Category: Oakland Athletics

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: A’s with sixth best record in MLB since April 15th

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On the A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg:

The Oakland A’s have the sixth best record in Major League Baseball since April 15th an indication that they’ve had lots of improvement over the last month. The A’s have won six of their last eight and are at 25-23.

The A’s haven’t hit a home run in their last five home games but on the road they homered in each of their last 14 games. The A’s really had a successful road trip going 1-2 in New York, 2-1 in Boston, and 4-0 in Toronto.

The A’s 7-3 on the last road trip something no one would have expected after having a tough homestand with Houston before leaving on the trip. The A’s have compiled the third lowest ERA in baseball after the seventh inning for a 3.36 ERA. They’re getting key pitching to win in the late innings.

Jerry does the A’s podcasts every Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

 

A’s fall to Mariners 1-0 after pitching duel

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Photo credit: @Mariners

By Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s and Mariners received outstanding pitching performances from their starters. The only problem for Oakland was they could do nothing against lefty Marco Gonzalez while Seattle was able to win on an unearned run that spoiled Daniel Gossett’s best start ever as an Oakland Athletic. Gossett, making his first start since being recalled from Nashville, went seven innings, allowed just four hits and the only Seattle run was unearned.

The Mariners’ Marco Gonzalez was brilliant. In his seven innings of work, he allowed just two hits and no runs as he won his fourth game of the year by a score of 1-0.

The Mariners drew first blood in the top of the fourth. Mariners’ centerfielder Guillermo Heredia lined a double down the left field line. Nelson Cruz flew out to right field, and Heredia was able to tag up and advance to third on the play. The A’s brought the infield in order to get the runner at home in a ground ball to any one of the infielders. Gossett got former A’s first baseman, Ryon Healy, to hit a ground ball to A’s shortstop Marcus Semien. Semien fielded the ball cleanly, but he dropped the ball as he attempted to throw him. He was charged with an error and Heredia crossed the plate with the first run of the game. The run was unearned. That run was the only run of the game as both the A’s and Mariners’ bullpens did their jobs and did not allow any runs to be scored.

Game Notes and Stats: The only run of the game was scored when Marcus Semien misplayed a ground ball that allowed Guillermo Heredia to score from third.

Right fielder Stephen Piscotty made two fantastic plays on defense. In the fourth, he robbed Mike Zunino of a home run as he leapt high and with his glove outstretched over the wall, came down with the ball for the out. Piscotty made a diving catch in short right field to rob John Andreoli of a hit.

In the ninth inning, Mark Canha had Mike Zunino shaking his head as Canha also made a running, diving catch in left field to take another hit away from Zunino.

The A’s reliever, Ryan Dull, was hit on the hand by a line drive in the eighth inning. Dull couldn’t make the throw to first and went to the ground writhing in pain. Bob Melvin and the trainer raced to the mound and checked out Dull’s hand. Ryan said he was fine and stayed in the game.

The A’s announcer that they placed Khris Davis on the 10-day DL with a strained right groin injury. The doctors determined that it was a Grade 1 strain and healing takes from one to three weeks. The A’s recalled Daniel Gossett and Franklin Barreto from Nashville.

The line score for Seattle was one run, six hits, and no errors. The line score for Oakland was no runs, three hits, and one huge miscue. Jed Lowrie led the A’s attack with two singles.

Time of game was two hours and 43 minutes and there were just 6991 fans in attendance to see a very well played game.

Up Next: The A’s and Mariners cap off the series Thursday afternoon at 12:35 pm PST.

Josh Lucas will start for the A’s on Thursday and Seattle will send Felix Hernandez to the mound to handle the pitching chores. The Mariners are now 6-2 against Oakland this year and will be going for the sweep. Hernandez is 26-10 in his lifetime against the A’s.

Mariners rally late to edge A’s 3-2 in 10 innings

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Photo credit: @Mariners

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — The Oakland A’s, returning home after a successful 7-3 road trip to New York, Boston and Toronto, wasted another excellent outing bt the veteran Trevor Cahill as they lost the opener of the three-game series to the Seattle Mariners 3-2 at Safeco Field Tuesday night.

