Category: Oakland Athletics

By Matthew T.F. Harrington

AP photo: Oakland A’s pitcher Dillon Overton works the plate in the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at the Oakland Coliseum on Friday night

OAKLAND, Calif. – The Oakland Athletics fell to the visiting Chicago Cubs 7-2 Friday night at the Oakland Coliseum. Jon Lester fired seven innings of two-run ball for the win, striking out eight A’s while allowing six hits. For Oakland, Dillon Overton matched a season low by only lasting three innings while allowing seven runs in his brief outing. Dexter Fowler and Jorge Soler homered for the Cubs (67-41), while Brett Eibner hit his first dinger in an Athletics uniform.

The Cubs jumped on Overton early, with leadoff man Fowler taking the rookie deep in the first at-bat of the game, hitting a deep fly ball to the bleachers in left field. Five batters later Jorge Soler would exit the park with a two-out, three-run homer for a 4-0 Cubs lead before the A’s took their first cuts at Lester.

For Overton, Friday marked the second consecutive outing where he lasted less than four innings and allowed two homeruns or more. The soft-tossing south paw surrendered three long balls in his July 30^th start at Cleveland. Over 24 1/3 innings and two stints called up from Triple-A, Overton has allowed 13 home runs.

“He’s upset about the game,” said A’s manager Bob Melvin. “He expects himself to do better. He’s got higher expectations than what he’s shown here. You don’t want to see a guy give in and say ‘I’m not good enough to pitch here’. He’s disappointed in what he’s done so far. His numbers aren’t as good as he would like.”

Overton (1-3, 10.97 ERA) avoided the long ball in the second, stranding runners at the corners but struggled through the third inning. Overton allowed a leadoff double to former Athletic Ben Zobrist then plunked ex-Oakland farmhand before picking up a fielder’s choice with Soler at the plate. Heyward would plate one run with a single, then Javier Baez would knock in a pair with a double for a 7-0 lead. Overton would get the inning-ending punch-out of David Ross before departing the game.

“They forced him to throw the ball over the plate,” said Melvin. “They got some good swings with men on base. We’ve seen him pitch better than this.”

The A’s bullpen picked up the slack, with Andrew Triggs (two innings), Daniel Coulombe (three) and Marc Rzepczynski (one) kept the potent Cubs offense off the board. The trio allowed only two hits to limit the damage.

“It was important that they got us deep into the game,” said Melvin. “It was important they gave us the innings they did and they were successful in the way they did it.”

Unfortunately for the pen, the A’s offense wasn’t able to solve former A’s stretch-run acquisition Jon Lester. Lester (12-4, 2.93) held the A’s to only one hit over the first five innings before the A’s offense finally broke through in the sixth.

Eibner, acquired for Billy Burns on July 30th, made quite the impression on A’s fans in his appearance since being called up from Nashville earlier in the day. The right fielder mashed his third homer of the season off Lester for the A’s first run.

“You watch him in batting practice and he was hitting balls a long way,” said Melvin. “He gets a swing like that off Jon Lester and hits the ball a long way. Power is probably one of his best tools offensively. He’s not a bad runner and can play all three outfield position but definitely it’s the power.”

Marcus Semien collected a two-out run scoring single, plating Bruce Maxwell in the process. The A’s lineup, comprised of four rookies, would only have two more baserunners over the remainder of the game off Lester and relievers Carl Edwards Jr. and Joe Smith.

“You’re always looking for young players to respond at this time of year,” said Melvin on what he’s looking for from his team as the close out a season of non-contention. “That’s why we’re in the position we’re in. We want to give them the opportunity now.”

The youth movement for the A’s (48-61) will get a shot tomorrow against tough competition, with Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta taking the mound for the Cubs. While not a rookie, Sonny Gray will take the hill for the A’s hoping to right a season that’s been mostly forgettable for the young ace.

