Category: Oakland Athletics

The A’s rally to beat the Yankees

Published on by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s finally put together a game that their fans had something to cheer about as they came from behind to defeat the big, bad New York Yankees 5-4 at the O.Co Coliseum Thursday night.  The A’s Kendall Graveman started his second game since being recalled from Nashville and pitched relatively well as he went 5 2/3rds innings giving up seven hits and three runs. Graveman walked two and  struck out four. He left the game trailing 3-0. A’s relievers Fernando Abad and Evan Scribner came through for the A’s holding the Yanks scoreless. A’s closer Tyler Clippard retired the first two batters he faced in the ninth but walked pinch-hitter, Garrett Jones. Brett Gardner doubled to left-center driving in Jones who was running on the pitch. Clippard then retired Chase Headley for the final out to record the win for the A’s.

The Yankees took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. With one out, Yankees catcher Brian McCann hit  a big fly that left the park over the right field wall. It was McCann’s seventh home run of the season.

The Yanks added a run in the top of the fourth. Alex Rodriguez led off the inning with a single. Graveman walked Mark Texeira to put men on at first and second with no out. Brian McCann followed with a sharp single to center field. Rodriguez appeared to not touch the plate as he was attempting to score. A’s catcher Josh Phegley tagged him and he was ruled out by home plate umpire  Ed Hickox. The Yankees challenged the ruling on the field and it was overturned as the replay showed that A-Rod barely got his hand on a small corner of the plate but he did touch the plate and it was the correct call.

New York took a 3-0 lead in the fifth. Singles by Brett Gardner and Chase Headley put men on at first and third with one out. A-Rod flew out to right field to drive in Gardner with the run. The A’s made it a 3-1 game when they got on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Billy Burns hit  a line shot that barely made it over the wall at the 330 ft. mark. For Burns, it was his second home run of the season.

The A’s tied the game in the bottom of the sixth. Ben Zobrist led off with a double. Zobrist advanced to third when Billy Butler flew out to right field. Sabathia struck out Stephen Vogt, but Brett Lawrie took a pitch to deep left to tie the game. For Lawrie, it was his third homer of the season. 3-3 after six.

The A’s scored two runs in the seventh to take a 5-3 lead. Josh Phegley led off the inning with a single and Mark Canha drew a walk to put two men on with no out. Yankee manager Joe Girardi replaced Sabathia with David Robertson. Billy Burns tried to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but it was not successful as Phegley was thrown out at third base. Marcus Semien singled to load the bases. Ben Zobrist worked Robertson for a walk driving in Canha with the A’s fourth run of the game. Billy Butler flew out to deep centerfield to drive in Burns with the second run of the inning and the fifth of the game for Oakland.

The Yankees refused to go quietly in the ninth. It looked like Clippard was going to set them down in order, but the Yanks had other ideas. Garrett Jones, pinch-hitting for Didi Gregorius, drew a walk with two out. Brett Gardner came to the plate representing the tying run. with a 3-2 count and Jones running on the pitch, Gardner lashed a double to left centerfield to score Jones. Clippard had to face the dangerous Chase Headley to end the game. He got Headley to fly out to center to end the game ad the fans let go a collective sigh of relief as the A’s won the game by a final score of 5-4.

Game notes- The A’s overcame a 3-0 deficit to win their 18th game of the ear. The A’s snapped a 12-game losing streak in one-run games at home dating back to September 6th,2014. It was the longest such streak in Athletics history. The A’s are 1-10 in one-run games at home this season. The A’s have won 15 of the last 20 games against the Yankees.The A’s finally had a hit with a runner in scoring position to snap a 0-for-26 streak.  Winning pitcher for Oakland was Evan Scribner and Tyler Clippard recorded his sixth save of the year. The Yankees C.C.Sabathia took the loss and is now 2-7 with an ERA of 5.67. Sabathia is 9-10 with a 4.75 ERA in 28 career starts against Oakland. Alex Rodriguez recorded his 1996th career RBI tying him with Barry Bonds for second place all-time.

The A’s made another error, but it did not cost them. They have committed 51 errors in 50 games and lead the Major Leagues in that department.