The Mariners’ Mike Leake and the A’s Trevor Cahill both pitched well. Each pitcher received a no-decision for their effort, but each could have won with a little more run support from their respective teammates. The A’s scored an unearned run in the fourth. Leake did not help his cause as he was the player that committed the error. He gave up an earned run in the fifth. With two out, he hit Mark Canha with a pitch. Matt Joyce singled to send Canha to third and Canha scored when Marcus Semien singled.

The Mariners tied the game in the seventh. With one out, Cahill walked the M’s designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach. The next hitter, catcher Mike Zunino, took Cahill deep to tie the score at two apiece.

Neither team could score in regulation, and the game went into extra-innings. In the top of the 10th. The Mariners took the lead. Shortstop Jean Segura singled to right. Guillermo Heredia doubled to center. Segura was sent home on the throw by third base coach Scott Brosius. Segura’s hand touched home plate before A’s catcher Jonathan Lucroy could apply the tag.

The Mariners brought in Edwin Diaz to close out the game. Diaz retired the first two hitters. Marcus Semien nearly tied the game when he sent a Diaz fastball over the fence in left field. There was just one problem. The ball was about three feet foul. Diaz then struck out Semien to end the game.

Game notes and stats: With the win, the M’s are now 28-17 and remain just two games behind the first-place Houston Astros. The A’s drop to 25-23.

The A’s Trevor Cahill went seven innings and allowed just four hits and two runs.

The line of M’s Mike Leake was 6 2/3 innings pitched. He allowed six hits and two runs, one of which was unearned.

The A’s Yusmeiro Petit was charged with the loss, and Edwin Dian recorded his 16th save of the season.

The M’s announced that they placed Dee Gordon on the 10-day DL with a fractured toe.

The M’s designated hitter Nelson Cruz was not in the lineup Tuesday night.

The M’s manager, Scott Servais, was ejected late in the game for disputing calls on ball and strikes.

Up Next: The A’s will send Daniel Fossett to the mound to pitch on Wednesday. Gossett was recalled from Nashville to make a start. Marco Gonzalez will hurl for Seattle. Game time will be at 7:05 pm PST at the Oakland Coliseum.

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: A’s four game sweep lands A’s a 7-3 record; A’s and M’s play three-game series starting Tuesday

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Photo credit: @Athletics

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O:

1) The A’s are 25-22 and coming off a 7-3 road trip. Let’s talk about their success by the numbers. How are they doing as a team at the plate?

2) Defense has been a problem for the team in the past few seasons, how are they doing this year?

3) Finally how is the pitching stacking up?

4) The MLB Trade Deadline is on July 31st. Will Jed Lowrie be wearing green & gold when the deadline passes?

5) What’s coming up on the schedule for the A’s?

Charlie O does the A’s podcast each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s Podcast, News, and Commentary: LeBron, Cavs have big night knotting up series; Curry feeling 100% with his shot back, A’s open series with Seattle after sweeping 4 in Toronto

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Photo credit: @SLAMonline

On That’s Amaury’s podcast:

#1 Big night for the Cleveland Cavaliers LeBron James as the Cavaliers came back to tie the series up with a Game 4 win over the Boston Celtics 111-102 at 2-2. LeBron has averaged 32 assists, 6.8 rebounds, and 9.0 assists.

#2 The Warriors and Rockets tip off for game 4 tonight at Oracle Arena with the Warriors leading 2-1. The Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni says the pressure is on the Warriors while the Warriors head coach Steve Kerr says that’s good, but the pressure is also on the Rockets.

#3 The Oakland A’s, who just got a four-game sweep over the Toronto Blue Jays, have been on a roll. Amaury talks about what he attribute to the A’s recent success.