By Jessica Kwong AP photo: Oakland A’s Max Muncy (12) completes the double play by throwing to first after retiring the LA Angels Andrelton Simmon (2) at Angels Stadium on Thursday night  ANAHEIM–Better late than never. The Oakland Athletics brought their A-game in extra innings to beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 8-6, snap a five-game losing streak and avoid being swept in the series.  Coming out of a tied ninth inning, the Yonder Alonso doubled on a sharp line drive to center fielder Mike Trout, allowing Danny Valencia to score and put the A’s up 7-6. With that play, Alonso said, “I redeemed myself, we’re good” following his error in the eighth inning that let the Angels tie the contest.  “It was costing us for a second and I was very disappointed,” Alonso said about flubbing the grounder.  “I take a lot of pride in my defense and those are things that happen throughout the course of the game, but to be honest, I prayed to God that I would get an opportunity, get the chance to redeem myself and help my team win,” he said, “And I was fortunate enough that I got that opportunity.”  Also in the tenth inning, Marcus Semien singled on a soft line drive to right fielder Kole Calhoun and Billy Butler scored, lifting the A’s to 8-6 and victory over the Angels who failed to score afterward.  “There were a lot of guys that contributed. This was a total team win,” manager Bob Melvin said. “It was a great fighting win.”  The A’s took an early lead when Max Muncy homered on a fly ball to right center field in the first inning and put them up 1-0.  In the second inning, the Angels’ Ji-Man Choi homered on a line drive to right center field to tie the game.  In the third inning, Ryon Healy hit a home run on a fly ball to left field to put the A’s up 2-1.  But the Angels’ Andrelton Simmons singled on a ground ball to right fielder Valencia and Yunel Escobar scored, tying the game at 2-2. Then Choi homered on a line drive to right field and Albert Pujols and Simmons scored, elevating the Halos to a 5-2 lead.  In the fourth inning, Valencia homered on a fly ball to right center field. Semien grounded out and Khris Davis scored, cutting the Angels’ lead to 5-4. Then the Angels’ Ricky Nolasco threw a wild pitch at Bruce Maxwell, allowing Alonso to score and tie the game at 5-5.  A’s starting pitcher Jesse Hahn, who went four innings before being relieved by Zach Neal, said, “I just tried to go out there and do the best I could to keep the team going.”  Perhaps the most entertaining play came in the fifth inning, when Coco Crisp went halfway over the wall to make a catch hit by Choi.  “We’ve seen him so many times get big hits. That’s not an upset when you see that,” Melvin said of Crisp. “Certainly a game like that has so many ebbs and flows, you lose sight of what he did … to get the ball over the fence was terrific. That’s one of those moments you can talk about.”  In the seventh inning, Crisp doubled on a fly ball to Angels right fielder Kole Calhoun and Jake Smolinksi scored, putting the A’s up 6-5.  Angels second baseman Johnny Giavotella reached on a force attempt, fielding an error by first baseman Alonso that tied the game at 6-6 in the eighth inning.  The A’s have been fighting the whole year, and kept fighting on the road trip in Anaheim, Alonso said.  “It shows a lot of character in our team,” he said. “It shows that we continue to keep fighting, continue putting at-bats together and our bullpen’s been great too.”  The A’s (48-60) and still in last place in the American League west, return to Oakland to face the Chicago Cubs on Friday, with first pitch at 7:05 p.m.

by Jerry Feitelberg

AP photo: The LA Angels Albert Pujols watches the flight of his two run homer in the bottom of the ninth off the Oakland A’s at Angels Stadium for a walk off home run on Wednesday night

The Oakland A’s tried as they may tried to play catch up ball but couldn’t make hay after three innings the A’s and Los Angeles Angels in the second game of their series had a 2-2 match going in the fourth inning the A’s tied the game once more 4-4 but the Angels scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 6-4 lead. The A’s caught up to tie the game in the top of the eight and ninth innings scoring a run in each of those innings making it 6-6 but the Angels got the win in the bottom of the ninth inning with a pair of runs for a 8-6 victory.

The A’s had actually put together rallies in the eighth and ninth inning but hit into double plays in each of those eighth and ninth innings. The A’s rookie third baseman Ryon Healy also miscued a ball that costed when Mike Trout grounded to Healy in the last of the ninth. Then the Angels Albert Pujols took A’s pitcher Ryan Dull deep for a two run homer a walk off that gave the Angels a two run win.