Game two of the four-game series will be played Friday night at 7:05pm at the O.co Coliseum. Sonny Gray (5-2,1.77) will go for Oakland and he will be opposed by LHP Chris Capuano (0-2,7.36)

Attendance was 21,795.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Can the Giants repeat for a fourth series title tying the A’s four trophies?

Published on by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

ANAHEIM–I was recently invited to a local elementary school in the East Bay for Career Day. I was invited to talk to the kids (fourth graders) about broadcasting and my career in the business. The regular questions were asked, but one student asked me – when are the Athletics going to win the World Series. When I told him -and the class- that they have won a total of four(4) “one more than the Giants”they looked at me like I just arrived from the planet Mars. Even their teacher(after I have spoken) told me she didn’t know that.

Interesting, that in a world where you can Google anything and in 20 seconds find an answer, there are probably many people in the Bay Area that believe that the Giants have won more World Series than the Athletics. A lot has to do with the Giants propaganda, their beautiful stadium and ,of course, they have won three times in the last five years, but you would think that the Bay Area awash in Orange and Black would understand that there is another Major League team, that has been playing on Oakland since 1968. What came to my mind immediately is the old Janet Jackson song “What Have You Done for Me Lately”. And I can understand that. After all; how many cars were carrying those little Giants flags, before 2010?

But, can the Giants win another World Series this year and tie the Oakland Athletics Bay Area baseball record of four World Series titles?(1972,1973,1974,1989). The saying going around is that “the Giants win the Series every two years”, and that of course is just kidding. But that is what they have done during the past five seasons.

It is way too early to come to any conclusions, with approximately 45 games played by each of the thirty teams in Major League Baseball. Some teams have already started making trades to “fix”their weaknesses, others have not. The Giants ended the Casey McGehee experiment, for the time being, as they sent the third baseman to Sacramento(AAA)but there still is a chance he comes back to the Giants if Frank Duffy doesn’t do as well as many expect in the organization. And as well as things have gone for the Giants in the recent past, McGehee might comeback and be a hero in the postseason. I wonder if these same kids in this classroom remember Travis Ishikawa? Most people had no idea who was Ishikawa until that homerun.

The biggest advantage for the Giants is that they cannot lose this year to the favorite division foes Los Angeles Dodgers. Recently they have swept the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium and at AT&T Park. Still many games left, but something is happening where not even the great Clayton Kershaw can beat the Giants in 2015. This could become “mental”for the Dodgers. Baseball is a funny game, Angel Pagan is a key player for the Giants,we all know that, yet since Hunter Pence arrived from the disabled list, the team caught fire. Can the Giants pitching hold on for the next four months? Can Pagan’s back stay healthy? What kind of Matt Cain(when he comes back)the Giants will see? These, and many other questions will remain unanswered as the season makes it to the half way point, in mid-July and the All Star Game takes place in Cincinnati with Pete Rose involved in some capacity during the celebrations.

Baseball will teach everybody patience, things happen and not in a hurry, it takes time to develop a rally, sometimes a player doesn’t do well half way inside a season, and then in the second half that same player goes nuts and carries the team. I saw Mike Trout the first time the LA Angels brought him up from the minors, he could do little right, they sent him back down. We all know today who is Mike Trout.

There are many so-called experts in the game of baseball, but most of these experts could have never predicted the Giants winning three World Series. The Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958 and won their first World Series in 2010, for those counting, it took 52 years. Talking about patience? Many Giants fans I knew died before they could win the first of three titles. And I know people that work for the Giants organization that admitted to me, that they never expected to win this many in this short amount of time. Some even told me “we were lucky”.

So here we go again, although It might look like the Western Division of the National League will be between the Giants and the Dodgers, please do not forget about the San Diego Padres. One of these three teams will win the west. If you think otherwise, I suggest some serious therapy.

But, in a way, I can understand, since the Giants propaganda and publicity especially by winning three World Series since 2010, gives the impression to many that they have won the most.