#4 The Seattle Mariners are in Oakland tonight for a three-game series at the Oakland Coliseum. Much of the attention last week had been on Robinson Cano, who said he was taking a substance from his doctor in the Dominican Republic that he didn’t know was banned, and the MLB suspended him for 80 games

#5 Tonight, the Oakland A’s will start Trevor Cahill and the Seattle M’s will start Mike Leake to kick off this three-game series at 7:05 pm for the first pitch. Wednesday’s game also will be a 7:05 pm first pitch followed by a day game on Thursday at 12:30 pm.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

A’s and Mariners start a three-game series Tuesday night in Oakland

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Photo credit: @KPOD1240AM

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s, perhaps the surprise team of the American League, return home for a 10-game homestand. The A’s finished a 10-game road trip to New York, Boston, and Toronto with a record of 7-3. They split the first six games with New York and Boston and then won all four against Toronto. The A’s hit 19 home runs on the trip, and people around the league are starting to pay attention to what’s happening in Oakland.

There was a downside as two starting pitchers were placed on the 10-day DL. Andrew Triggs is out due to nerve irritation in his right arm, and Brett Anderson injured his left shoulder. Josh Lucas did well filling in for Anderson, and he may be called on to start a game. The A’s are now 25-22 and are 4 1/2 games behind the Houston Astros for the lead in the AL West Division.

The A’s start the homestand against their division rival, the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners own a 4-2 record against Oakland so far this year. All six games were played in Seattle, and this will be the first meeting of the teams in Oakland. The Mariners are currently in second place in the AL West with a record of 27-19. They trail the first-place Astros by two games. They are 6-4 in their last 10 games and are on a three-game winning streak.

The Mariners, however, seem to be in a bit of turmoil. Their All-Star second baseman, Robinson Cano, was hit with a double whammy last week. Cano suffered a broken thumb or wrist when he was hit by a pitch and would miss about six weeks of playing time. The second whammy that hit was an 80-game suspension for using a banned substance. The substance was Lasix or Furosemide, which is a drug used as a diuretic to remove excess water from the body. The drug is used to mask the use of steroids. Cano apologized to his teammates for his transgression. Cano can probably return in August, but he will not be eligible for postseason play.

The Mariners, as mentioned earlier, have beaten the A’s four times and lost just twice so far this year. The Mariners brought up Gordon Beckham to fill in for Cano at second. The M’s have a lot of power in their lineup. Ryon Healy, playing first base for the Mariners, came to Seattle in the deal that netted Emilio Pagan for Oakland. They have quality players such as Jean Segura at shortstop and Kyle Seager at third base. Ben Gamel, Dee Gordon, and Mitch Haniger handle the chores in the outfield. Gordon is an awesome leadoff hitter, and he plays as if he were Rickey Henderson. Haniger and Gamel have caused A’ pitchers a lot of distress and have to be shut down if the A’s want to come out with wins. Mike Zunino does most of the catching.

The Mariners’ designated hitter, Nelson Cruz, is having a tough time with injuries this year. Cruz missed two weeks when he was on the DL. After returning to action, he got sick in Toronto and then was hurt when he was hit in the foot by a pitch in a game against the Texas Rangers.

The A’s will be facing Mike Leake Tuesday night, Marco Gonzalez on Wednesday night, and their nemesis, Felix Hernandez, Thursday afternoon. Leake is 4-3, but his record is deceptive as the M’s have given him an abundance of run support. Gonzalez faced the A’s in April and went 3 1/3rd innings and gave up four runs and five hits and he was rewarded with a no-decision. On Thursday, it will be King Felix. Hernandez has a lifetime record of 26-10 against Oakland. His eyes light up when he sees the Green and Gold.

Hopefully, the A’s can turn the tables on Hernandez. The M’s lefty James Paxton will not see action in the series. Paxton’s last two outings have been outstanding. The Canadian-born Paxton threw a no-hitter against the Blue Jays for his first career complete game and then had his second complete game in his last start.

The M’s bullpen has performed well. The bullpen is staffed by setup men such as Juan Nicasio, Nick Vincent, Marc Rzepczynski, and dynamite closer Edwin Diaz. There is a new face in the M’s pen, and he is former A’s reliever, Ryan Cook. Cook, who was an All-Star with the A’s in 2012 and pitched for them until 2015, was recalled from the minors last week. Cook missed all of the 2017 season due to Tommy John surgery. Cook last pitched in the Majors in 2015, and it will be interesting to see if he has regained the form that made him an All-Star.

