Category: Oakland Athletics

Oakland A’s starter JP Sears throws against the Houston Astros line up in the top of the sixth inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Sat May 25, 2024 (AP News photo)

On Oakland A’s podcast with Augie:

#1 Oakland A’s starter JP Sears got a performance in against the Houston Astros at the Oakland Coliseum on Saturday pitching six innings giving up 2 hits, one walk and one strike out. His start was key for the A’s that helped pave the way in the 3-1 win.

#2 Sears who struggled against the Kansas City Royals got his rhythm back against the Astros with 68 pitches. He didn’t strike out a lot of hitters getting just one but Sears had control over such Astro hitters like Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman.

#3 Brent Rooker continues to swing the bats hitting a two run double in the first inning. Rooker improves his average .285 with 43 hits and 11 home runs.

#4 In the six innings that Sears pitched he retired the first batter of each inning he faced. Sears had his pitches working for him the sweeper, sinker, and slider.

#5 Augie, for Sunday to conclude the three game series the Astros will start RHP Ronel Blanco (4-0, 2.09) and for the A’s RHP Aaron Brooks (0-1, ERA 4.15) first pitch at 1:07pm PT

Augie Mesenburg is a MLB podcast contributor at http://www.sportsradioservice.com and is a reporter at 1080 KWAI Honolulu

Oakland A’s reliever Mason Miller delivers to the Houston Astros line up in the top of the ninth inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Sat May 25, 2024 (AP News photo)

Saturday, May 25, 2024

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Oakland, California

Houston Astros 1 (23-29)

Oakland Athletics 3 (22-32)

Win: JP Sears (4-3)

Loss: Spencer Arrighetti (2-5)

Save: Mason Miller (10)

Time: 2:24

Attendance: 10,617

By Stephen Ruderman

OAKLAND–JP Sears gave the A’s six solid innings, as they finally beat the Astros for the first time this season with a 3-1 win on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum. 

Following an unbelievable 11-inning marathon win over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday, the A’s were stymied by Justin Verlander, as they lost the series opener last night. JP Sears would make the start on this Saturday afternoon as Oakland looked to win their first game against the Astros this season. 

Sears hit Jose Altuve with a sweeper to start the game, but he immediately got Kyle Tucker to ground into a double play. Yordan Alvarez thenl lol grounded out to short to end the inning. 

Spencer Arrighetti made the start for Houston, and the A’s were ready for him. Abraham Toro singled on a ground ball up the middle and into center field, and JJ Bleday walked. Brent Rooker then pulled a double down the left field line to knock on both Toro and Bleday and give the A’s a 2-0 lead. 

“For Brent, he’s continuing off the year he had last year,” said Manager Mark Kotsay. “He’s becoming a more complete hitter. He’s reduced some of the strikeouts, [his] two-strike approach is better, and he’s putting the ball in play more often. That’s one of the first balls in three years of managing that I’ve seen go by [Alex] Bregman down the line, so you don’t see that happen that often. It was a good sign for us to get on the board…..our offense hasn’t been able to get us a lead early, and thus having those two runs to go out and finish a game off was nice.”

Both pitchers threw 1-2-3 innings in the second. Mauricio Dubon singled for Houston and stole second base with two outs in the top of the third inning, but Sears got Altuve to ground out to short to end the inning. Arrighetti, meanwhile, pitched another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the third. 

Seth Brown reached on an infield hit and sole second to start the bottom of the fourth. Kyle McCann then walked, and the A’s had runners at first and second with nobody out. However, the A’s were unable to extend their lead, as Arrighetti proceeded to strike out the side to end the inning. 

Things took a bit of a weird turn in the top of the sixth when Dubon hit a ground ball to short, and Max Schuemann threw the ball over the head of first-baseman Tyler Soderstrom. The ball bounced up against the netting behind the camera well at the end of the Astros’ dugout, and the umpires awarded Dubon second base. 

“From my viewpoint in the dugout, I couldn’t tell if the ball hit the pad [in front of the camera well], or if it had glanced over the pad and then hit back behind the camera well and bounced back out,” said Kotsay. “I thought it hit the pad, came out front, hit the security guard and was still in play.”

Kotsay had the play reviewed after a conversation with Home Plate Umpire Jeremie Rehak, but replays confirmed that the ball indeed bounced off the netting.

