Category: Oakland Athletics

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Memory Lane The 1981 Oakland A’s

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Copy of a delivered Sports Illustrated cover of the starting rotation of the 1981 Oakland A’s pitching staff top left to right, Rick Langford, Steve McCatty, Brian Kingman, bottom Matt Keough (left) and Mike Norris (right)

Memory Lane: The 1981 Oakland Athletics

That’s Amaury News Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

This current 60-game abbreviated season and the strike-abbreviated season of 1981 have many similarities. For the Oakland A’s 1981 was a bittersweet year. The A’s went far in the postseason, but felt short of the World Series. Some of us remember that year, in my case it was another crazy baseball season. The 1981 season and strike lasted from June 12 until July 31. It was all about arguing for free-agent compensation, in case anybody forgot. About one-third of the regular season was cancelled that year.

The 1981 season was actually split in half and there was quite a controversy because some teams missed out the postseason. The strike lasted a total of 50 days. All Star Game was postponed and then played August 9 in Cleveland, the second time an ASG was played in the month of August. Seems were settled and owners gave teams that won their divisions the right to advance to the Postseason.

The Oakland Athletics won the west that year with a record of 64-45 and got the right to travel to Kansas City for the best of five Divisional Series vs. the Royals. My broadcast partner, Julio González (RIP) and yours truly traveled to Kansas City for the first two games. The A’S won their two games in Kansas City and then returned to Oakland, were they finished the Royals via sweep.

While in Kansas City I wanted to visit the Harry Truman Library, in Independence, Missouri, not far from Kansas City, I convinced Julio we should visit. As somebody who likes history, I thought that would have been a good time to visit the former President hometown and library, but time was of an essence and we never visited. We were not more than 12 miles or so away, since we were staying at the hotel just outside Kaufman Stadium across the freeway, a big Marriott Hotel.

The next stop for the Athletics was New York. Yankee Stadium as we traveled for the American League Championship Series and a win would find us in the World Series. The first two games where in New York, I remember we took the team bus and I was wearing an A’s warm-up jacket (I should have known better, I lived in NY in the late 60’s) as we came out of the bus, some kids where throwing pebbles and stuff at all of us, players and alike as we came out of the bus right in front the stadium. Not a good omen.

The Yankees took the first two games in New York, and ultimately they also beat the A’s on the game at the Oakland Coliseum. We were done for the season. A crazy strike-year, A’s swept the Royals, and then got swept by the Yankees.

In 1981 Julio and yours truly were doing the games for KIQI 1010AM when the owner was Cuban-born Rene DeLa Rosa, a lifelong baseball aficionado, who just a couple of years’ before bought the station from Bay Area communications magnate James Gabbert.

Today and during the last few years the A’s broadcast Spanish station are aired on that same frequency 1010AM/990AM although with new management, studios, but still in San Francisco. The 1981 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

I covered the games in LA for the radio station with interviews and pre-post game reports, Fernando Valenzuela who was the man for the Dodgers and one of the most popular players in all of baseball sat down with me for a one-on-one, among other players, also colleague friend and Dodger Hall of Fame broadcaster Jaime Jarrin, with whom I would be working a few years later during playoffs for the US and Latin-American Radio networks.

At the end, the Los Angeles Dodgers won in six games and their celebration took place inside their dressing room at Yankee Stadium, as they took that game six in the Bronx.

My memories of the 1981 season are still there, and it reminded me of the current 2020 season. We all know the reasons this season was “delayed” and we know a player strike also reduced 1981 which ended with a bi-coastal World Series between the Yankees and the Dodgers, the TV network dream. Ironically, today 39 years later, the two favorite teams to meet in the World Series in this 60-game season are, the Yankees and the Dodgers. Stay well and stay tuned.

Catch Amaury Pi Gonzalez and Manolo Hernandez-Douen for all of the Oakland A’s Spanish play by play on 1010 KIQI Le Grande San Francisco and Amaury does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: Piscotty and that historic grand slam; The acqusition of pitcher Kaprielian replacing Weems

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Oakland A’s pitcher James Kaprielian who threw during the MLB layoff in Arizona was acquired by the A’s on Tuesday to replace injured Jordan Weems (photo from Baseball America)

On the A’s podcast with Jerry F:

#1 Jerry talk about the A’s getting into the MLB history books for being the team getting two walk off grand slams the earliest in a season?

