Category: Oakland Athletics

Jubilation at the Oakland Ring Central Coliseum as Matt Olson (right) is congratulated by teammate Tony Kemp (5) after hitting a game winning double in the bottom of the tenth on Wed Aug 4, 2021 afternoon to split a two game series with the San Diego Padres (AP News photo)

San Diego 4 – 11 – 0

Oakland 5 – 7 – 0 (10 innings)

By Lewis Rubman

Wednesday August 4, 2021

OAKLAND–After Tuesday night’s disappointing 8-1 loss to the San Diego Padres (62-48), the Oakland A’s (61-48) went into Wednesday’s game against the Padres five and a half games behind the Astros in the race for the AL Western Division flag.

Winning that pennant has to be Oakland’s main goal if they are to have any hope of making it into the post season; three teams, the Yankees, Mariners, and Blue Jays are breathing down their necks, all three games or less behind the green and gold in the battle for the second wild card slot.

This afternoon’s contest, a thrilling 5-4, 10 inning triumph for Oakland, began as a tight pitcher’s duel, with the teams locked in a 1-1 tie after the first three innings. I like to consider this the opening act of the three act drama with 17 or 18 scenes that is a well constructed game of baseball. This afternoon’s contest had an epilogue.

The A’s took an early lead against Joe Musgrove, the Friars’ right handed starter who came to the mound with an impresive ERA of 2.94 to offset his unprepossessing won-lost record of 7-7. Jed Lowrie opened the second inning by blasting his 12th home run of the year, a 379 foot drive to right off a 90 mph cut fast ball.

Frankie Montás coughed up that slender lead in the following frame, allowing a lead off leg double to slow footed catcher Victor Caratini, who scored on Adam Frazier´s single to center after Montás had struck out the two intervening Padre batters, Jake Marisnick and Tommy Pham.

The tide turned in San Diego’s favor at the start of the second act, innings four through six. The Padres took the lead in the top of the fourth. With one out, Eric Hosmer singled to right. Jurickson Profar hit a liner that just cleared the glove of a leaping Olson and landed in right for a single that sent Hosmer to second. Trent Grisham then smacked a line drive against the right center field wall that rebounded past the centerfielder, Marte.

That drove in Hosmer, but Laureano fielded the elusive pellet and, combined with Josh Harrison’s fast and accurated relay, nabbed Profar at the plate, 9-4-2. That valiant play went in vain, as the pesky Caratini, who opened the day batting all of .226, singled to left, plating Grisham with the Friars’ third tally.

The second act, and with it Montás´s appearance, ended with San Diego still ahead, 3-1. The A’s starter threw 86 pitches in his afternoon’s work; 60 counted as strikes. All three runs he allowed were earned, and they came on eight hits. He struck out eight friars and didn’t walk any one.

Oakland’s had a new man on the mound to start the third and final act. Andrew Chafin, acquired from the Cubs on July 26, held the Padres to a single in the seventh before passing the ball to Jake Diekman in the eighth, who pitched a scoreless eighth and gave way to Yusmeiro Petit for the ninth inning. He yielded a two out double to Grisham but still held the Padres scoreless.

The seventh inning also brought a new pitcher to the mound for the visitors. Pierce Johnson relieved Musgrove, who, in six innings of brilliant work, had held the home team to a single run on only two hits, although he did issue three wallks and hit two Oakland batters.

One of them was the human bull’s eye, Mark Canha, whom he plunked on a full count in the first. Musgrove’s pitch count was 99. 40 of those were balls. Drew Pomeranz set the A’s down in order in the eighth.

Mark Melançon took the mound in the ninth for the visitors, looking for his 33rd save. Laureano greeted him with a double down the left field line to culminate a ten pitch at bat. Lowrie made the first out, taking a cutter for a called strike three.

Harrison sent a sorching ground ball to the right side of the infield of which Profar made a diving grab and beat the A’s second baseman to first for out number two while Laureano advanced to third. Murphy walked on four pitches, bringing up Chapman. Melvin called on Tony Kemp to run for Muphy.

Chapman hit a grounder to short, and Kemp beat Cronenworth’s throw to second, allowing Laureano to score and bringing Andrus to the plate with the tying run second and the winning run on first with two outs. Yan Gomes pinch hit for him and lined a single to center, bringing in Kemp with the tying run. We now were in extra innings.

Lou Trivino, who had converted his last 10 save opportunities relieved Petit with Ha-Seong Kim pinch running for Caratini, the placed runner on second, and Wil Myers batting for Marisnick. Myers grounded out short to first, sending Kim to third.

The shortstop, by the way, was Chapman, Kemp having stayed in the game, playing third. Chapman couldn’t handle a Tommy Pham’s grounder, and the error allowed Kim to score the run that put San Diego ahead 4-3.