The A’s have shown that they have a very potent lineup. Everyone can hit the ball out of the park. Jed Lowrie, Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Matt Joyce, Chad Pinder, Mark Canha, Stephen Piscotty,  Dustin Fowler, and Jonathan Lucroy are all dangerous hitters.

However, the A’s most-feared hitter, Khris Davis, strained his right groin in Sunday’s game in Toronto. The injury usually takes a while to heal, and Davis is currently day-to-day, but there is a possibility that he will be placed on the 10-day DL. Chad Pinder would probably fill in for Davis as the DH.

As mentioned above, the A’s rotation is in dire straits due to injuries. Sean Manea and Daniel Mengden pitched in Toronto and are not available under the series with Arizona. Cahill is pitching on Tuesday, and the starters for Wednesday and Thursday are to be determined. The A’s may call up Kendall Graveman from Nashville to fill in.

In other news, the A’s reinstated catcher Bruce Maxwell from the ineligible list on Monday and sent Josh Phegley back to Nashville.

A’s cap sweep, impressive road trip with Mengden’s gem in 9-2 win over the Blue Jays

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By Morris Phillips

Ten-game roadie through three of the toughest venues the American League has to offer, seven wins, at least one home run hit in every game, a signature moment in Chad Pinder’s eighth inning, grand slam on Saturday, an aggressive approach to every at-bat that brought definition to the Oakland A’s offense, and one, significant injury that will be of concern going forward.

With all that happening and more, starter Daniel Mengden could have struggled to carve out his own niche of notoriety, but his pitching performance Sunday afternoon at the Rogers Centre was too good for that.

Mengden went seven innings, allowing two hits as the A’s romped, capping a rare, four-game road sweep with a 9-2 spanking of the Blue Jays.

“We went right after it the first couple times through and then started pitching backwards,” Mengden explained. “We just tried to pitch unpredictable as much as we could, and the defense was extraordinary behind us.”

Sunday’s stellar performance marked yet another breakthrough for the former Texas A&M starter who needed 13 starts to win at the Coliseum in Oakland for the first time. Now, Mengden can say he’s the prince of daytime baseball, having won a day start for the first time in 2018 after coming up short on four occasions.

As for the A’s, they came into their own on the completed 7-3 road trip: the starting pitching continued its steady, incremental improvement after a rough start over the first 15 games of the season. Meanwhile, the bullpen was needed early and often over the duration of the trip, and delivered consistently. The offense was carried by the long ball, with Marcus Semien’s fifth inning blast on Sunday the 19th of the trip through New York, Boston and Toronto. And as Mengden mentioned, on Sunday, while he dealt, the A’s defense ran circles in support.

 

Oakland makes it three consecutive wins in Toronto beating the Jays 5-4 on Saturday

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Pinder Toronto
Chad Pinder’s first career Grand Slam Photo: @OaklandAthletics

by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland Athletics won their third game in a row over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday by beating the home team 5-4. The A’s won for just the third time this season when trailing after the seventh inning. They did improve to 8-2 in one-run games and now own the best winning percentage in one-run games (.800) in the Major Leagues.

The A’s trailed the Jays 4-0 as they came to the plate in the top of the eighth inning. John Axford replaced Seunghwan Oh on the mound for Toronto. Matt Chapman led off the inning with a walk – never a good thing for a relief pitcher. Khris Davis singled to right moving Chapman up to third. Matt Olson went down on strikes for the first out of the inning. Stephen Piscotty then singled to right driving Chapman home and allowing Davis to advance to third. Piscottly was able to advance to second on a throwing error.

That brought a pitching change as Axford was sent to the showers and Tyler Clippard was sent to the hill to stop the A’s rally.

The first hitter Clippard faced was Dustin Fowler and he hit a fly ball for an out. Jed Lowrie then pinch hit for Jonathan Lucroy and drew a base-on-balls to load the bases. Chad Pinder then stepped into the batter’s box and hit a 1-1 pitch over the right-center field wall for a grand slam home run to give the Athletics a 5-4 lead.

That would be the end of the scoring in the contest and the Athletics would win 5-4.

The win means the A’s have won the series and they will be going for the sweep on Sunday. Oakland is now 6-3 on this road trip facing the best of the East and is 13-13 on the road this season.