NOTE: Today here at Angel Stadium in Anaheim prior to the third and last inter-league game between the Angels and the Padres I had the pleasure of talking with legendary sportscaster Dick Enberg, who recently won the Ford C. Frick Award Hall of Fame for boadcasters. Enberg is the television play by play announcer for Padres baseball, and his booth was next to mine.He threw the ceremonial first pitch yesterday, and he threw it well,but today he told me his arm was “acting up”. Here in Southern California, Dick Enberg has been one of the most popular guys behind the mic, for many decades and people like Joe Torre, Dave Niehaus and Don Drysdale joined him during many baseball broadcasts. A great guy Dick Enberg. Oh My! Congratulations!

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the TV Spanish voice for the Angels and the Radio Spanish voice for the A’s and does News and Commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Yoenis Cespedes homers to beat the A’s.

Published on by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s lost another one-run game Wednesday afternoon. The Detroit Tigers beat them 3-2 to win the rubber match of the three-game series. A’s starting pitcher, Scott Kazmir left the game after three innings with tightness in his left shoulder. He underwent an MRI, but the results will not be known until Thursday. He was replaced by Dan Otero. Otero went two innings giving up five hits and three runs. The decisive blow was a three-run home run off the bat of  former Athletic, Yoenis Cespedes. Sean Doolittle made his first appearance of the season and pitched well in his one inning of work.  His fastball topped at 90 miles per hour but he used his slider and change-up effectively.  With the loss, the A’s won-loss record for the year is 17-32 while Detroit improved to 28-20. Otero took the loss for Oakland while Kyle Ryan, called up from Louisville and making his first appearance of the season, received credit for the win.

The game was scoreless until the fifth inning.  With two out, Tiger second baseman, Ian Kinsler doubled. The A’s elected to walk Miguel Cabrera to put men on at first and second. That decision did not turn out well as former Athletic, Yoenis Cespedes hit a line shot to left field that went over the wall for a three-run homer. After the game, Bob Melvin said that the A’s would not let Cabrera beat them and the A’s were willing to face the next batter no matter what.

The A’s got on the board in the bottom of the seventh. Stephen Vogt led off the inning with a triple. The ball hit the 367 mark but did not go out. Mark Canha, pinch hitting for Max Muncy, flied out to centerfield and Vogt was able to tag up and score. Detroit leads 3-1 after seven.

The A’s made it a one-run game in the bottom of the eighth.Marcus Semien, pinch hitting for Sam Fuld, led off with a triple to right field. Semien scored on a ground out by Eric Sogard to make it a 3-2 game.  Billy Burns doubled to put a man in scoring position with one out but  Josh Reddick popped up for the second out and Ben Zobrist fouled out to end the inning.

The A’s failed to score in the ninth. Billy Burns singled and advanced to second when Mark Canha walked. Tigers’ closer Joakim Soria Struck out Brett Lawrie and Marcus Semien to end the game.

Game notes- The Oakland A’s are 6-16 at home this season, the worst record after 22 games in Oakland history and are 8-18 in May.  The A’s have lost two of three games against Detroit and have not won a series since taking two of three from Texas May 1-3.  The A’s are 0-10 in one-run games in Oakland.

The New York Yankees will be in town for four games starting Thursday night at the O.co Coliseum. Game time will be at 7:05pm.

Kendall Graveman (2-2, 6.04 ERA) will pitch for Oakland and the Yankees will have the pride of Vallejo, C.C. Sabathia ( 2-6, 5.47 ERA)  on the hill

20,387 paid to see the game.

Oakland A’s & San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Was Braden’s 2010 Mother’s Day perfecto tainted with doctored balls?

Published on by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Michael Duca

OAKLAND–If anyone is thinking just because former A’s pitcher Dallas Braden admitted he doctored baseballs during his career and that his Mother’s Day perfect game in 2010 was tainted I say to anyone with that thinking “who cares” really who cares what people think. What people think has very little bearing on reality.

If people would think, the pitcher uses a rosin bag with his own sweat, guess what that makes? It makes pine tar, pine tar is just dried up ground pine tar. I couldn’t never understand why there was an issue about getting a grip on the baseball. It’s not like it makes the baseball do something unusual, it’s not like it’s saliva, mucus, KY Jelly, Vaseline or 1000 other things that pitchers use.

