Category: Oakland Athletics

A Pair of Singles Pushes A’s Past AL-Leading Astros

Published on by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

By Matthew T.F. Harrington

The Oakland Athletics showed one of the top homer happy teams in the majors Monday night that you don’t always need the long ball. Sometimes a couple of single base knocks can do the trick.

A pair of run-scoring singles, one in the 2nd and another in the 6th inning, pushed the A’s (14-26) to a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park Monday night. Eric Sogard and Brett Lawrie picked up an RBI each while the recently acquired Edward Mujica picked up the road victory with a scoreless 1 2/3 innings of relief.

Oakland starter Drew Pomeranz suffered a very minor letdown compared to his last outing, a 7 inning, two-run performance against the Boston Red Sox. It was the pitch count and not the vaunted lineup of the American League leading Astros (25-14) playing spoiler. The hard-throwing southpaw lasted only 4 1/3 frames, surrendering a measly two hits, but walking five on the night.

Pomeranz opened the contest on rocky footing, plunking the fleet-of-foot Jose Altuve for the free base to open the contest. Altuve then pilfered second, his 14th steal of the season, before advancing to third on Jonathan Villar’s sacrifice bunt. The hirsute Evan Gattis brought the 2014 major league hits leader home with a sacrifice fly to right to put the home team ahead 1-0 after just one inning.

Astros starter Lance McCullers, making his major league debut Monday, didn’t get to experience a lead in the Bigs for long. In fact, it lasted only a few outs. After a one-out second inning double by Max Muncy, the bespectacled Sogard singled through the right side to pull Oakland even. Like Pomeranz, McCullers’ evening was a short one. The 21-year-old lasted 4 2/3 innings, walking three while punching out five.

McCullers was lifted for reliever Joe Thatcher, who was relieved of the tie an inning after finishing off the fifth inning. Thatcher (0-1, 3.38 ERA) faced three batters in the sixth without recording an out, coughing up a leadoff single to Billy Butler before losing Stephen Vogt and Muncy on back-to-back walks.

Will Harris took over for Thatcher, but allowed the game-winning hit to Lawrie. It was the first RBI Lawrie’s collected since May 5th. Harris wiggled out of the jam with a force-out at home and a twin killing to minimize the damage.

The A’s bullpen, one-time beleaguered, turn in a gem. Winning pitcher Mujica (2-1, 3.44) pitched 1 2.3 scores with a pair of Ks, before turning the game over to Evan Scribner. Scribner picked up the hold, punching out two Astros over his two innings of work, making way for Tyler Clippard to convert his 4th save of the campaign on a 1-2-3 inning.

The A’s now are poised to win the series with ace Sonny Gray taking the mound opposite Roberto Hernandez and his 4.12 ERA. Wednesday’s finale features Jesse Hahn going toe-to-toe with Dallas Keuchel, the top arm in Astros manager A.J. Hinch’s rotation.

A’s swept by the White Sox, fall to a major-league worst 13-26

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Samardzija

By Morris Phillips

In what amounts to half a season, the A’s have gone from having baseball’s best record to the team with the worst.

The A’s struggles continued on Sunday in a 7-3 loss to the White Sox, Oakland’s 11th loss in their last 12 games.  Already occupying the cellar in the AL West, the A’s fell behind the National League’s Brewers and now hold the worst record in the majors at 13-26.

As recently as August 15, 122 games into the 2014 season the A’s held the best record in baseball despite having just a slim, one-game lead on the eventual AL West champion Angels.  Oakland won just 15 of its final 40 regular-season games last season, just enough to qualify as the fifth-seed in the AL playoffs.  They then lost the one-game AL Wild Card playoff to the Royals in Kansas City.

And this season, with all the shocking changes and personnel departures, the A’s can’t seem to win a close game, or compete during the daytime.  And did we mention the defensive shortcomings?  For manager Bob Melvin, after the A’s committed four more errors to fall to 1-12 in day games, it feels like a nightmare, one which, of course, feels all too real.

“Guys are thinking about it out there,” Melvin said of Oakland’s big-league leading 42 errors.  “They don’t want to make an error and they end up doing it.  We’re not playing clean games at this point.  They’re ugly games and it affects how you play them.”