“Once [the ball] goes over that green pad [in front of the camera well], the ground rules are it’s out of play,” said Kotsay. “[Jeremie] tried to convince me of that, but I had to go with my replay guy, and we got it wrong. It’s on me.”

Dubon advanced to third on a fly out to right by Altuve. Kyle Tucker knocked in Dubon with a sacrifice fly to put the Astros on the board. Sears got through the rest of the inning without any further damage, and he would be done after giving up just a run and two hits over six innings. His strong performance was in large part due to his slider and sweeper. 

“[My] slider was good today,” said Sears. “I threw some good fastballs in [to] kinda the keep guys off the slider, and I also threw some good sinkers to get some quick outs there in the middle innings…..I [also] had a lot of good defense behind me…..it was a good efficient day [for me].”

“Through April, we had all five guys in the rotation, and in May, we’ve lost four of the five,” said Kotsay. “JP’s coming off a year where he made all 32 [starts], and I know that he’s determined to do that again. That’s his mindset, so it’s nice to see him go out and have a good start, and we’re gonna continue to just lean on him.”

Sears was pulled despite the fact that he had only thrown 68 pitches.

“Our bullpen’s been amazing,” said Kotsay. “At that point, we’ve had tons of success with Adams, Erceg and Miller. We had it lined up for our leverage jobs, so JP did his job…..I have a ton of confidence in those three guys lining up and getting the job done.”

“I’m just trying to focus on being ready to go every five days and just whatever I can do to get my body and my arm feeling good,” said Sears. “[What I’m] learning this year is when to take my days as far as being lighter on my body, and when to do a little bit more. I also think [Pitching Coach Scott Emerson] and [Kotsay] have done a job of just trying to use me as much as they can, but maybe not push as much quite so early. I feel like I definitely could’ve gone more today, but that’s just how the game is…..I know that those guys there coming in behind me have got some good stuff, so I felt all the confidence in the world [in them].”

The A’s still had their 2-1 lead going to the bottom of the sixth. Brown and McCann both singled to start the inning, and that ended the day for Arrighetti. Astros Manager Joe Espata brought in Tayler Scott. Soderstrom struck out swinging for the first out, and Zack Gelof got Brown to third on a fly out to center. It was then up to Daz Cameron, who knocked Brown in with a base-hit to left to make it 3-1.

Austin Adams came in for Sears to start the seventh. Adams gave up a base-hit to Jeremy Peña. However, Adams started experiencing neck tightness and had to leave the game. Kotsay brought in Lucas Erceg, who got through the inning unscathed. 

Peter Mushinski pitched a scoreless bottom of the seventh for Houston. Erceg stayed in for the top of the eighth and gave up a leadoff single to Dubon. Erceg also threw a wild pitch, and after striking Altuve out looking, he was done. Scott Alexander came in and got through the remainder of the inning. 

Seth Martinez came in and threw a scoreless bottom of the eighth for the Astros. 

Closer Mason Miller came in for the ninth and did his thing, as he struck out the side to close it out in his first outing following his rough 11th inning on Thursday against the Rockies.

“It was a great day for Mason to get back out, [and] he wanted to get back out,” said Kotsay. “For him to go show that he’s got a bounce back in him and that he wasn’t fazed by the results of Thursday, it was a great sign from a young closer.”

The A’s have their first win of the year over the Astros, as they improve to 22-32. They will now have a chance to take the series with a win Sunday. Starting pitcher for the Astros RHP Ronel Blanco (4-0, 2.09) for the A’s RHP Aaron Brooks (0-1, 4.15). First pitch will be at 1:07 p.m.

Houston Astros Justin Verlander delivers to the Oakland A’s line up in the bottom of the sixth inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Fri May 24, 2024 (AP News photo)

Houston (23-28). 000 600 000. 6. 12. 1

Athletics (21-32). 100 010 100 3. 10 0

Time: 2:31

Attendance: 9,676

Friday, May 24, 2024

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–With their 6-3 loss to the visiting Houston Astros tonight, the A’s record dipped to 21-31. All the damage was done in the fatidic fourth frame.