Former A’s pitcher Dave Stewart used to put Dawn soap washing liquid in the crotch of his pants and used that to make the ball slippery and no umpire was ever going to come out and check Stewart there for a foreign substance. He would use the slippery stuff on his fingers and it would make the ball dart more it makes the ball late. The way the baseball is thrown would be for what your aiming at which is a good thing for most hitters and he would not have to worry about where the ball is going.

A Barry Zito return back to Oakland is more than likely to be in September during call ups: Unlike the San Francisco Giants who honor their retired and ex players the A’s aren’t as sentimental and most likely will give Zito a send off in September after minor league call ups. The A’s will find a way in September to bring him up so he could get a nice send off from the A’s.

Zito is not having the numbers in Triple A Nashville to be brought up, he won’t be able to be called to start or relieve and his time in the show is about over. The A’s very unlikely will call up Zito before September. The A’s have one lefthander in the bullpen and that’s Fernando Abad. The theory that Zito would be called as a lefty specialist is unlikely his numbers will have to vastly improve to be brought up before September. Among other things being Zito he has to learn how to warm up, Zito’s warm up protocol has been 25 minutes long.

My memories of Barry Zito are more with the San Francisco Giants than with the Oakland A’s and he was far more successful with the A’s prior to coming to the Giants. I was more involved covering the Giants and Zito during his years there. The one memory that stands out is during the 2010 NLCS where he was benched because he had such a rough year. Zito was class he was the first guy out on the field during warm ups and batting practice and was the last guy off the field. He was there helping guys out and giving tips. Barry was class.

Michael Duca does Giants and A’s commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below

Jesse Chavez pitches well, A’s still lose to Detroit

Published on by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

A’s starter, Jesse Chavez, has to wonder what does he have to do to catch a break and get some run support and a win. The loss snaps the A’s modest three-game winning streak. Chavez probably had his best outing of the year but took the loss as the A’s fell to the Tigers 1-0. It was an old-fashioned pitchers duel between Chavez and Detroit’s ace, David Price. Chavez went eight innings giving up just 5 hits and one unearned run. Jesse’s ERA dropped from 2.89 to 2.44 and his won-loss record is 1-5 for the year. The A’s have scored just six runs in his seven starts. He deserved a better fate Tuesday night. Price, former AL Cy Young award winner, received credit for his fourth win of the year. Price allowed five hits in seven innings of work.

The Tigers scored an unearned run in the top of the first inning. Anthony Gose singled to lead off the frame. Gose stole second and took third on a throwing error by A’s catcher Josh Phegley. Gose scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of former Athletic, Rajai Davis.  It was the 30th unearned run given up by the A’s this year and the 50th committed by the team in 48 games.

Game notes- A’s catcher, Josh Phegley threw out three Tiger runners attempting to steal second base. However, his error in the first inning enabled the Tigers to score the lone run of the game. The A’s have committed at least one error in 20 of the last 23 games (29 total) and 50 errors for the season. The A’s went 0-for-11 with RISP (runners in scoring position) and left 10 men on base. They are 1-10 when an opponent starts a left-handed pitcher. The A’s starting pitchers have gone four consecutive games without an earned run for the first time since 1928.

The Oakland A’s reinstated left-handed pitcher Sean Doolittle from the 15-day disabled list and optioned right-handed pitcher Angel Castro to Triple-A Nashville, the club announced today.

 Doolittle missed all of Spring Training and started the season on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left rotator cuff.  He began his rehab assignment with Single-A Stockton May 14, was transferred to Double-A Midland for one game on May 19 and moved to Triple-A Nashville May 22 for his final two appearances.  Doolittle had a loss and a 9.00 ERA in five rehab appearances overall.  He allowed five runs on eight hits in 5.0 innings but did not walk a batter while striking out five.
 Castro was selected from Nashville May 8 and did not allow a run in three of his four relief appearances with Oakland.  He compiled a 3.00 ERA but allowed six hits in 3.0 innings for a .462 opponents batting average.  Castro was 0-1 with a 3.79 ERA in six games, two starts, with the Sounds.
The rubber game of the three-game series will be played Wednesday at 12:35pm at the Coliseum. Scott Kazmir will pitch for Oakland and the Alfredo Simon will handle the pitching chores for the Tigers.
Attendance was 22,758 and time of game was 2 hours 58 minutes.

