Category: Oakland Athletics

Seattle’s Bergman shuts out the A’s 4-0, the Mariners win the series

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A small crowd of fans look on from centerfield seats as Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Christian Bergman throws against the Oakland Athletics in a baseball game Wednesday, May 17, 2017, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

by Jerry Feitelberg

Seattle – The Seattle Mariners, behind the superb pitching of Christian Bergman, beat the A’s 4-0 Wednesday night. The A’s lost five of the six road game and are returning home to face the Boston Red Sox for a four-game set this weekend.

Jesse Hahn started for Oakland and saw his record drop to 1-3 for the year. Hahn worked five innings and allowed five hits, four runs, three earned, walked two, and struck out six. The Mariners scored all the runs they would need to win when they scored in the first inning. Ben Gamel tripled when his ball to right got by Matt Joyce. Nelson Cruz, leading the AL in RBIs, hit a sac fly to center to drive in Gamel with the run.

The Mariners tallied three more in the fifth. The Mariners’ Boog Powell walked to start the frame. Guillermo Heredia singled. Catcher Tuffy Gosewisch moved them over with a sacrifice bunt. Jean Segura singled to drive in both to make it 3-0. Segura extended his hitting streak to sixteen in a row. Ben Gamel hit a fly ball to left center. Mark Canha called off Khris Davis, but he dropped the ball for an error, and that allowed Segura to score with the fourth run of the night.

There was no more scoring. Bergman held the A’s to just two hits and left with one out in the eighth inning. Bergman walked two and had a career-high nine strikeouts. James Pazos retired the next five A’s hitters to preserve the win for Seattle.

Game Notes- The A’s fall to 17-23 and Seattle improves to 19-22. After going 10-8 in April, the A’s have lost 15 of the last 22 games and are residing in the basement of the AL West.

The A’s continue to make errors and are leading the Major Leagues in that department. Khris Davis’ slump continues, and his batting average is barely over .200 (the Mendoza line).

Sonny Gray ( 0-1, 3.78 ERA) will pitch for Oakland Thursday night against the Red Sox. Game time is at 7:05 pm.

It was bombs away in Seattle as the A’s knock off the Mariners 9-6; Canha gets a homer in the cause

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Oakland Athletics’ Mark Canha, left, is congratulated on his three-run home run by third base coach Chip Hale in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners Tuesday, May 16, 2017, in Seattle. The Athletics won 9-6. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

by Jerry Feitelberg

Seattle- The Oakland A’s snapped a four-game losing streak as they unleashed a barrage of home runs to down the Mariners 9-6. A’s starter Andrew Triggs, looking for his sixth win of the year, gave the As a quality start. Triggs went six innings and allowed just four hits and just one run. He left the game with the A’s in the lead 4-1.

The  Mariners took an early 1-0 lead in the first when Nelson Cruz took Triggs deep to right center. The lead didn’t last long as the A’s tallied two runs in the top of the second. The Mariners’ starter Chase De Jong walked Yonder Alonso to start the frame. Ryon Healy, playing third base, slammed a monster blast into the upper left field stands to give the A’s a 2-1 advantage. The A’s put two more on the board in the top of the fourth. Mark Canha led off with a double. He scored on a double down the right-field line off the bat of Stephen Vogt. Vogt went to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored whenJosh Phegley singled up the middle.

There was no more scoring until the bottom of the seventh inning. The Mariners tied the game as they were helped out when Ryon Healy misplayed a ground ball and that miscue allowed two runs to score. With one out, the Mariners loaded the bases. Ryan Madson, the third A’s pitcher of the inning, got Jean Segura to hit into what appeared to be an inning-ending double play. The M’s challenged the call, and after a review, it was overturned, and the game was tied. In the bottom of the 8th, Kyle Seager gave the M’s the lead when he hit a solo homer to right. 5-4 in favor of Seattle.

