Category: MLB

The Oakland A’s starter Cole Irvin throws to the Detroit Tigers at the Oakland Coliseum on Sat Apr 17, 2021 (AP News photo)

Detroit 0 – 5 – 0

Oakland 7 – 8 – 0

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–Last night’s game was good news for Athletics fans. The team also had some good off field news. Stephen Piscotty went on on paternity leave. We shall miss him in the outfield. We shall miss him at the bat. But he and MLB have their priorities straight here, and let’s honor them for that.

Taking Piscotty’s place on the roster was Vimael Machín, the versatile rule 5 pick from 2020, who spelled Jed Lowrie at second this afternoon. He can play all positions except pitcher and catcher

Starting on the mound, hoping to extend the A’s six game winning streak, was left handed Cole Irvin, hoping to improve on his 0-2,7.45 record with the A’s this season. He brought with him to the mound a four game losing streak, dating back to May 22 of 2019. His last win had occurred five days earlier. He was with the Phillies back then.

Irvin’s counterpart for the Tigers, the right handed Casey Mize—a baseball name if ever there was one—presented more formidable numbers, 1-0,0.82). He throws very effective heat. In his seven games as a rookie last year, his opponents managed to squeak out a batting average of .136 against that pitch.

Of course, the 22 at bats on which that figure was calculated is not a convincing sample size. Still, forewarned is forearmed, especially if we’re talking about four seamers. By the way, Mize was the number one overall pick in 2018 draft.

For all that, the Athletics jumped off to an early lead in their half of the first when Matt Olson delivered a 96 mph four seamer deep into the right field stands. Matt Chapman followed that with a triple that almost left the park but bounded off the Southwest Airlines sign just to the left of the 367 foot marker. Those booming shots had come with two outs, so Mitch Moreland’s grounder to shortstop Willi Castro, playing in the shift, ended the threat,

The A’s kept pouring it on in the second episode. With two down, Machín celebrated his return to the show by singling to left. Aramis García then blasted a 3-2 slider into the State Farm advertisement between the 362 and 388 feet signs in left center field for his first home run as an A. Mark Canha cleared that sign on the next pitch, putting Oakland on top, 4-0. It was his third dinger of the season.

The Tigers seemed ready to pounce back into the game in the top of the fifth. With two men out, their number nine hitter, JaCoby Jones, hit a single to right, followed by Robbie Grossman’s seeing eye safety to left. Both men moved up on a wild pitch during Niko Goodrum’s AB, a ball that brought the count to 3-2. Irvin got him on a called third strike, a 93 mph sinker.

Oakland tacked on another run in the fifth when Chapman beat out the relay on an 4-6-3 double play attempt that brought Canha, who’d been hit by a pitch and reached third on an Olson single, home with the home team’s fifth tally.

Mize set the A’s down in order in the fifth, and that ended his work day. He had allowed five runs, all earned, on seven hits, two of them for the distance. He struck out four with no walks but two hit batters. 63 of his 95 offerings either were in the strike zone or swung at. His replacement was Daniel Norris, who allowed a hit but nothing else, in his one-inning stint, followed in the seventh by Joe Jiménez.

Bob Melvin removed Irvin, who had pitched admirably, after his sixth shutout inning. His balance sheet included four hits against six Ks with nary a walk, although he did hit one batter. He threw 93 pitches, of which only 30 were balls and was in line for the win when J.B.Wendelken replaced him.

Wendelken did well in relief for Irvin, setting Detroit down with only one baserunner, but Jiménez issued enough walks to allow two runs without a hit or error. The second of those runs was charged to Alex Lange, whose first pitch, with the bases filled with inherited runners, was wild.

Still, he got the third the third out in the seventh, and Detroit escaped further damage, as if their hosts hadn’t already inflicted enough of that on them. Lange remained in the game, closing the A’s out in the eighth.

Wendelken and Deolis Guerra pitched an inning each, and they were sharp and effective, Guerra especially so, dispensing with the top of the Detroit lineup 1-2-3 on a dozen pitches, including a strike out. Jordan Weems closed the books on the Tigers in the ninth.

The win went to Irvin. He’s now 1-2, 4.60. Mize took the loss, which left record his record at 1-1, 3.38.

Two shutouts in a row. Who’da thunk it?z

The series closes tomorrow, with game time at 1:07. The probable starters are Chris Bassitt (1-2, 4.96) for the A’s and Matthew Boyd (2-1, 1.86) for Detroit.

The Oakland A’s starter Frankie Montas threw six innings of shutout ball before the bullpen took over against the Detroit Tigers at the Oakland Coliseum Fri Apr 16, 2021 (AP News photo)

Detroit. 0 – 4 – 0

Oakland 3 – 8 – 0

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–Two weeks into the season, it’s early, but maybe not too early to look at how the teams in the AL West are stacking up.

Only two games separated the four teams as they went into play today. That, in itself, isn’t particularly surprising. What is noteworthy is the pecking order of the quartet. Seattle sits on top at 6-4, followed, in order, by the Angels, Astros, and, in a tie, the Rangers and A’s.

Oakland’s numbers for the fortnight are not encouraging, but there are some encouraging statistics besides the green and gold’s six wins, five of them consecutive, in the last seven games. In that period they went from a scoring deficit of 37 runs a surplus of 15, only a smidgin over two runs a game, but still a good sign. Unfortunately, you have to balance that against a two week (and too weak) BA of .213, although the lineup has hit at a ,275 clip over the past five games,which includes a couple played under National League rules.

The A’s mound staff reduced its collective ERA by half, going from 8.00 in the first six games to 4.00 in the following seven tilts. Nonetheless, their ERA for all 13 games came out to 5.85, considerably higher than any other team’s in the majors. Their opponents hit a staggering .321 of the first half dozen encounters. They were to held to .237 between then and Frankie Montás´s first pitch at 6:42 this evening.

He held the Tigers scoreless on one hit for four innings, while his oppposite number, José Ureña, held the A’s to those same anemic digits over three and a third frames. But, then Oakland’s bats awoke, After a walk to speed demon Ramón Laureano, who advanced to second on Matt Olson’s infield single to third, Matt Moreland drove the A’s center fielder home with the game’s first run on a single to right center that sent Olson to third, from where he scored on Sean Muprhy’s double down the left field line. A walk to Seth Brown loaded the bases, giving Elvis Andrus a chance to blow the game open. But there were two down, and Andrus’s fly to left center ended the threat.

When Montás wound up his sixth inning of mound labors, with an even hundred pitches, 66 of which were strikes, he had blanked the Tigers on two hits. He struck out seven and walked only one. He was in line for the win, which he got, bringing his record to 2-1, 4.91. Yusmeiro Petit, his replacement, preserved the lead through the seventh, giving up a hit and getting a punch out, before giving way to Jake Diekman at the start of the eighth. Diekman sent Detroit down in order.

After throwing 96 pitches, 64 for strikes, Tiger skipper A.J. Hinch removed Ureña in favor of Derek Holland. The Dominican righty had pitched an excellent game and deserved a better outcome. He had scattered seven hits and allowed two walks over his seven inning stint.

In his one-inning appearance, Ureña’s replacement, Derek Holland, gave up the A’s only home run of the evening, a towering solo blast to center that went for Chapman’s third round tripper of the year.

Lou Trivino closed the Tigers down in the ninth to earn the save and bring the A’s to the club house with a .500 winning percentage.

Tomorrow afternoon, Cole Irvin (0-2,7.45) fill face the Tigers, whose starter will bee Casey Mize (1-0,0.82). Game time is 1:07.