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: A’s starting pitching getting it’s distance in recent success of wins

Published on by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Charlie O Mallonee

OAKLAND–After putting together that three game win streak in Tampa Bay and one against Detroit in Oakland you talk about positives regarding the A’s. When you look at the overall things are still not great the club is 17-30 for the season and they are in last place in the A.L. West. The A’s are 13 games behind Houston that’s the down news.

The good news is they’ve won three games in a row that’s the longest winning streak of the season and that’s not the best thing you could say about a team but they haven’t had many winning streaks. Matter of fact when your previous winning streak was only two and you’ve won three you should be happy and that’s where the A’s are right now.

It’s kind of turned things around from where they were, their prior streak was four consecutive losses, they have lost eight of nine and they have spent 18 days now in fifth place. This three game win streak all of a sudden started to make them and the fans and even some pretty cynical reporters think maybe there’s some hope on the other side of this of what has been a dyer situation.

With the Yankees coming in on Thursday night the A’s really need to focus on the Tigers in this series and they conclude this series on Wednesday afternoon. The A’s faced Tigers pitcher David Price who threw shutout ball against A’s. They have four games coming with the Yankees and it’s going to be a tough stretch.

They’re really going to have to rely on pitching and the one thing the A’s have had go continually well for them throughout this whole dyer straights has been that the starting pitching has remained strong. If you look right now the starters have not allowed a run in the last three games and that streak ended tonight because they did give up a run to the Tigers on Tuesday night’s game.

They had gone 20.2 innings without giving up a run for the starters. That’s the thing that your looking from the starting pitching, they are 4-6 with a 2.55 ERA for the last 13 games. The starters 3.33 ERA which is the best in the American League, now your saying “wow the best in the AL how are they in last?” They also have two shutouts in the last three games which is always a help, the problem in the pitching department for the A’s has been the relief pitching.

Charlie O does the A’s podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen below for the podcast

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Let’s face it any concussion should be approached with caution but Curry slated to start anyway for game five

Published on by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

The Golden State Warriors have a lot of pieces and they all fit together well and the Warriors have the best team this year in the NBA. However without Stephen Curry in the line up as he was out for part of game four on Monday night things changed quickly. When Curry was laying still after doing a semi summersault in the second quarter over the Houston Rockets Trevor Ariza in the 128-115 loss.

You don’t want that player especially in the playoffs to get injured and the Warriors are thriving now, their moving, and they got their pedal all the way down to the metal. You can not afford to have Curry out for game five on Wednesday and for the rest of this round with the Rockets.

Obviously the best news for the Warriors they have a 3-1 lead on Houston so if push comes to shove and Curry cannot play on Wednesday night in Oakland they can still lose a game and they would not have lost the series. They have a cushion a 3-1 lead that’s the best news for Golden State. The team shouldn’t rush him and he should be ready to play on Wednesday and if he’s still suffering the effects of the concussion from Monday night he should not be rushed to play.

Ray McDonald is finished with the NFL: This is the third time for a domestic violence related arrest for former San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears defensive end Ray McDonald with the question that begs to ask what team would want him now? McDonald was let go by the Bears on Monday and he didn’t even play one down with the team after being acquired from them during this off season.

The fact that he’s gone through this three times means he’s got a problem, he definitely has a domestic violence problem and we spoke about this on this show. In the NFL he’s not alone there are a lot of guys like him who need help. This is the third time the NFL has to take very serious action. The Bears cut him immediately and the league will probably suspend him for the rest of the season and let this man get some therapy and get some help because he needs it.

The relationship with McDonald and the Bears didn’t last very long and his career is over unless he’s really seriously gets cleaned up from that big problem that is domestic violence and it’s a bad habit and it’s a bad situation for McDonald and his family to be in. I understand why the Bears let him go and now his career is in jeopardy.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the TV Spanish voice for the Angels and the radio Spanish voice for the A’s and does News and Commentary weekly at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

The A’s are rolling, Beat Detroit for third win in a row.