#2 Stephen Piscotty who did get that second grand slam for the A’s on Tuesday night has really had a good season so far this year he’s hitting .276, with five RBIs, four runs scored and the one homer the grand slam.

#3 The A’s who acquired right hand pitcher James Kaprieleian on Tuesday night was part of the Sonny Gray deal with the New York Yankees will replace injured Jordan Weems. Kaprielian in 19 minor league appearances had an ERA of 1.63 in seven games in double A.

#4 Weems who was a catcher turned pitcher suffered a strained latissimus dorsi in the right arm. Weems will be on the ten day IL. Weems pitched three innings on July 28th and has pitched in two games and feeling pain in the right arm after the last outing.

#5 A’s pitcher Sean Manaea said that Kaprieliean has some nasty stuff, he’s a hard thrower and has a good change up, Kaprielian and Manaea he threw with Kaprielian during the MLB layoff in Arizona.

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

A’s game wrap: A’s get key hits in late innings win fifth straight 6-4 over Rangers

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Oakland Athletics’ Austin Allen, left, celebrates with Tony Kemp after hitting a two run home run off Texas Rangers’ Ian Gibaut in the seventh inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020, in Oakland, Calif. Ben Margot/AP

Texas Rangers. 4.-7-0

Oakland Athletics. 6-7-0

August 5, 2020

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–The division leading A’s, hoping to extend their slender half-game advantage over Houston, sent Sean Manaea to the mound this evening, hoping to extend the number of innings he could pitch effectively in a start. The promising southpaw, who spent most of last season rehabbing from shoulder surgery, hadn’t made it out of the fifth frame in either of his two starts in this year’s stop and start season.

Starting strong and running out of gas wasn’t Manaea’s problem tonight. Shin-Soo Choo blasted his first offering into the State Farm banner just to the left of the 388 foot sign in left field. It was his third round tripper of the season.Manaea settled down after that, striking out three of the four batters he faced in what was left of the first, retiring the side in order in the second, and escaping without damage in spite if Elvis Andrus’s double and steal of third in the third.

Manaea’s opponent on the mound, Kyle Gibson, who signed with the Rangers during the off season as a free agent after spending seven years with the Minnesota Twins, came into game having made one appearance with his new club, a five inning start against Arizona, in which he gave up three runs, none of them earned, while giving up five hits and three walks. He also notched four strikes outs.

Gibson also had trouble with the long ball in the first. With one down and Marcus Semien on base with a lead off single, Matt Olson drove the runner home by driving Gibson’’s 92 mph four seamer over the 367 foot sign in right center field, putting the A’s up, 2-1.

That lead held until top of the fourth inning. Todd Frazier led off with a single to center, advancing to second when Manaea walked Robinson Chirinos. Burch Smith began warming up in the A’s bull pen when the next Texas batter, Nick Solak, came to the plate. Solak smacked Manaea’s 65th pitch into the right field corner for a double that plated Frazier and sent Chirinos to third.

IsiahKiner-Falefa then hit a dribbler that Chapman, his counterpart at third, wasn’t able to barehand. It advanced Solak to third and was scored correctly as a hit. That ended Manaea’s work for the night, and Burch Smith took the mound to relieve him. The first Ranger Smith faced was Rob Refsnyder, whose sacrifice fly to right center drove in Solak with the fourth run for Texas. That closed out to book on Manaea, whose line was four runs, all earned, on six hits one walk in three and a third innings pitched. He threw 74 pitches, 48 of which were strikess, and struck out five Rangers.

Ramon Laureano closed the gap to 4-3 with a 419 foot solo homer to center on a 92 mph sinker from Gibson, who finished up that inning and the sixth without further damage before yielding to Ian Gibaut, who took over to start the bottom of the seventh.

Gibaut struck out Pescotty, Semien, and Laureano, but in between he gave up a single to Kemp and a 406 foot home run to rookie catcher Austen Allen, undoing a respectable performance by Gibson and giving Oakland a 5-4 lead, which was stretched to 6-4 when Olson greeted Luke Farrell, Gibaut’s replacement in the bottom of the eighth, with his second four bagger of the night, again to rightcenter.

T.J.McFarlan was the was the pitcher of record for Oakland when Allen sent the ball sailing into the seats and so was credited with the win. Joakim Soria, who pitched the last inning and two-thirds for the A’s got the save. The loss went to Gibaudt.

The Astros were trailing Arizona 14-7 after eight innings when the game here ended, so, for the moment, the A’s enjoy a one game lead over Houston in the AL West.