It fell to Tim Hill to protect San Diego’s slender lead with Canha the placed runner on second and Marte at bat. Marte singled to right, sending Canha to third. Matt Olson lifted a fly to right that Myers, who remained in the game, seemed to have trouble finding in the sun. The ball bounced off the wall for a double, scoring Canha and Marte. with, respectively, the tying and winning runs.

Trivino got the win. He’s now 4-4, with an ERA of 1.95. Hill got charged with a blown save (as did Melançon) and the loss, making his recorrd 5-6, 2.90

The A’s have tomorrow off and will return to the Coliseum Friday evening at 6:40 when Chris Bassitt (11-3, 3.28) is scheduled to face the Texas Rangers and Mike Foltynewicz (2-10,6.00)

San Diego Padres starter Blake Snell serves them up against the Oakland A’s in the first inning of game one of the two game series at the Oakland Ring Central Coliseum on Tue Aug 3, 2021 (AP News photo)

San Diego 8 – 14 -0

Oakland 1 – 7- 0

By Lewis Rubman

Tuesday August 3, 2021

OAKLAND–Tonight’s southpaw starters, 2018 AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell (4-4, 5.44 at game time) for the Padres and Sean Manaea (8-6,3.01), whose ERA speaks for itself for the Athletics are no strangers to each other. They were mound rivals last Wednesday at Petco Park, where Manaea retired the first 16 Friars he faced before walking his erstwhile teammate Jurickson Profar in the sixth frame.

Manaea ended up pitching a full six innings before leaving the game, which Oakland eventually won 10-4 with a 10-0 lead. Obviously, Snell wasn’t as effective. He got chased after surrendering seven runs in a scant four inning stint on the mound.

Tonight, it was a different story. The Padres took the lead in the first and never relinquished it, going on to win by the lopsided score of 8-1. Tommy Pham, leading off for the Friars, drove a 3-2 sinker 401 feet into left center field for his 12th home run and 36th RBI of the year to get San Diego off and runnning-I should say trotting-to a one run lead.

Snell, for his part, got through the first undamaged, although the A’s put men on second and third with no outs on a single by Mark Canha and Starling Marte’s double. Leaving runners in scoring position has become an unfortunate tendency over the last month or so for the green and gold.

The Padres added on in the second, with two out singles by eighth and ninth hitters, Ha-Seong Kim and Jake Marisnick, driving in Austin Nola, who also had singled. Then Tommy Phan brought in Kim with a single to center just before Jake Croenenworth’s infield single brought in Marisnick with San Diego’s third tally of the frame.

The A’s threatened in their half of the second but were done in by another of their recently displayed short comings, bad base running. With the bases loaded and one out, Josh Harrison, who was part of the July 30 trade with Washington that brought Yan Gomes to Oakland, tried to score on Canha’s fly to medium right field.

The result was an inning ending 9-2 double play. To give the Athletics´performance on the basepaths its due, Harrison and Chapman pulled off a duble steal as part of the threat, and Oakland stole a total of four bases over the course of the game. (Marte and Laureano swiped the other two).

It was the curse of the lead off double that did the A’s in in the fifth. The two bagger came off the bat of Laureano, who followed it uo with his 12th stolen base of the season. But Chapman struck out, and Andrus flew out to the warning track in left center, and the A’s once more had left a man stranded on third. (Their total for the game was eight).

When Manny Machado doubled to left with one down in the fifth, that was it for Manaea. He lasted 4-1/3 innings,and surendered five runs, all earned, on eight hits, including Pham’s lead off home run, but didn’t walk anyone. He threw 99 pitches, 68 for strikes, and, at game’s end, was the losing pitcher, leaving him with a record of 8-7, 3.26.

Deolis Guerra relieved him and closed out the inning but not before he’d walked Wil Myers and allowed Austin Nola to double to left, scoring Machado, a run charged to Manaea, and Myers, whose run went on Guerra’s account.

The A’s finally got on the board when Marte blasted his eighth round tripper of ‘21, and first as an Athletic, with one down in home fifth. It came on a 94 mph four seamer and traved 413 feet into the left field seats.

Burch Smith took over for Guerra to start the sixth and set the side down in order but gave up two runs on four singles (by Machado, Hosmer, Nola, and Grisham) in the seventh. A walk to Cronenworth was all he allowed in eighth.

Snell came out after the fifth, having thrown enough innings to earn the win, improving his record to 5-4, 5.24. He threw 105 pitches, 65 for strikes, and allowed one, earned, run on six hits and three walks, striking out six. His replacement was Craig Stammen, who pitched a flawless sixth before giving way to Emilio Pagán in the seventh and Matt Strahm in the eighth.

JB Wendelken mopped up for Oakland in the top of ninth, and Miguel Díaz closed the book on the A’s for San Diego.

Barring a post season match up, the two teams will play each other for the last time this year Wednesday afternoon at 12:37. Frankie Montás (9-8, ERA 4.08) and Joe Musgrove (7-7, ERA 2.94) are scheduled to face each other in a battle of bleary eyed righthanders.