Published on by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

I must be dreaming. Somebody wake me up and pinch me. I don’t believe what I am seeing. The A’s have won three games in a row for the first time this season. Not only did they beat the powerful Detroit Tigers, starting pitcher, Jesse Hahn, went nine innings and threw a shutout to ice the Tigers by a score of 4-0.

Hahn had all his pitches working for him and he limited to Tigers to just four hits. The A’s scored all the runs they would need in the bottom of the sixth when they scored four times to send Tigers pitcher Shane Greene to the showers.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the sixth. Marcus Semien and Josh Reddick got the rally going with back-to-back singles to start the frame. A’s DH Billy Butler singled to drive in Semien with the A’s first run. Third baseman Max Muncy doubled to right-center to drive in Reddick with Butler taking third on the play. First baseman Mark Canha hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Butler with the third run. Sam Fuld doubled to drive in Muncy with run number four.

Notes- The A’s announced the Ben Zobrist was activated off the DL and Craig Gentry was sent down to Nashville to make room for Zobrist on the roster. Sean Dolittle will be activated Tuesday. Doolittle will not jump into the closer role immediately but probably be used as a setup man until he gets a little bit healthier. On the downside, the A’s made three more errors in the game, giving them 49 for the year

Hahn’s record improved to 2-4 while the Tigers’ Greene is now 4-3 for the year.

The A’s also welcomed back lead radio broadcaster, Ken Korach. Korach missed the beginning of the season due to problems with his knee.

Tuesday’s nights’ game will feature Jesse Chavez going for Oakland and he will be opposed by former Cy Young award winner, David Price. Game time will be 7:05pm at the O.co Coliseum.

A’s use pitching & power to beat the Rays 7-2

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
Vogt tags out Souza at home Photo: TampaBay.com
Vogt tags out Souza at home
Photo: TampaBay.com

by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland Athletics used the Sonny Gray’s strong pitching and three home runs to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-2 in the final game of the four-game series. It was the A’s second consecutive victory which gave them their first back-to-back wins since April 13-14.

The win also gave the A’s a 2-2 series split versus the first place team in the American League East. Oakland (16-30) finished the seven-game road trip with a 3-4 record. They will be satisfied with that record as they had to face two division leading teams in Houston and Tampa Bay (24-21).

The Athletics may have just found the momentum that has been missing throughout most of this season.

On the Bump

The A’s are always confident when they have their best pitcher – Sonny Gray – on the mound, and he did not disappoint on Sunday.

Gray (5-2) had great control of his fastball and slider on Sunday. He worked 5.0 innings giving up just four hits, no runs while striking out four batters and walking none. Gray threw 69 pitches (47 strikes).

Gray would have worked more innings had he not taken a James Loney line drive off his right ankle in the bottom of the fourth inning. Gray stayed in the game and pitched the fourth and fifth innings. With Oakland up 5-0 after five and one-half innings, Gray was pulled from the game to have the ankle evaluated.

The team announced after the game that the x-rays of the ankle were negative. Gray will have four days off to rest the ankle before facing the New York Yankees next Friday in Oakland.

Oh What a Relief It Is

The Athletics’ bullpen came on in the bottom of the sixth inning to take over for Gray. Dan Otero threw two scoreless innings giving up just three hits.

Fernando Rodriguez came in for the eighth inning and had a shaky outing. After striking out Kevin Kiermaier, Rodriguez gave up a double to Joey Butler and walked Longoria. He then gave up a base hit to James Longey to load the bases. Logan Forsythe singled to center driving home Butler and Longoria. Rodriguez was lifted for Evan Scribner.

Scribner was able to get the final two outs of the inning.

Arnold Leon took the mound in ninth for the A’s. Leon worked a perfect final inning including posting two strike outs.

The bullpen worked four innings giving up two runs (both earned) on two hits.

The victory went to Gray who broke a string of two consecutive losses.

In the Batters Box

The A’s had a good day at the plate scoring seven runs on eight hits. The eight hits included three home runs.

Billy Burns got the scoring started by hitting his first major league home run on the first pitch of the game. The RBI was just the second of Burns’ young career.