The Athletics will send Mike Fiers to face the Rangers’ Mike Minor at 12:40 tomorrow afternoon.

Piscotty walk off slam sends A’s home with 5-1 win

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photo from @ESPNStatsInfo: Oakland A’s Stephen Piscotty hits for the A’s second walk off grand slam this season making the A’s the first team in MLB history to hit two grand slams for walk off wins this early in the season.

Texas Rangers 1 -5-1

Oakland Athletics 5- 6- 0

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–It was all about the pitching, and then it wasn’t.

The A’s were riding tall in the saddle this evening when they returned to the O(A)K Corral to face the third place Texas Rangers. Fresh from whalooping the Mariners in Seattle by the lopsided score of 11-1 to take the series against them, three games to one,. the Athletics’ line-up finally had overcome its case of premature anemia, producing a dozen hits, which included two by Khris Davis, one of which was a four bagger. Oakland’s pitching was excellent, allowing only five runs over the last three games of the set-to, all of which went to the men in green and gold.

Jesús Luzardo was making his long anticipated first major league start when he toed the rubber, and he looked good.

The 22 year old lefty mowed down Texas batters, shutting them out on three hits over his five innings of work. His record had been 0-0, 1.35 when he finished his relief appearance last Wednesday in Seattle, but his ERA had ballooned to 4.05 before he took his first warm up toss tonight because MLB had changed a throwing error charged against him in that game to a hit. That made two earned runs out of what had been unearned tallies. When Luzardo was through with his work tonight, his record stood at a much more pleasant 0-0, 2.31.

A quartet of relievers followed Luzardo, each pitching an inning. The first was Yusmeiro Petit, who opened the sixth by retiring the first two men in the Texas batting order, Elvis Andrus and Nick Solak, the latter on a fly ball that reached the warning track in left centerfield.

That brought Joey Gallo to the plate, the only left handed batter Chris Woodward had placed in his starting line-up to face the young southpaw. It was a reasonable decision; all three of Gallo’s home runs this season had come off left handed pitchers. But tonight the Rangers’ slugger chose to bunt against the shift, laying down a neat one to the scarcely defended left side of the infield.

There was nothing Matt Chapman could do but pick up the rolling pellet and hold on to it. Clean up hitter Todd Frazier’s double brought the resourceful Gallo home with the first run of the game.

Oakland faced a formidable opponent in Luzardo’s opposite number on the mound. Right hander Lance Lynn brought with him a record of 1-0 with 17 strikeouts and an ERA of zero over 12 innings, during which his WHIP was 0.75. He held the A’s scoreless for six frames, allowing only two hits, both lead off singles, one by Stephten Piscotty in the third and the other by Tony Kemp in sixth.

But Chapman, who had stood helplessly (and wisely) at third with the ball in his when Gallo outsmarted the A’s to reach first a short while earlier, wiped out the Rangers’ advantage with a lead off blast that carried an estimated 388 feet, just over the De Walt sign in right centerfield.

Two batters later, Lynn was gone, replaced by Jonthan Hernández, who shut the Athletics out through the end of the eighth. His replacement, Edinson Volquez, began the bottom of the ninth by walking Matt Olson, surrendering a single to Chapman, and then walking Mark Canha to load the bases.

With the infield and outfield drawn in, Vólquez got Robbie Grossman to pop an infield fly to first. That was it for Vólaquez. Jesse Chávez assumed the task of ending the Oakland threat. The ex-Athletic threw one pitch to Piscotty. Piscotty swung on it. The ball landed in the straightaway center field seats. It was the A’s second walk off grand slam in the eleven games of this strange season.

Hendricks got the win, his first of the year. Vólquez got the loss, also his first.

The win left Oakland in first place, still a half a game ahead of Houston, who will play a three game series here starting Friday evening. Tomorrow evening, the A’s will face Kyle Gibson, another righty who, like Lynn until tonight, has yet to yield an earned run this season. Gibson is, however, less daunting than Lynn, having lost his only start, in which he gave up five hits in as many innings against the Diamondbacks.

Lefty Sean Manaea, who hasn’t been able to get through the fifth inning in either of his two starts this year, will hope to extend his period of effectiveness, bring down his ERA of 7.00, and enable the A’s to extend their winning streak to five.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: A’s Luzardo gets the start tonight against Rangers at the Coliseum

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Jesus Luzardo shown here during the A’s spring training camp Mesa Arizona on Feb 13th during pitchers and catchers workouts. Was out on quarantined just before the start of the season and will be getting the start tonight against the Texas Rangers at the Oakland Coliseum (AP photo)

On That’s Amaury’s podcast:

#1 Amaury the A’s open a three game series tonight in Oakland against the Texas Rangers with Jesus Luzardo (0-0) getting the start. Luzardo is coming back from being quarantined after testing positive for Covid-19 during baseball summer camp.