The A’s manager Bob Melvin was stewed and disappointed about the lack of defense through the first two games of this series, “We didn’t play any defense very well. That costs you in close games.” Said Melvin. Healy didn’t make any excuses about his error in the ninth and said he movements to throw the ball caused the miscue, “I’m not going to make excuses. I didn’t get my front foot set in time, dropped my arm slot a little bit and made an errant throw.” said Healy

With the Angels Cam Bedrosian pitching in the ninth the A’s tie the game in the ninth by the A’s Stephen Vogt that sent in Coco Crisp. The A’s with the bases loaded with one out saw Bedrosian lifted for reliever Mike Morin and with Danny Valencia up Valencia hit into a 1-2-3 double play to end the A’s chances for the night.

The A’s will start Jesse Hahn (2-4) against the Angels Ricky Nolasco (4-8) for Thursday’s third and final game of the series

 

By Jessica Kwong

AP photo: The Los Angeles Angels Jefry Marte watches the flight of the ball for a three run homer off Oakland A’s pitcher Sean Manaea in the sixth inning at Angels Stadium on Tuesday night

 ANAHEIM– It rained home runs at Angel Stadium on Tuesday night, but in the end, the Oakland Athletics fell 5-4 to the Halos – and back to last place.

 The game was tied at 2-2 after the fifth inning, but an error by A’s shortstop Marcus Semien allowed Angels third baseman Jefry Marte in the sixth inning to hit a homer on a fly ball to left and Mike Trout and Albert Pujols to scored, giving Anaheim a 5-2 lead.

 In the eight inning, A’s first baseman Yonder Alonso hit a homer on a line drive to right field and left fielder Khris Davis scored to put them within one of the Angels. But Oakland failed to score any more runs.

 “They got some home runs when they needed it, what ended up being the difference in the game,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said.

 Semien, who had not one, but two errors in the game, said Marte’s three-run homer made it all the worse.

“That would have been a solo home run instead, probably. I think we turn two if I catch it clearly, but of course it hurts,” Semien said. “I want to make every play I can. It just didn’t happen.”

 Oakland starting pitcher Sean Manaea didn’t let Semien take all the blame, saying the errors were “not really that big of a deal.”

 “I should have made better pitches to Marte,” Manaea said. “We try to go in and I just threw right down the middle – that was completely my fault. Marcus is going to get that ball next time. It’s one of the things that happens and just have to move on from that.”

 Prior to the decisive three-run homer, Manaea had a rhythm going, pitching changeups, fast balls and sometimes sliders.

 “Early in the game, he looked really good, like when we’ve seen him when he’s at his best,” Melvin said.

 In 5 2/3 innings, Manaea allowed six hits and five runs, four earned.

 The A’s took an early lead in the game when left fielder Khris Davis homered on a line drive to right center field in the second inning. It was his 27th home run of the season in the second inning, and he’s tied with Mike Napoli and Jedd Gyorko leading the Major League for most homers following the All-Star break at 8.

 “Seems like he’s more and more confident up there as the season goes along,” Melvin said of Davis.

 In the fifth inning, A’s left fielder Coco Crisp hit a homer on a line drive to right center field to put the A’s up 2-0.

 But Angels’ Jett Bandy hit a homer on a line drive to left field and Andrelton Simmons scored, tying the game at 2-2. It was downhill from there for the A’s.

 “Just got to get better the next day, that’s all you can do,” Semien said. “I still feel like I’m in a better spot when I’m out there. Just today was bad.”

With their fourth straight loss, the A’s, 47-59, sit in last place in the American League west. First pitch for the second in the three-game series at Angel Stadium is 7:05 p.m. Wednesday.

file photo foxsports.com: The Los Angeles Angels Mike Trout holds a conversation with Los Angeles Dodger Yesiel Puig whose bound for the minors, as Trout and the Angels host the Oakland A’s starting Tuesday night in Anaheim

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O, there was no surprise in the moves made by the A’s regarding the deal that sent Josh Reddick and Rich Hill to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The moves that were made by the A’s were pretty well telegraphed over the last couple of weeks. First of all everybody involved in the baseball business expected the A’s to be sellers.

Let’s look at the situation the A’s are currently tied for fourth place in the AL West or in reality let’s call it what it is last place. The have a record of 47-58 14.5 games back of division leading Texas. Their 5-5 in their last ten they’ve lost three in a row coming off a three game sweep in Cleveland and their in Anaheim starting Tuesday night.

Charlie O does the Oakland A’s podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com