Burns scored the second run of the game for Oakland in the third inning when he came home on a Stephen Vogt sacrifice fly to center field.

In the sixth inning, Stephen Vogt picked up a lead-off walk. Billy Burns was then hit-by-pitch. Max Muncy flied out to left for the first out of the inning. First baseman Mark Canha came to the plate and hit a Erasmo Ramirez pitch over the left field wall for a three-run home run. That gave the A’s a 5-0 lead.

The A’s scored again in the seventh inning. Josh Reddick hit two-out home run to right center field to make it a 6-0 game.

The A’s scored their final run in the top of the ninth. With two men on base, Stephen Vogt hit his second sacrifice fly of the day allowing Billy Burns to score his third run of the game. That made it a 7-2 game which is how it would end.

It’s All About the Defense

The A’s played their second consecutive game without making an error. They also did not give up any unearned runs.

In the bottom of the first with a runner at first, James Loney hit a hard grounder down the third base line into the corner. The runner – Steven Souza – decided to attempt to score. Sam Fuld hit the cut off man Marcus Semien who fired home to Vogt who was standing in front of the plate. Souza knocked Vogt down as he made the tag and the catcher was able to hold on to the ball. It was a beautiful 7-6-2 put-out that kept a run from scoring.

Up Next

The A’s open up a seven-game homestand on Monday afternoon against the Detroit Tigers. It will be the Tigers in for three games followed by the New York Yankees in for a four game set.

RHP Jesse Hahn (1-4, 4.43) is scheduled to face the Tigers’ RHP Shane Greene (4-2, 4.05).

There will be no television for the Memorial Day afternoon game.

Graveman returns new and improved, and the A’s snag a rare, road win

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

By Morris Phillips

Kendall Graveman seems to know what it takes.  For the A’s, that’s a starting point.

Graveman was demoted on April 26 after stinking it up in four starts with an 8.27 ERA.  But his time at AAA Nashville was productive as the 24-year old righty improved his fastball command and cleaned up his secondary pitches as well.

Not only did Graveman clean up his act on the mound, he got his mind right as well.

“Even this morning getting up and eating breakfast and thinking about, ‘Hey, what is my job?  What can I control?  I can control making a pitch and getting guys out.”

“He had a plan with every batter and was hitting his spots, pounding the zone,” infielder Eric Sogard said of Graveman.

And on stormy night in Florida at a typically, half-empty Tropicana Field, Graveman made it happen, shutting down the Rays for six innings in the A’s 5-0 win that ended a four-game losing streak.

With Graveman mowing them down, the A’s balky offense gained time to find its bearings.  And after being held in check for five innings by Tampa Bay’s Nathan Karns, Oakland broke through in the sixth with four runs on just three hits.

This time, the Rays’ defense proved shaky and Xavier Cedeno was the overburdened, middle relief man.  For the A’s that alone was a departure from the norm in a season where the A’s have nosedived, unable to win close games or win during daytime.  But those trends changed as Cedeno inherited Karns’ two baserunners with two outs.

Sogard welcomed Cedeno with an RBI single, then Mark Canha drew a walk to load the bases.  Sam Fuld was next and he knocked in a pair of runs with a single to center.  But Kevin Kiermaier booted the ball in center trying to make a quick exchange and then catcher Rene Rivera dropped the ball at the plate when he appeared to have a chance to tag out Canha and save a run.

For the record that was two errors on the same play, and a dreaded unearned run, which has typically scarred the A’s this season.  But this time the shoe was on the other guy’s foot, and the A’s were in business.

After Graveman departed, Evan Scribner threw a pair of innings, allowing just one hit, and Tyler Clippard closed it out with a scoreless ninth.

With the win the A’s remain 13 ½ games out in the AL West and they’ve won just 15 of their 45 games thus far, but they finally got some good news if Graveman can continue his improved pitching.

On the injury front, Coco Crisp was placed on the disabled list with his re-injured neck which made room for Graveman’s promotion.  Also, Sean Doolittle appears closer to making his 2015 debut, probably on the A’s upcoming homestand that begins Monday.