The A’s, however, were not going to lose. Rajai Davis started the rally with a single. With Steve Cishek pitching for Seattle, Matt Joyce sent one into the night to put the A’s ahead 6-5. Cishek walked Jed Lowrie. Lowrie stole second and was in scoring position. The M’s issued an intentional walk to Trevor Plouffe. Former Athletic, Marc Rzepczynski, was now pitching for Seattle and was facing Mark Canha. Canha, who had two hits earlier in the game and with the count 3-2, blasted his first homer of the year to up the lead to 9-5. A’s closer Santiago Casilla gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth but was able to retire the M’s to preserve the win.

Game Notes- The A’s are now 17-22 while Seattle drops to 18-22. The A’s are still in last place but are just 1/2 game behind Seattle for 4th place in the division. The A’s committed their 36th error Tuesday night and lead the Majors in that department.

The A’s play the rubber game of the three-game series Wednesday night in Seattle at Safeco Field. Game time is at 7:10 pm.

Time of game was three hours and twenty-five minutes and 13, 900 fans watched the A’s beat the Mariners.

A’s lose again Manaea can’t hold M’s in 6-5 loss as the Mariners snap a four-game losing streak

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by Jerry Feitelberg

Seattle- The A’s welcomed lefty Sean Manaea back from the DL Monday night and hoped that Manaea would be sharp. He wasn’t, and the Mariners won 6-5.Manaea, The Mariners scored two runs in the first inning on just one hit. Mariner shortstop Jean Segura led off the bottom of the first with a single. Manaea walked four batters to force in two runs. In the second, Nelson Cruz homered over the 401-foot marker in center with a man on to put the Mariners up 4-0.

Manaea settled down and retired the last ten hitters he faced. He went five innings and allowed four runs on just two hits. He walked five and struck out seven. Manaea threw 88 pitches and took the loss.

The A’s Khris Davis hit a solo homer in the top of the fourth. It was Davis’ 11th dinger of the year and the first in May. Oakland tallied two more in the fifth. Trevor Plouffe singled and scored when Stephen Vogt homered to right.

Frankie Montas pitched the sixth and seventh and held the Mariners scoreless. The A’s loaded the bases in the seventh but couldn’t score.

Liam Hendriks pitched the eighth for Oakland, and the Marines Kyle Seager took him deep with a man on to give Seattle a 6-3 advantage after eight. The A’s rallied to score twice in the ninth. The Mariners’ closer Edwin Diaz issued four consecutive walks to force in a run. Khris Davis drove in the A’s fifth run when he hit a slow grounder to short. Davis was out at first. The Mariners issued an intentional walk to Yonder Alonso to load the bases. The Mariners replaced Diaz with Tony Zych to face Adam Rosales. Rosales took the count to 3-2. With the runners on the move, the game ended when Rosales was caught looking on a pitch that painted the outside corner of the plate.

Game Notes- The A’s lost their fourth in a row and are now 16-22 and in last place in the AL West. Seattle improved to 18-21. Sean Manaea took the loss and is now 1-3 for the season. Mariners’ starter Yovani Gallardo went 6 and 1/3rd innings. He allowed 3 runs, and 4 hits and his record is now 2-3. The Mariners used seven pitchers, and the game went over 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Game two of the three-game series will be played Tuesday night at Safeco Field in Seattle. Game time will be at 7:05 pm.

Wasn’t this yesterday’s headline?: A’s blow lead late, lose to the Rangers

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By Morris Phillips

Ryan Madson has seen it all.  And it’s a good thing: after the A’s sobering loss on Sunday, with Madson centered in another Oakland late-inning, bullpen collapse, the wisdom provided by the veteran reliever may have been essential to getting his frustrated teammates on the plane to Seattle for the team’s next three games.

“It’s baseball,” Madson mused. “There are no guarantees until the last out is made. That’s true on both sides. It’s just the game.”