The A’s got another early jolt of offense—Saturday from Billy Butler with a two-run homer and Sunday from Max Muncy with his first major league home run—only to squander the lead soon after.  After Muncy’s shot, the A’s lead 2-1 in the fourth only to see the White Sox tally four times in the top of the fifth to lead 5-2.  As usual, an error figured prominently in the opponent’s rally.

Marcus Semien’s boot of Adam Eaton’s ground ball to open the fifth put the pressure on Scott Kazmir, who was laboring at that point, well off his usually stellar game.  Kazmir didn’t fare well, allowing four hits and a walk in the inning before he was lifted with all four runs in, two baserunners on and only one out.

Semien would go on to commit a second error in the eighth, an errant throw to first.  The rookie shortstop has 13 errors already.  Stephen Vogt and Kazmir also committed errors earlier in the game.

The White Sox swept a series in Oakland for the first time since 1998.  They’ve won six straight and are at .500 first the first time in 2015.  The A’s lost their fourth straight and find themselves 12 ½ games behind first place Houston, where they visit for three games starting on Tuesday.

The A’s promoted Craig Gentry to replace injured Ike Davis, who has a hamstring issue that severely hampered his ability to run the bases.  Muncy and Mark Canha figure to split the playing time created by Davis’ injury at first base.

Seemingly the most important guy in the A’s universe, Sean Doolittle made a second, rehab appearance at Single A Stockton and did not pitch well.  But more importantly, he felt healthy and the A’s will likely promote the 2014 All-Star once he shows he can pitch on back-to-back days.

Once Doolittle returns, the rest of the A’s bullpen should fall back into some pattern or regularity.  On Sunday, replacement closer Tyler Clippard got game action in the ninth inning—his first appearance since Wednesday—only to allow a two-run homer to Avasail Garcia.

Giving the proceedings an air of what could have been, Jeff Samardzija pitched into the eighth inning to pick up the win.   Afterwards, he seemed genuinely concerned for his former teammates in recounting how competitive the team was during his stint in Oakland that lasted just 16 starts.

The A’s turn to Drew Pomeranz on Tuesday to stop the losing streak.  But Pomeranz has never beaten the Astros in four starts and one relief appearance.  The Astros have Roberto Hernandez slated as their starter.

Sound familiar? A’s falter late and drop a one-run ballgame to the White Sox

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

By Morris Phillips

What started out promising for the A’s turned dark and depressing at a familiar juncture on Saturday night.

The A’s jumped to an early 2-0 lead against the White Sox only to see their bullpen and defense falter in the seventh inning of what would become a 4-3 loss, their ninth defeat in the last 10 games.

Like a broken record, the A’s continue to struggle in close games, can’t find proper relief in the seventh inning, and get seem to get through a game without committing at least one error.  Oakland is 1-13 in one-run ballgames, and lead the majors in a pair dubious categories: most runs allowed in the seventh inning (37 in 38 games) and most errors committed (27).

The losing and its familiar pattern had manager Bob Melvin shaking his head after the game.

“When you’re in that many games and you lose by one run that many times, certainly you expect to win more of them.  We just haven’t and we have to find a way to do it,” Melvin said.

“A lot of times it feels like the same game.”

Prior to the seventh inning, the A’s looked like winners with the early lead and a gutty start from Jesse Chavez, who went six innings and did a nice, escape act in the sixth to get out of a jam.  Chavez threw a pair of wild pitches in the inning, but still managed to get Alexei Ramirez to ground into an inning-ending double play.

But Chavez was done, and the A’s bullpen took over with auditions in full swing for the troublesome, seventh inning.  Little-used Fernando Rodriguez got the call and dialed up a couple quick outs but then unraveled.  First Adam Eaton’s quality bunt was fielded by Rodriguez, but he threw wildly to first, which allowed Eaton to motor all the way to third base.

Melky Cabrera followed with an RBI single that gave Chicago a 3-2 lead and Jose Abreu got Cabrera home on an RBI double.  Rodriguez was lifted after Abreu’s double but the A’s were staring at a 4-2 deficit.

The A’s managed to get a run back in the eighth, but they had four hits in the inning with an ill-timed double play in between.  That inning ended with Brett Lawrie lining out with a pair of runners aboard.