#2 A’s manager Bob Melvin is looking forward to seeing Luzardo on the mound tonight. Luzardo has got some bullpen work in going 6.2 innings in relief and has 1.35 ERA, he had walked three and struck out seven.

#3 How huge is it for A’s hitter Khris Davis to have snapped his 0-16 slump which started from opening day. Davis got a sixth inning single. Melvin said that Davis made a hand adjustment during the trip to Seattle over the weekend.

#4 Melvin said that Davis has established himself and that speaks volumes for somebody whose willing to make an adjustment and that Davis is coachable and “looking forward to getting better.”

#5 In the middle of the four game series in Seattle the A’s won the second and third games by just a run does that speak for the bullpen able to hold off the Mariners in the later innings and prevent them from adding runs on the board.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish radio play by play announcer and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

A’s romp all over Mariners in 11-1 laugher

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Oakland catcher Sean Murphy scores on a past ball while Mariners relief pitcher Bryan Shaw stands on home plate late during a disastrous fifth inning for the Mariners. (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s won their third game in a row downing the Seattle Mariners 11-1. The A’s came to Seattle, hoping to sweep the rebuilding Mariners. They lost the first game but won the next three. It wasn’t easy as the A’s hitters were not moving the line until Monday night. The A’s squeezed out two wins by a 3-2 score on Saturday and Sunday. A’s manager Bob Melvin had to wonder when and if his guys would get the offense going.

The answer would come in the fifth inning of Monday night’s contest. The Mariners put the first run of the night on the board in the bottom of the third. Mariners’ shortstop J.P.Crawford walked. A’s starter, Frankie Montas retired the next two hitters. M’s third baseman, Kyle Seager, doubled to drive in Crawford. The Mariners did not score again. Nor did they get a hit after the fourth inning.

The A’s blew open the game in the top of the fifth. They sent fourteen men to the plate. The Mariners’ Justin Sheffield and Bryan Shaw gave up eight runs, nine hits, and three walks. All the runs came after there were two out in the inning. A’s centerfield Ramon Laureano drove in the first two runs with a single. Chad Pinder drove in two, also. Mark Canha, Khris Davis, Stephen Piscotty all drove in a run. One run scored on a wild pitch.

Khris Davis led off the seventh with his first dinger of the year. Davis finished the night with two hits. He came into the game hitting .045. They added another run and one more in the ninth to win 11-1.

Game Notes- Frankie Montas won his first of the year. He went seven innings and allowed one run and four hits. Frankie struck out nine and walked four. Mariners’ starter, lefty Justin Sheffield lost his second of the season. Mariners’ pitched walked eleven A’s and struck out nine. Ramon Laureano has driven in nine runs so far. Seven of the nine have either tied the game or put the A’s in the lead. The A’s improved to 6-4, and the A’s dropped to 4-7.

The A’s return home to face the Texas Rangers. Lefty Jesus Luzardo will start for Oakland. Lance Lynn will pitch for Texas. The game will start at 6:10 pm.

No Frustration When You Win: A’s slip past the Mariners 3-2 at T-Mobile Park

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By Morris Phillips

The pandemic-truncated season doesn’t allow much time for teams to figure things out. But the A’s bought themselves a few extra measures with an unlikely, 3-2 win over the Mariners on Sunday.

The A’s are in mental quarantine, having hit just .175 over their last six games while scoring a measly 16 runs and enduring a three-game losing streak.

But they won the last two, they’re back over .500, and they just might get their full allotment of 51 more opportunities to look more like their true selves.

Ramon Laureano’s two-out, three-run homer in the fifth was all the offense the A’s could muster, but they made it stand up in a one-run win. The big moment was set up by two, subtle pieces of good fortune.

Former A’s starter Kendall Graveman was cruising for Seattle, but after two seasons removed from action due to Tommy John sugery, Graveman isn’t going to throw 25 plus pitches in the fifth inning of any start in 2020. Frustration had set in as well as that 25th pitch turned into a well-placed, infield single from Marcus Semien, the A’s struggling leadoff man hitting below .200 coming into the at-bat.