For the third straight day, the A’s led late only to see the Rangers rally and win, 6-4. For the second straight day, things unraveled in the seventh with the A’s leading 4-2. Fast forward to the bottom of the seventh on Sunday, when starter Kendall Graveman ran out of gas, and Madson couldn’t pick him up.  Neither pitcher had anything to do with the two, previous collapses, and their contributions to Sunday’s loss could be summed in just two pitches. One pitch delivered by each, one after the other.

On Graveman’s final offering of the day, a 94 mph fastball, hitter Delino DeShields Jr. hit a sharply struck grounder to third baseman Trevor Plouffe, who fielded it in foul territory behind the bag.  Plouffe’s throw to first was accurate, just not enough steam to catch a speedy DeShields.  Carlos Gomez, the baserunner breaking from second base wasn’t interested in the outcome at first.  Gomez kept running to the plate, narrowing the A’s lead to 4-3.

With DeShields aboard, and Elvis Andrus due to hit, Melvin summoned Madson, ending Graveman’s afternoon after 99 pitches.  But Madson’s first pitch was tatooed by Andrus for a game-tying double.

Three pitches later, all three changeups thrown likely to take advantage of hitter Nomar Mazara’s agressiveness, the Rangers took the lead when Mazara very astutely knocked Madson’s below-the-belt offering into centerfield.  All of a sudden–in the span of five pitches–Graveman was no longer in line for the win, and Madson was pinned with the loss.

“I wanted to be that guy to get us on a good run,” the 36-year old Madson said.  “It didn’t happen. So the next game, whoever goes out there first, they’re going to try and start that wave in the right direction. That’s all you can do.”

Squandered in the loss were home runs hit by Plouffe, Matt Joyce and Adam Rosales. Joyce’s shot came in the fifth with Rajai Davis aboard, and gave the A’s their 4-2 lead. The swinging A’s have homered 16 times in the last eight games, but after Sunday’s loss, the impact of all those homers hasn’t amounted to much.  The A’s have dropped three straight, landing them back in last place in the AL West, now 9 1/2 games off the pace of the streaking Astros, who have the big league’s best record at 26-12.

With the sweep at the hand of the Rangers, the A’s other issue is their desultory play on the road where they’ve dropped 13 of their first 18 contests away from Oakland.

Sean Manaea is expected to come off the disabled list and start at Seattle on Monday. Yovanni Gallardo will pitch for the Mariners. Robinson Cano has missed the last four games for Seattle with a quad injury.

A’s lead late only to lose again at Texas when their bullpen falters

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By Morris Phillips

Through six innings on Saturday night, all the ominous signs, as well as the positive developments for the A’s didn’t seem to matter too much. Instead, the only things that seemed pertinent were the A’s maintained a two-run lead, and presumptive ace Sonny Gray pitched as he always does at Arlington, Texas, confidently and effectively, likely the precursor to a seventh consecutive win for the starting pitcher against the Rangers at their ballpark.

Then Gray departed, having thrown a season-high 106 pitches, and the bullpen entered, with disastrous results.

Nomar Mazara’s two-run double capped the Rangers’ four-run seventh inning, and they went on to defeat the A’s, 6-5, the second consecutive night the A’s saw their bullpen implode despite being handed a late-inning lead.

The Rangers’ rally netted them a fifth consecutive win, while the A’s fell back into the AL West cellar, nine games off the pace of the division-leading Astros. While the A’s weren’t derailed by poor defense, or a lack of clutch hitting, their frequent issues thus far this season, they saw their injury-ravished bullpen undo a third, consecutive encouraging outing by Gray, who departed leading 4-2.

“That’s what we expect out of him,” manager Bob Melvin said of Gray. “That’s what he expects out of himself. He left in a tight game, a low-scoring game, and we had a lead.”

Ryan Dull came out of the bullpen, and allowed three of the four batters he faced to reach base, two via walk.  Liam Hendriks inherited Dull’s bases-loaded jam, and allowed a sharp single to Elvis Andrus through the left side of the infield.  Hendriks had retired Andrus in all 12 previous encounters between the two.