Oakland A’s starter Sean Manaea seen pitching in his last start will start against the San Diego Padres Tue Aug 3, 2021 at Oakland Coliseum (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s (60-47) have an off-day on Monday. The A’s were 4-2 on the last road trip against the San Diego Padres (61-47) and Los Angeles Angels (52-53). The A’s split the series last Tuesday and Wednesday against the Padres in San Diego.

The A’s moved up to Anaheim to play four against the Angels. The A’s won three of the four games. They would have had a sweep if they had given Cole Irvin some run support last Saturday. Irvin pitched a gem but was the losing pitching as the A’s fell to the Angels 1-0.

After the two-game set concluded last Wednesday, both teams were active before the July 30th trade deadline. The Padres were hoping to make a big splash by landing Max Scherzer from the Washington Nationals. Most of the pundits had the big righty heading to San Diego.

San Diego’s hopes were dashed when the Los Angeles Dodgers snagged Scherzer and Trea Turner. Turner going to LA was unexpected. The Dodgers made quite a few headlines with the deal. The Padres did make a deal as they traded for Nats’ reliever Daniel Hudson.

The A’s acquired four players as they hope to catch the Houston Astros in the race for the AL West crown. The A’s bolstered their bullpen as they made a deal to acquire lefty Andrew Chafin from the Chicago Cubs. Before the trade, Jake Diekman was the only lefty in the A’s bullpen.

The move helped A’s manager have more flexibility using his relievers. The next big move was the trade to get outfielder Starling Marte from the Miami Marlins. The A’s gave up Jesus Luzardo in the trade. It was sad to see Luzardo go, but the team needed improvement in the outfield.

The A’s finished the wheeling and dealing by making a trade with the Washington National. They sent prospects to the Nats in exchange for catcher Yan Gomes and the versatile Josh Harrison. All three players have contributed since coming to the A’s. Gomes homered in yesterday’s game to help the A’s beat the Angels 8-3.

So, let’s look at what happened last week in the two-game series in San Diego. San Diego beat the A’s and starter James Kaprielian 7-4 last Tuesday night. Kaprielian went four innings and took the loss. The winning pitcher was Chris Paddack. Both pitchers are now on the 10-day IL. Kaprielian has a shoulder impingement.

The A’s brought up Dulton Jefferies to take his spot in the rotation. Jefferies made his second Major League start on Sunday against the Angels and was the winning pitcher. In the 7-4 loss to the Padres Last Tuesday, the Padres’ young superstar, Fernando Tatis, Jr., homered, doubled. Veteran third baseman Manny Machado also hit a big fly in the game.

The Padres pounded A’s pitchers for 12 hits Tuesday night. The A’s turned the tables on the Padres on Wednesday. The A’s had no trouble with Pads’ starter, Blake Snell. They sent Snell to the showers at the end of the fourth inning. Snell gave up seven hits and seven runs as he absorbed his fourth loss of the year. The A’s won the game 10-4. A’s starter Sean Manaea went six innings and allowed one hit.

The A’s played four against the Angels last week. They won three of the four. The Padres split their four games series with the Colorado Rockies.

Both teams are in the second Wild Card spot in their respective leagues. If the Wild Card Games were to be played today, The Padres would travel to Dodger Stadium and face the Dodgers. The A’s would fly to Boston for the one-game playoff against the Red Sox.

The probable pitchers for the series will feature the Padres’ lefty Blake Snell going against Sean Manaea. Frankie Montas will go for Oakland Wednesday, and Joe Musgrove pitches for San Diego.

Fernando Tatis, Jr. will not be in the PAdre lineup as he suffered a partial dislocation of his left shoulder. The Padres placed him on the 10-day IL.

The Padres still have a lot of firepower on their roster. Keep your eyes on third baseman Manny Machado, Second Baseman Jake Cronenworth, Adam Frazier, and Eric Hosmer. Tommy Pham, Wil Meyers, and Trent Grisham all can win ball games for San Diego.

Marte, Harrison, and Gomes have bolstered the A’s offense. The A’s are now four and 1/2 games behind the Houston Astros in the AL West. The Astros made two moves to bolster their bullpen. They traded for former A’s starter Kendall Graveman from the Seattle Mariners. The M’s converted Graveman to a closer, and he has resurrected his career. The Astros also acquired Yimi Garcia from Miami to strengthen the ‘pen.

The A’s are 60-47 for the season. They made the moves to better the team. The A’s have made the playoffs the last three seasons. They know how to win. They can do it by playing better against the Mariners, Rangers, and Astros. The A’s meet the Rangers six times in the next two weeks. The last-place Rangers have given the A’ fits this year. The Rangers traded their best player, Joey Gallo, to the Yankees. Hopefully, the A”s will turn the tables on the Rangers.

The A’s now they can beat the Padres. A’s fans will be hoping for a sweep. The Padres have other thoughts.