With runners at the corners, manager Scott Servais summoned reliever Anthony Misiewicz, a lefty facing the right-handed hitting Laureano with two outs. Why a lefty? Maybe Servais was focused on the possibility of lefthanded hitting Matt Olson coming up with the bases loaded, and wanted Misiewicz for the possibility of that task. Instead, the hot-hitting Laureano saw a second, consecutive off-speed sinker, this one in the middle of the plate, and he pounced without having to protect and speed up his bat. Laureano, Oakland’s one in-sync hitter, saw his swing produce a leisurely home run ball that exited at 98 mph.

“A hit would have been great, but a home run is a whole different ballgame,” A’s starter Chris Bassitt said of the support he received from Laureano. “It changed the whole complexion of the game. It was a big sigh of relief for everybody.”

Bassitt would depart after facing three batters in the sixth and after throwing 83 pitches. Leading 3-1 at that point, Bassitt earned the first win of the season for an A’s starter after the first eight starts resulted in an 0-4 record.

The A’s are one of six American League teams with a winning record, along with the Astros, Yankees, Twins, White Sox and the surprising Orioles at 5-3. Oakland maybe the least impressive of the six, but in a season where the top eight will qualify for postseason a winning record is where it’s at, all the style points can be inserted in October and early November. CBS’s Jon Heyman picked the A’s and Braves for an unlikely Fall Classic an he stood with the prediction over the weekend.

So now is not the time to fret over meager batting averages and faulty starters. The A’s have to just hang in there and remain positive.

“Now, we just gotta hit the ball on the barrel and find some holes,” Laureano said.

Frankie Montas faces Justus Sheffield in the finale of the four-game series on Monday.

The losing streak is over as the A’s beat the M’s 3-2 in extra innings

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

With one out in the top of the 10th inning and Tony Kemp at second base as the new extra-innings rules require, pinch hitter Robbie Grossman stepped into the batters’ box to face Seattle reliever, Dan Altavilla.

Grossman hit a 2-1 slider into right-center field that drove Kemp home to score the go-ahead run for the Athletics. Grossman motored all the way to third base when center fielder Kyle Lewis threw up his hands that the ball was stuck under the wall. After an umpire review of the ground rules, Grossman was sent back to second base and his hit was scored as an RBI-double.

The bottom of the 10th would be a test

The A’s sent Liam Hendricks to the mound to close out the game and get the win for Oakland. The Mariners Shed Long started the inning at second base. Hendricks set the side down in order to finish the game by striking out J.P. Crawford.

Hendricks picked up his second save of the season and has an ERA of 2.70.

Oakland pitching was strong

Mike Fiers (0-0, 5.40) made his second start of the season. Fiers worked 6.0 innings giving up two runs (both earned) off four hits. He struck out three and walked just one batter. Fiers threw 79 pitches (48 strikes). It was exactly the kind of starting effort the A’s needed.

The Oakland relievers were outstanding on Saturday night. Jake Diekman and Yusmeiro Petit both worked a perfect inning of relief each.

Joakim Soria worked himself out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth inning and wound up picking up his first win of the season.

The A’s found some hits in their bats

The key hit was Grossman’s pinch-hit RBI double that drove home the winning run for the A’s. The Mariners defense had to play Grossman straight away because of his power which gave him some open alleys to place the ball. It was Grossman’s second double of the season. He is now 7-for-20 at the plate.

Stephen Piscotty went 2-for-4 in the game and raised his batting average to .190. The A’s really need Piscotty to get going as he usually provides some much-needed punch for the Oakland offense.

Mark Canha hit a double in the contest and raised his average to .273. The A’s need Canha’s clutch hitting to put them back into the playoff race.

Tied for first place

The victory on Saturday night raised the A’s record to 4-4. That puts them into a tie for first place in AL West with the Houston Astros. The 60-game streak is certainly going to interesting.

Up next

The A’s and Mariners play game three of this four-game wrap-around series on Sunday afternoon.

The A’s will send RHP Chris Bassitt to the hill to start the game. This will be his second start of the season. Bassitt earned a no-decision in his first start of the year.

The Mariners will counter with RHP Kendall Graveman who is 0-1 so far this season. Graveman lasted just four innings in his last start and currently has a 13.50 ERA.