In the batter’s box

Athletics

  • Chad Pinder hit his first career grand slam home run that proved to be the game-winning hit versus the Blue Jays on Saturday. This was his fourth home run of the season. Pinder is now hitting .271 with three home runs and nine RBI since coming off the 10-day Disabled List on April 17,
  • Stephen Piscotty drove in the first run of the day for Oakland and went 2-for-4 in the game making it his eighth multi-hit game of the season. Piscotty is batting .311 in day games and .215 in night contests.
  • Khris Davis went 2-for-4 in the game and hit his ninth double. 12 of Davis’ last 22 hits have gone for extra bases.
  • Shortstop Marcus Semien posted his 15th multi-hit game going 2-for-5 with a double on Saturday.

Blue Jays

Toronto smoak
Justin Smoak tries to lead the Jays past the A’s Photo: @BlueJays
  • Gio Urshela hit his first home run as a Blue Jay – a two-run shot in the fifth inning. It was also his first career home run to the opposite field.
  • Yangervis Solarte doubled twice and posted an RBI. This was his third multi-extra base hit game this season. He leads the Jays with 27 RBI.
  • Justin Smoak went 2-for-3 off Sean Manaea. He is now hitting .333 (19-for-57) versus lefties. Smoak picked up two walks in the game and is now tied for fifth in the American League in walks with 26.
  • Kevin Pillar recorded his 20th RBI with a Sacrifice Fly in the fifth inning in his 46th game of the season. He did not record his 20th RBI in 2017 until game 80.

On the hill

Oakland

  • Starter Sean Manaea allowed four runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts in his 5.0-innings of work on Saturday. It matched his shortest outing of the year. Manaea has given up four runs in each of his of last four starts.
  • Emilio Pagan worked 2.0-innings of relief and earned his first win of the season.
  • Blake Treinen closed out the game for Oakland and earned his 10th save of the season for A’s.

Toronto

  • Tyler Clippard had a very, very bad day. He was charged with his first blown save of the year and picked up his first loss of the season as well.
  • The Jays used five pitchers who gave up five runs on 10 hits while allowing four walks and striking out 10.

Note: The roof at the Rogers Centre was closed.

Up Next

The final game of the series will get underway at 10:07 AM PDT with RHP Daniel Mengden (3-4, 3.75) on the mound for Oakland facing the Blue Jays RHP Joe Biagini (0-2, 7.98).

 

A’s ‘Pen Near Perfect Despite Early Call, Oakland Beats Jays 3-1

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Matthew Harrington

The Oakland A’s were forced to turn to their bullpen earlier than anticipated Friday night North of the Border, but the result wound up a surprise for the Green and Gold. Despite having starter Brett Anderson exit the game after just one inning with an apparent leg injury, the Oakland bullpen fired eight innings of one-run ball in a 3-2 win over the Blue Jays to put the A’s one game over .500. Dustin Fowler had a big night at the plate, hitting his first career homerun and adding a game-winning RBI double. Josh Phegley also knocked in a run off Toronto starter Marco Estrada to give the A’s (23-22) wins in back-to-back games in Toronto.

Anderson pitched a 1-2-3 first inning, but exited the game after taking his warm-up tosses to open the second inning. Relieve Josh Lucas came on, firing 3 2/3 innings. He would exit the game with a no-decision though.

Despite Fowler’s first career big fly, a solo homer in the top of the 3rd of starter Marco Estrada, Lucas exited the game with Oakland tied 1-1. Lucas gave up a one-out double to catcher Luke Maile and a two-out single by Gio Urshela tied the game. Manager Bob Melvin then tabbed Danny Coulombe to finish out the inning, which he did by striking out the resurgent Curtis Granderson. Coulombe (1-1, 4.96 ERA) fired a perfect sixth inning as well, putting him in line  for the win after the A’s rally in the 7th inning.

With Estrada getting two quick outs in the inning, the Jays appeared safe. Chad Pinder doubled, then Fowler and Phegley each hit two-baggers to give Oakland a 3-1 lead and knock Estrada (2-4, 5.15 ERA) out of the game. In total, three of the A’s seven hits off Estrada came in the inning.