Mazara’s ringing double, hit just beyond the glove of retreating left fielder Khris Davis, came next, plating two more, and giving the Rangers a lead they would not relinquish.

Until that point, stranding runners on base was a Rangers’ problem, thanks to Gray, not one for the A’s.  Gray kept Texas batters frustrated by retiring nine of ten batters with runners in scoring position, only allowing an RBI single to Andrus, giving Texas a 1-0 in the third. Conversely, the A’s were 3 of 7 in those situations, and scored five runs, nice turnarounds for a club that ranks last in scoring in the American League, and last with runners in scoring position.

The A’s also got a 12th home run from club leader Yonder Alonso to narrow the Texas lead to 6-5 in the eighth. But in the ninth, Matt Bush earned his third save, striking out Trevor Plouffe and Bruce Maxwell, before retiring pinch hitter Stephen Vogt to end the game.

Kendall Graveman gets the ball on Sunday, entrusted with helping the A’s avoid a sweep.  Former Athletic A.J Griffin goes for Texas, looking for a career-best, fifth consecutive win. Griffin shut out the Padres in his most recent outing.

 

 

MLB Podcast The Show with Matt Harrington: Get all the A’s home games in June for $19.99; Did Marlins sale have something to do with low attendance?

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athleticsnation.com photo: Oakland A’s team president Dave Kaval addressing the media is hatching the idea of the $19.99 June monthly ticket package that has received positive responses from fans and future fans alike

On the MLB The Show podcast with Matt:

The Oakland A’s team president David Kaval announced on Friday that the A’s will sell fans a $19.99 package for the month of June in order to get more fans through the door it’s almost like a month of June season pass to the Oakland Coliseum. Kaval is well aware that fans will not be attending every single game and in order to get more fans to fill the Coliseum the $19.99 package just might bring more fans out

Kaval is in the planning stages of unveiling a new location for a new A’s ball park in Oakland and he wants to wet some new and yet some old customers back and getting them out to the Coliseum might wet their appetite just in time for the unveiling and the idea of having a $19.99 June homestand package is exciting  a lot of fans who normally who can’t get out to the Coliseum and those just plain out can’t afford to come a ball game now this new deal for June should bring them out.

Matt discusses the sale of the Miami Marlins and why the team decided to sell.

Listen to Matt on the MLB Podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Casilla Blows Save, Gallo Launches Walk-off Homer in 5-2 Loss for A’s; Rough way to open series for A’s

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Texas Rangers’ Keone Kela, out of photo at left, sprays a bottle of water over Joey Gallo as he rounds first following his three-run walk off home run against the Oakland Athletics during a baseball game, Friday, May 12, 2017, in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers won 5-2. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

By Matthew Harrington

The Oakland Athletics had a 2-1 lead heading into the ninth inning, but the Texas Rangers rallied for four runs, capping a walk-off win with a three-run Joey Gallo homer Friday night at Globe Life Park. Santiago Casilla blew his second save of the season, spoiling a seven-inning, one-run performance from starter Jess Hahn. Matt Joyce ripped his third homer of the season and Mark Canha doubled in a run for the A’s (16-19) who now fall just one game ahead of Texas (17-20) for the last spot in the American League West.

Casilla (1-2, 5.02 ERA) opened the ninth up 2-1 by surrendering a single to Jonathan Lucroy. Pinch-runner Pete Kozma then went first to third on Rougned Odor’s single to put the tying run 90 feet away. Mike Napoli, author of a walk-off homer for the Rangers Thursday night, hit a deep drive that plated Kozma on a sacrifice fly, but Odor remained at first. It would momentarily save the A’s after Carlos Gomez doubled to put the winning run on third.

With light-hitting Delino DeShields Jr. on deck, A’s manager Bob Melvin decided to pitch to the strike-out prone Joey Gallo as opposed to loading the bases for the potential inning-ending double play. Casilla got Gallo to a 3-2 count, but the Rangers rookie with a reputation for big homers and big whiffs punished the Oakland closer with one of the latter, sending the ball halfway up the foul pole in right for his 12th bomb of the year. Keone Kela (1-1, 4.50) picked up the win thanks to Gallo’s heroics.