 

Oakland A’s podcast with Lewis Rubman: Melvin talks about replay reviews in Rockies series; A’s tough loss to M’s in Seattle

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Seattle Mariners’ Kyle Lewis slides safely home to score as Oakland Athletics catcher Sean Murphy waits for the ball in the fourth inning of a baseball game during the Mariners home opener Friday, July 31, 2020, in Seattle.Elaine Thompson/AP

On the A’s podcast with Lewis Rubman :

#1 On a play on Wednesday that saw the Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado threw to the plate to catcher Tony Wolters who tagged the A’s Matt Olson sliding on the thigh Melvin argued the replay showed that Olson was safe and it was the first of two plays that manager Bob Melvin was not in agreement on.

#2 The second play pitcher Jesus Luzardo threw a high ball to first base to get the runner but it was ruled too late the replay showed it to be a tie and it went to the runner. Luzardo took blame for it saying he threw a high lob toss giving more time for the runner to get there.

#3 Lewis it’s true the A’s have a very talented line up they have hitters and depth in the their rotation but in the Rockies series on Tuesday and Wednesday it came down to the bullpen to try and get the A’s out of situations but still dropping both games.

#4 How important is it that the A’s now have a flagship radio station Bloomberg 960 after forgoing 860 KTRB due to too much right wing programming?

#5 The A’s got one precious day off last Thursday and they will only get one day off this month of August they face the Mariners this weekend who have struggled how much of an advantage will it be for the A’s facing the Mariners after taking two tough loses in the Colorado series?

Lewis Rubman filled in for Charlie O for the A’s podcasts every other Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

No power, no pitching, no win for the A’s in Seattle

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland Athletics (3-4) suffered their third consecutive loss on Friday night in Seattle as the Mariners won the opening game of the four-game wrap-around series 5-3. For the Mariners (4-4), it was their third consecutive victory.

Manaea was no mystery

Sean Manaea (0-2, 7.00) made his second start of the accelerated season and the results were less than spectacular. Manaea lasted just 4.1 innings allowing five runs (3 earned) on six hits while striking out four hitters.

Manaea’s ERA currently sits at 7.00 which is the kind of number that gets you sent to Triple-A or released in the normal baseball universe. In 2020, you might expect that two poor starting performances could mean a trip to San Jose to workout with the “taxi squad”, but that is not going to happen. With A.J. Puk on the Injured List, no front line starter is going to be sent anywhere.

Manaea is known as being a tenacious worker who will do everything he can do to get his “mojo” back on the mound. The fear in a situation like this is that it could be something physically wrong and not just something wrong with his pitching motion. The A’s have not given any indication that they think Manaea has any type of potential injury problem.

The bottom line is the A’s need Manaea to find a way to win games and win them right now. Each loss in this shortened season equals 2.7 losses. That means his two losses are the equivalent of 5.4 losses in a 162-game season. That many consecutive losses would cause major panic in the front office of any major league club.

The A’s need Manaea to find a way to get a win in his next start if they are to stay competitive for a playoff spot.

Three hits will not get it done

The A’s managed to collect only three hits in the game on Friday night in Seattle. Marcus Semien hit his first triple of the season in the top the eighth inning that drove in two runs for Oakland. Semien now has a six-game hitting streak and is batting .280 in those games.

Ramon Laureano hit his second double of the year in the game and Stephen Piscotty hit a single that eventually allowed him to score on Semien’s triple.

Laureano did hit a Sacrifice Fly that produced the A’s third and final run of the contest.

Oakland left four men on base. They went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and they left two runners in scoring position with two out.

For a team that is supposed to be known for its power, the A’s are experiencing a real power drought.

Walker was the Mariners star of the game

Taijuan Walker (1-1, 4.35) made his second start of the season for Seattle on Friday night and he was spectacular. Walker worked seven scoreless innings allowing only one hit and two walks while striking out eight Oakland hitters. He struck out the side in the fifth inning.

Taylor Walker picked up his second save of the young season in the game.

Seattle had a good night at the plate

J.P. Crawford went 2-for-4 and two runs on Friday night. He now has a five-game hitting streak with multiple hits in his last three games.

Kyle Lewis extended his hitting streak to eight games by going 2-for-4 and scoring a run in the win over the A’s.

Kyle Seager hit his fourth double of the season in the fourth inning which drove in two runs. It was his fifth extra-base hit of the season.

Up next

The first pitch for game two of the series is scheduled for 6:10 PM on Saturday night. The A’s will send RHP Mike Fiers (0-0, 9.00) to the mound to face off against the Mariners LHP Yusei Kikuchi (0-0, 13.50).