Chris Hatcher pitched a scoreless seventh, but Yusmeiro Petit couldn’t quite get the third out when it was his turn in the eighth. Blake Treinen came in with runners on second and first, striking out Kevin Pillar to end the inning. He then went 1-2-3 in the ninth, closing the game out with back-to-back punch outs of Maile and Dwight Smith Jr. for his ninth save of the year.

Oakland can push itself further above .500 and take the weekend series Saturday with a win from ace Sean Manaea. He’ll be opposed by righty Sam Gaviglio who will be making his first start of the season. Gaviglio has appeared in two games in relief, firing 4 1/3 innings.

It’s bombs away as the A’s pound the Blue Jays 10-5

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s continued to send baseball flying out of the park as they hit three home runs to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 10-5 in the first of four games at the Rogers Centre. The A’s have not had great success in Toronto as they had lost 12 of the last 13 games played in Canada. They rectified the situation with a resounding win Thursday night.

Andrew Triggs started for Oakland. Triggs’ record was 3-1, but he was hammered by the Yankees in New York last Saturday. Triggs left the game in the third inning when he complained about tightness in his right forearm. Aaron Sanchez toed the rubber for Toronto, and he did not make it out of the fifth inning and was charged with his fourth loss.

The Blue Jays took the lead in the bottom of the second inning. Jays’ center fielder Kevin Pillar led off with his 18th double of the season to get the ball rolling for Toronto. Pillar advanced to third on a long flyout to center field. Designated hitter Kendrys Morales grounded out to drive in Pillar. The Jays lead 1-0.

The A’s scored three times in the top of the third. With one out, Matt Joyce singled. Jed Lowrie, one of the hottest hitters in baseball, doubled to drive in Joyce. Khris Davis then hit his 13th dinger of the year. Davis now has 38 RBIs to his credit and is tied with Manny Machado for the most RBIs in the league. The A’s are ahead 3-1

Aaron Sanchez walked Jed Lowrie to start the fifth inning. Toronto’s skipper, John Gibbons, replaced Sanchez with Seung-hwan Oh. Davis singles, sending Lowrie to third. The next hitter, Matt Olson, took Oh deep for his seventh big fly and the A’s upped the lead to 6-1. The A’s weren’t done scoring as third baseman Matt Chapman double. Dustin Fowler singled to knock in Chapman with the As’ fourth run of the inning, and they owned a 7-1 lead halfway through the fifth inning. The Blue Jays showed some life in their half of the fifth as they put three runs on the board to cut the lead to 7-4.

The A’s responded by scoring two more runs in the sixth. Former A’s reliever John Axford was brought in to pitch. He hit Khris Davis with a pitch, and Matt Chapman homered to make it a 9-4 game.

Toronto scored a run in the eighth, and the A’s added another run in the ninth to win 10-5.

Game Notes and Stats: The A’s have played seven games so far on the 10-game road trip and have homered in every game. The A’s season record improved to 22-22 while the Blue Jays’ record dropped to 22-22.

Khris Davis was 4-for-4, scored three times, and was on base five times. The line score for Oakland was 10 runs, 14 hits, and one error.

The line score for Toronto was five runs, seven hits, and no errors. Yusmeiro Petit was the winner, and Aaron Sanchez took the loss.

Bob Melvin used Triggs, Santiago Casillo, Yusmeiro Petit, Ryan Dull, and Lou Trivino.

The A’s announced that catcher Bruce Maxwell has been placed on the restricted list and he was not able to travel with the club to Canada. The A’s brought up Josh Phegley from Nashville to take his place.

Up Next: Game two of the series will be in Toronto at 4:10 pm PST. Brett Anderson will go for Oakland. Anderson is 0-2 with an ERA of 8.16. Anderson last pitched against the Yankees last week and was tagged for four runs in just five innings of work. Anderson will need to show improvement if he is to remain with the club. He will be opposed by the Jays’ Marco Estrada. Estrada is 2-3 and has aN ERA of 5.32. Estrada continues to have problems keeping the baseball from flying out of the park. He has allowed 10 big flys this season and gave up a career-high 31 last year.