Oakland Gives Up 5 In The Seventh lose 7-6

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Oakland Athletics coach Bob Melvin, left, removes pitcher Fernando Abad (56) during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox on Friday, May 15, 2015, in Oakland, Calif. Second from left is A's catcher Josh Phegley, Brett Lawrie at right. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Oakland Athletics coach Bob Melvin, left, removes pitcher Fernando Abad (56) during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox on Friday, May 15, 2015, in Oakland, Calif. Second from left is A’s catcher Josh Phegley, Brett Lawrie at right. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

by Kahlil Najar

The troubles continue for the Oakland A’s and their bullpen. With a 6-2 lead going into the seventh inning, the A’s bullpen gave up 5 unearned runs and ended up losing to the Chicago White Sox 7-6.

The A’s made it exciting in the bottom of the ninth when with two out head coach Bob Melvin sent in Steven Vogt to pinch hit. He garnered a walk to first base and was able to bring up Coco Crisp.

Crisp came up and hit a deep shot to left center field that hit off the wall but right into center fielder Adam Easton’s glove who was able to relay the ball home after what looked like a questionable go-no-stay call from Oakland Third Base coach Mike Gallego.

” I was watching the ball and obviously picking up Vogt-er and when I looked back it looked like he had started to send him but then tried to hold him up. I didn’t think he could score there so he was trying to hold him,” said Melvin on the last play of the game.

The A’s actually started off this game in a horrible way. Starting pitcher Jesse Han started the game by giving up a double, a walk and then a single to load up the bases. Then on six pitches he walked Adam LaRoche to give the White Sox a 1-0 lead. Avisail Garciathen grounded the ball to Brett Lawrie who tossed it home to get the first out of the inning.

Conor Gillaspi then smacked a hit to center field and scored Jose Abreu to make it a 2-0 White Sox lead.

The A’s waited until the fourth inning to get on the board with a deep shot to Left Center from Josh Phegley who hit his first homer of the year to cut the lead in half. Then after three consecutive walks to Burns, Sogard and Crisp, Josh Reddick hit his second triple of the year and cleared the bases to give Oakland a 4-2 lead.

In the fifth, the A’s scored again after a flurry on walks given up by White Sox reliever Scott Carroll allowed Eric Sogard to hit a single left field and score Lawrie.  Then in the sixth after Reddick hit a double, Billy Butler was able to score Reddick and make it a 6-2 Oakland lead after six innings.

Then the seventh inning and the A’s bullpen came into play.

Hahn was still in and was able to get one out but after an error by Lawrie and a single to Sanchez, head coach Bob Melvin decided to take Hahn out and give the ball to Fernando Rodriguez with a four run lead.

Rodriguez was able to get the next batter to ground out but then the troubles came.

Rodriguez gave up a single to Melky Cabrera which scored a run for the White Sox and then he hit Jose Abreu to load the bases.

Melvin had seen enough of Rodriquez and substituted in Fernando Abad.

Abad promptly gave up a double to LaRoche which scored two more base runners for Chicago and made it a 6-5 game.

Abad was then pulled for the usually reliable Evan Scribner. However tonight Scribner decided to follow the steps of Abad and gave up another double to Garcia which scored another pair of runs for Chicago to give them a 7-6 lead.

The A’s tried to make a run in the eighth when they garnered two singles but weren’t able to score. Then the ninth inning happened and we don’t want to relive that.

With Reddick’s triple in the fourth, it snapped a 0-21 streak that the A’s had with Runners In Scoring position. The A’s were 3 for 14 tonight with RISP.

The A’s have now given up 35 runs in the Seventh inning in 37 games. When reminded of this Melvin said, “I have to some how find the right answer in that inning. We had three guys in the inning that we thought could do it.”

The A’s hope to turn it around tomorrow when they send Jesse Chavez to the mound to face John Danks, game time 6:05 pm.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Warriors playing like money in the bank

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez & Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–The Golden State Warriors you can’t stop them you can only contain them and not for long either. The work of Draymond Green worked again stopping the Grizzlies Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph the Warriors played some awesome ball against the Memphis Grizzlies in game five on Wednesday. Game six was dominated quickly when the Warriors made work of the Grizzlies in the first quarter.

Gasol has played a seven years in the league he’s a veteran but the Warriors are a better team the Warriors won game five by 20 98-78. The Warriors have got great depth out of Andre Iguodala and David Lee. Lee has come off the bench and has been very good, Iguodala has been a great defensive player. Warriors ace Stephen Curry brings his A game every night he’s the MVP what else can you say.

