner, pinch hitter Sam Heggerty, a play that also received a crew chief review. That call was upheld. Zach Jackson came in to fan Teoscar Hernández for the final out. 

The A’s fell victim to the Curse of the Lead Off Double in their half of the frame. Nick Allen hit the ill-omened two bagger and went to third on Ruíz’s sacrifice bunt. Matt Brash kept him there, retiring Kent and Rooker.

Jackson returned to the mound to face the Mariners’ ninth inning offensive. He wasn’t successful. Cal Raleigh tied up his second game in a row, this time with a towering  blast over the left center filed fence, landing 410 from the launching pad at home plate. It came on a hanging slider.

Lauriano led off the bottom of the ninth against Brash with a single to center. Bleday fanned.  And Langeliers bounced into a 6-4-3 double play.

Overtime began with Adam Oller on the hill for Oakland and Caballero on second for the Mariners as the zombie runner. Rodríguez drew a walk.  France whiffed on a full count. Haggerty also went down swinging. And then Suárez delivered the coup du gace with towering home run to center that deflated the A’s hopes for the second consecutive night.

It came off a slider and travelled 410 feet. Various and sundry mishaps led to Seattle’s adding three runs to their total before Sam Long got the final out, leaving Oakland to enter its half of the 10th trailing 7-2.

Trevor Gott put a quick end to the game.

Brash  (3-2, 4:30) got the win. Oller (1-1, 10.07) took the loss.

Tomorrow, Thursday, afternoon at 12:37. George Kirby (2-2,2.93) will start for the Mariners. Drew Rucinski (0-1, 4.76) will try to save the A’s from complete ignominy.

Oakland Athletics’ Mason Miller pitches against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Tue May 2, 2023 (AP News photo)

Seattle. 000 000 020. – 2. 3. 0

Oakland 000. 001. 000 – 1. 3. 0

Time: 2:30

Attendance: 2,583

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–Only 2,583 people paid to see the A’s fall 2-1 to the Seattle Mariners tonight. But those ticket holders got their money’s worth.

The visitors from the Puget Sound strode into the decrepit temporary home of the for the present Oakland Athletics in fourth place in the American League’s Western Division, sporting a record of 12-16, which would not have made them seem like a foreboding presence if it were for the their hosts’ pitiful mark of 6-23.

The Mariners’ starting pitcher, Bryce Miller, who throws from the starboard side, was making his major league debut. He’s highly ranked on just about everybody’s prospect list, and the M’s have indicated that tonight’s appearance isn’t a temporary call up.

In any case, it was a busy night for the 12th letter of the alphabet. The M’s put Miller on the mound, and the A’s went with Mason Miller (0-1, 6.48), another righty.

The Mariners’ Miller livedup to his advance billing. He threw 68 pitches over 5-1/3 innings, striking out 10, until Tony Kemp connected with his 69th offering, a 95.6 mph four seamer for a clean single to center to become Oakland’s first baserunner.

A wild pitch and a two bagger to left by Esteury Ruíz and the A’s were up, 1-0. Trevor Gott came out in place of the impressive newcomer to face the A’s in the bottom of the seventh. He walked Jace Petereson and gave up a single to Shea Langliers and then handed off the ball to Gabe Speier, who struck out Kevin Smith, Oakland’s Miller wasn’t having too shabby an outing either.

After seven innings, he’d thrown an even 100 pitches, and all Seattle had to show for it was four walks. The Athletics’ starter struck out a half a dozen Mariners.

He didn’t get a chance to finish up the job. Richard Lovelady got one out in the eighth. Then threw an 88.6 mph four seamer to AJ Pollock who sent it travelling at 107.1 mph 367 feet into the left field seats to tie the game at one on Seattle’s first hit. Lovelady had to pitch to his third batter, so José Caballero got the chance to double to left. Jeurys Familia came on, and he walked Ty France before allowing Jarred Keienic to double to right and put the Mariners ahead, 2-1.

Justin Topa set down the A’s in the eighth with only a base on balls to Kemp.

Shintaro Fujinami set the M’s down in order in the ninth, striking out two.

Paul Sewald was called on to. save the game for the Mariners. AL player of the week Brent Rooker went down swinging, as did Jace Peterson. Between those Ks, Laureano few out to left.

The win went to Gabe Speier, who had faced one batter, Kevin Smith, who struck out to end the seventh. Sewald got his eighth save, and Lovelady took the loss and a blown save.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, at 6:47, JP Sears (0-2, 6.23) will start for the A’s, and George Kirby (2-2,2.93) will face him for the M’s.