The A’s looked well on their way to win thanks to a masterful performance from newly inserted rotation member Jesse Hahn. Hahn took Jharel Cotton’s place in the rotation after the rookie’s surprising demotion to Triple-A Nashville. Hahn outdueled Texas starter and Lone Star Native Andrew Cashner.

Hahn scattered four hits, allowing the lone run on an intended sacrifice bunt with runners on the corners in the fifth inning by Deshields to tie the game 1-1. Joyce had touched up Cashner for the first of two A’s runs in the top of the inning, launching his 3rd homer of the season to centerfield. Canha would double off reliever Jeremy Jeffress to take a 2-1 lead with one out in the 7th.

The A’s look to get Sonny Gray back into form Saturday as he takes the hill against the Rangers. Texas counters with Nick Martinez and his 0-2 record and 5.12 ERA.

 

Headline Sports Podcast with Tony Renteria: Giants try to get Reds sweep out of their mouths in second meeting; A’s have put four wins in five games together

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San Francisco Giants second baseman Joe Panik dives for a ball hit by Tommy Milone for an RBI single during the fourth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 10, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

On the Sports Headlines podcast with Tony Renteria:

#1 In their first meeting since last week the Cincinnati Reds who swept the Giants at Great American Ball Park the coincidences of Giants 21 year rookie Christian Arroyo hitting an home run off of 40 year old Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo both graduating from the same high school in Florida some 18 years apart.

#2 How important is it for the Giants to close out the long road trip with a win over the Mets to avoid getting swept and got back to San Francisco to start the homestand.

#3 After losing five straight before picking up the win it seemed like forever until you get your next win

#4 The A’s who never give up have won four of their last five games, is this a fluke or are the A’s getting clutch hitting and consistent relief pitching

#5 The Oakland Raiderettes won a $1.25 million lawsuit against the Oakland Raiders after being paid below the minimum wage. The cheerlead squad said after the victory that they were proud to stand up for themselves and this is a statement for all the other cheer squads in the NFL and a statement to the league not to pay below the market rate and a stand for women workers rights. The lawsuit pays out $20,000 to each of football’s fabulous females if they have more than two seasons work in.

Tony Renteria does the Sports Headlines Podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

 

Oakland A’s day off report: Preview of the A’s six-game road trip to Texas and Seattle

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ARLINGTON, TX – APRIL 26: Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre jokes around in the dugout before the MLB game between the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers on April 26, 2017 at Globe Life Park in Arlington, TX. (Photo by Steve Nurenberg/Icon Sportswire) (Icon Sportswire via AP Images)

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s have an off-day on Thursday as they travel to Arlington, Texas to play the Rangers over the weekend. After the conclusion of the three-game set with Texas, the A’s fly to Seattle for three more and then return home to start a four-game series with the Boston Red Sox.

The A’s, who went 2-7 on their last road trip, returned home and won four of six from the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels. The A’s are actually 5-2 as the won the last game of the road trip in Minnesota. The A’s won three of their four wins in walk-off fashion. They stunned the Tigers twice and the Angels once.

The A’s are currently tied for third-place in the AL West with the Angels. Both teams are two games under the .500 mark. The A’s are 16-18 while the Angels are 17-19. The Mariners are in second place with a record of 17-17. The Texas Rangers are in last place with a record of 15-20 and are 8 1/2 games behind the Houston Astros. However, they are just 1 1/2games behind the A’s and Angels.