Like the Giants, who are having problems with their late signing of the reigning Cy Young winner, Blake Snell, the Astros have a future Hall of Famer in Justin Verlander who’s feeling the effects of a late start to the season, having spent the first three weeks of it on the IL.

His game time season’s record of 2-2, 3.97 was not what you’d expect of an all time great. His lifetime record going into today was 259-142, 3.25 with 3,368 strikeouts and 939 walks. Against the then Oakland A’s it was 16-8, 2.84 with 193 Ks and 47 walks. But he looked good Friday night.

To give you an idea of how good Verlander was, here’s what Baseball America said of him when entered the show 19 years ago;

“Verlander might have the best pure stuff in the draft, and looks like a good bet to go in the first three picks. Dozens of scouts, crosscheckers and scouting directors turned out in mid-April when Verlander faced off against Justin Orenduff, and Verlander was dominant as he punched out 16 batters and flashed consistent mid-90s heat.

The dominance continued all spring, with a 7-5, 3.19 record and 145 strikeouts in 99 innings. He broke his own Old Dominion season strikeout record of 139, set last year, and his 421 (and counting) career strikeouts are a school and Colonial Athletic Association record.

He has a lean, lanky frame with long arms and legs, and room for added strength. He has a tall, upright delivery with a lighting-quick arm, and a fastball that tops out at 99 mph with hard run and sink. He complements it with a curveball that has good late depth and sharp bite, and a deceptive changeup that has fastball arm speed and late fade and sink. Verlander’s biggest obstacle is his lack of command. He rushes his body and lands on a stiff front side as he struggles to repeat his delivery.”

He pitched a strong six innings Friday night, holding the A’s to a couple of runs, only one of them earned. That came on JJ Bleday’s leadoff home run in the fifth, a 391 foot shot to right that was his eighth round tripper of the season.

The veteran hurler allowed another seven hits but no walks, although he plunked Brent Rooker. He added nine strikeouts to his Hall of Fame credentials. With the win, his balance sheet for ’24 now stands at 3-2,, 3.60. The visitors also used Bryan Abrreu, who gave up a solo home run to JJ Bleday. in the seventh, Ryan Pressly in the eighth, and Josh Hader, who earned his seventh save, in the ninth

Miguel Andújar, whom the Athletics called up from Las Vegas and batted cleanup today, also showed great promise at the start of his career, but he never lived up to it He came in second in the voting for the 2018 AL Rookie of the Year, having hit .297 in 149. games for the Yankees.

The winner was Shohei Ohtani. Although the six foot, 210 pound Dominican playeð in parts of six more major league seasons, he never exceeded 27 games in any of them. The A’s claimed him from the waiver list last November 6 and signed him to a one year contract. He went three for four and drove in two runs tonight.

The Astros didn’t start out playing like a team that had won 10 of its last 14 games, which is what they were, coughing up an unearned run in the bottom of the first on a dropped pop fly by shortstop Jeremy Peña, who was driven in on Andújar’s single in what was his first major league at bat of 2024.

Ross Stripling, starting for the Athletics Friday night, also aroused great expectations, but of a different sort. He retired the first nine Astros he faced before a pair of infield singles in the top of the fourth opened the floodgates and put the ‘tros ahead, 6-1.

The details are onerous, so here’s a brief list of what followed the two scratch hits; Alvarez doubled; Bergman singled; Peña forced Bergman out at second; Singleton singled; Jake Meyers hit a 403 foot, three RBI home run.

There was no more scoring in the frame, and Stripling was lifted after Altuve singled in his second at bat of the inning. The uprooted Stripling had lasted 3-2/3 innings and thrown 61 pitches, 41 for strikes. All of the six runs he allowed were earned, and they came on eight hits.

It goes without saying that he was the losing pitcher. It’s worth mentioning that his record now is 1-9, 5.82. Kyle Muller took Striping’s place and stymied the ‘stros on four hits and a walk until Michael Kelly relieved him with runners on first and second and two down in the top of the eighth. Kelly got the third out, completing his night’s work with one pitch. TJ McFarland shut down the ‘stros, allowing just a base on balls in the ninth.

The A’s will try for their first win against five losses to Houston when they take the field Saturday, at 1:07 in the afternoon. JP Sears (3-3, 4.31) will start for the Athletics, and Spencer Arrighetti (2-4, 7.16) will be on the hill for Houston.