The Rangers, who were expected to challenge Houston for the division crown, are not playing well. Their All-Star third baseman Adrian Beltre is on the DL with a strained calf muscle. The Rangers are hoping Beltre will return by the end of May. Beltre who will turn 38 later this year and needs just 58 more hits to reach 3000. Players that own that many hits as a player are almost certain to enter baseball’s Hall of Fame. The Rangers’ high-powered offense has gone into hibernation. Big Mike Napoli is hitting .160. Napoli had a huge year with Cleveland in  2016 hitting over 30 homers and driving in more than 100 runs. So far this season, he has five dingers and just thirteen RBIs. Second baseman Rougned Odor, who has been a thorn in the side of the A’s since he arrived in Texas, is also hitting under the Mendoza line with an average of just .194. All-Star catcher Johnathan Lucroy is hitting .230 with 2 homers and six RBIs. The Ranger outfielders Delino DeShields, Carlos Gomez, Ryan Rua, are hitting .231,.219, and .173 respectively. Nomar Mazara is hitting .234 with five homers and has knocked in 23. The big gun for Texas has been third baseman, Joey Gallo. The highly-touted Gallo has had problems staying up with Texas. However, he seems to have been able to figure things out and has hit eleven home runs, tied for second with Yonder Alonso of the A’s, and leads the club with 24 RBIs. The rap on Gallo is that he strikes out too much.

The Rangers are missing Cole Hamels from their rotation. Hamels may be on the DL. Three of the starters have a losing record. Andrew Cashner is 0-3, Nick Martinez 0-2, and Martin Perez is 0-5. Yu Darvish is 3-2, and former Athletic A.J.Griffin is 4-0. The A’s will face Cashner, Martinez, and Griffin this weekend. The A’s will counter with Jesse Hahn, Sonny Gray, and Kendall Graveman. Hahn appears to be more consistent and has been able to give the A’s innings. Sonny Gray has had two outings and has not yet returned to form. He has shown some of his former brilliance but isn’t quite back to the Sonny Gray of 2015. Hopefully, he will regain his touch this weekend. Kendall Graveman pitches on Sunday. Graveman has been consistent all year. He gave up two runs Monday night against the Angels in the first inning but settled down and did not let the Angels score again. The A’s won that game in the eleventh inning when Jed Lowrie hit a home run to give the A’s their third consecutive walk-off win.

A’s manager Bob Melvin expressed that he is quite pleased with the work of his bullpen. In the last two games against the Angels, the reliever did not allow the Angels to score. Tuesday night, the bullpen held the Angels hitless after the sixth inning. On Wednesday, Liam Hendriks, Ryan Madson, and Santiago Casilla allowed the Halos just one hit and no runs as the A’s won 3-1. The Rangers’ bullpen needs to improve if the Rangers are to move up in the standing. Ranger manager will be calling on Matt Bush, Sam Dyson, Keone Kela, Jeremy Jeffress, Tony Barnette, Dario Alvarez, and Alex Claudio to hold the opposing offense down. Bush and Claudio are the only relievers with saves so far.Bush has two and Claudio one.

On Monday the A’s play the Mariners. The Mariners started slowly but are now 17-17 for the year.  The Mariners are missing Felix Hernandez who is on the DL. The Mariners have shorstop Jean Segura back from injury and are led by third baseman Kyle Seager and second baseman Robinson Cano. Nelson Cruz is the designated hitter and he is a threat to homer every time he gets to the plate. Hisashi Iwakuma and reliever Evan Scribner are also on the DL. The Mariners are trying to patch together a starting rotation and maybe, just maybe, the A’s can take advantage of the Mariners’ woes.

The A’s are hoping to have better results on this road trip. If they can win four of the six games, they will be back at .500 just in time to face the Red Sox. The A’s are showing signs of improvement. Yonder Alonso has been on a tear. He is hitting about .300 and has eleven homers and was named the AL Player of the Week. Jed Lowrie is hitting doubles and homers again. Lowrie was sidelined with a foot injury last year but it looks like he has healed. Mark Canha was recalled from Nashville and he had two hits in the game against the Angels on Wednesday. His first hit was a rocket to left and he may earn some more playing time. The A’s need Matt Joyce, Rajai Davis, and Stephen Vogt to get better on offense, Joyce is hitting under .200. Davis and Vogt are barely above. 200. Khris Davis is slumping. He hit ten homers early in the season but he is not hitting and has been striking out a lot. He did single to drive in a run on Wednesday.

Let’s hope the A’s get hot on this trip and that big crowds will be on hand when the play the Red Sox next week.

The A’s behind Triggs take rubber-game from Angels; Pinder’s homer in the fifth proves to be the gamer for Oakland

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Oakland Athletics’ Chad Pinder, right, celebrates with Mark Canha after hitting a 2-run home run off Los Angeles Angels’ Jesse Chavez in the fifth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 10, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

by Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND- The A’s won the rubber game of the three-game series 3-1 over the LA Angels. The game didn’t start well as A’s starter Andrew Triggs walked the first three hitters to load the bases with no out. Triggs could not find the plate. However, he righted the ship and did not walk another batter in six innings of work. In fact, he had a very good outing. He went six innings and allowed just one run on three hits. He also struck out five. The Angels Jesse Chavez, a former Oakland Athletic, pitched well for the Angels but not well enough. Chavez went five and 2/3rds innings, and he also allowed three hits and two runs. The A’s bullpen held the Angels to preserve the win for Triggs. Liam Hendricks pitched the seventh, Ryan Madson the eighth, and Santiago Casilla closed out the ninth. The Angels could muster just one hit in the last three innings of the game.

The A’s starter Andrew Triggs got off to a rocky start in the first inning. Triggs could not throw a strike as he walked the first three batters he faced. Thirteen of the first fifteen pitches thrown were balls. He righted the ship when he struck out Luis Valbuena for the first out. Jefrey Marte hit into a fielder’s choice to drive in the Angels’ first run of the game. Triggs got Ben Revere to line out to center to end the inning. The Angels lead 1-0 without the benefit of a hit in the inning.

The A’s took the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Mark Canha, playing right field, singled to start the rally. The next hitter Chad Pinder slammed his second home run of the year to right. The ball barely made it over the fence but it did go out of the park. The A’s are in front 2-1 after five innings of play.

The A’s added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. With one out, Ryon Healy singled. Yonder Alonso walked to put men on at first and second. Khris Davis, who had struck out in his first three plate appearances, singled to drive in Healy. Alonso took third when Angels’ left fielder Ben Revere bobbled the ball. Jed Lowrie walked to load the bases but Canha and Pinder struck out to end the threat. The A’s win 3-1.

Game Notes- A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell was hit in the mask be a foul ball and the A’s removed him for precautionary reasons. A’s manager Bob Melvin noticed that Maxwell was a little slow responding to the signals from the bench and felt it was better to be safe rather than sorry. After the game, when asked who would be the backup catcher if Maxwell had to go on the seven-day concussion list, Melvin responded: ” I guess it would be me.” Melvin was a catcher during his time in the Big Leagues.

The A’s announced that first baseman Yonder Alonso received the award for American League Player of the Week. It was the first Player of the Week for Alonso.

Triggs improved his record to 5-2. He threw a career-high 105 pitches.  Melvin felt that Triggs was just one guy away from being taken out of the game. “He gave us six innings, and it was a great outing for him.” Khris Davis struck out in his 21st consecutive game. It is a franchise record for non-pitchers. He singled in the eighth to snap a 0-for-12 hitless streak. Chad Pinder hit his second homer of the season. After the game, Melvin said this about Pinder:”he can hit. We have to find a place for him.”

The A’s bullpen did not allow a run in the three-game series. The bullpen has tossed 14 straight scoreless innings since Ryan Dull allowed a two-run homer on Sunday afternoon.

The A’s are off Thursday and will resume play Friday against the Texas Rangers. Game time will be at 5:05 pm. Jesse Hahn pitches Friday, Sonny Gray on Saturday, and Kendall Graveman on Sunday. The Rangers will counter with Andrew Cashner, Nick Martinez, and former Athletic, A.J.Griffin.