There is no doubt about it this might be the best team for the Warriors of all time in their history. They had great players like Rick Barry, Clifford Ray, Charles Johnson, and George Johnson from the 1974-75 championship season. This year’s team have completely overwhelmed the Grizzlies, the three pointers are falling and their shooting is awesome, this very well could be the best Warriors team ever.

The 74-75 Warriors were like lighting in a bottle they went all the way but you have to remember that Clifford Ray was no Nate Thurmond. The Warriors had George Johnson, Charles Johnson and Phil Smith at center. They went deep in the 75-76 post season but they never made another finals appearance again. The Warriors will face either the Clippers or the Rockets for the next round depending on the outcome of their game on Saturday night.

Green held off a 6’9 Randolph and Gasol 7’1, the Warriors Matt Barnes has been a great help, Klay Thompson, Iguodala, Leandro Barbosa, Lee, Festus Ezeli, and the Warriors destroyed the Grizzlies defensively and there is no reason why they can’t go all the way with a club like this with good defensive players.

That’s a good point comparing this year’s Warriors to that 74-75 team where they got lighting in the bottle, this Warriors team has been pretty good from the beginning. So it would be a bummer if they didn’t make it, even the national media didn’t give the Warriors any respect for them to make the finals, but they certainly have their attention now.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the A’s, the Spanish TV voice for the Angels, and does News and Commentary. Jerry Feitelberg is also a talk show host for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below

Preview of the series between the A’s and the Chicago White Sox

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by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s will host the Chicago White Sox this weekend at the O.co Coliseum. The White Sox come to town with a record of 14-17 and their manager, Robin Ventura, is under fire for his team’s poor performance so far this year. Ventura is in his fourth season as skipper of the Sox. White Sox general manager, Rick Hahn, made several moves in the off-season to improve the team. The White Sox won 73 games and lost 89 and Hahn decided to improve the pitching by trading for Jeff Samardzija and signing former Yankee closer David Robertson and setup man Zach Duke. Hahn nabbed first baseman Adam Laroche from the Washington Nationals and outfielder Melky Cabrera from the Toronto Blue Jays. The Sox also signed utility man Emilio Boniface.

The White Sox pitching staff is led by lefty Chris Sale and Jose Quintana. The White Sox also have hitting star Jose Abreu who was the AL Rookie of the Year and finished fourth in the balloting for MVP. The rest of the Sox rotation in 2015 will be John Danks, Hector Noesi and Carlos Rodon. Danks’ record is 1-3 with a 5.12 ERA while Noesi sports an 0-3 record with an ERA at 5.94. These are not good numbers and may be  the reason the White Sox are floundering.  Rodon’s record is 1-0 and his ERA is 2.92 since being called up by Chicago. The bullpen was a disaster last year, but Robertson is 3-0 with an ERA of 1.20 and has saved 7 games in 8 opportunities. Zach Duke has appeared in 15 games and Jake Petricka and Zach Putnam serve as setup men for the Sox.

The offense is led by right fielder Avasail Garcia whose   batting average is a robust.322 with 3 home runs and 11 RBI. Big Jose Abreu is hitting .288 with 6 homers and 20 RBI. Melky Cabrera is hitting a lowly .248 and Adam LaRoche is at .235 and shortstop Alexi Ramirez is at .241. Adam Eaton, who had a terrific year in 2014, is hitting a lowly .218.

The White Sox won their series with the Milwaukee Brewers before heading to Oakland. The Sox have won their last three series and the offense is now starting to come alive.

The A’s, on the other hand, are ten games under the .500 mark with a record of 13-23. The A’s are losing close games and need to make improvements in several areas of the game that are necessary for them to get out of the doldrums. Sonny Gray and Scott Kazmir have been stalwarts in the A’s rotation. Gray lost his first game yesterday to Boston, but he pitched well enough to win. Giving up one run and three hits in seven innings of work usually results in a win, but it did not happen as the A’s failed repeatedly to get the clutch hit that would have given Gray the victory. Kazmir has been solid all year except for one game. The rest of the starters have not shown that they can pitch well consistently.  Jesse Hahn, Jesse Chavez, and Drew Pomeranz all have records under .500 and have high ERAs. The bullpen has been a disaster all season and has a record of  two wins and ten losses. A’s closer Sean Doolittle is still on the DL and is at Stockton for rehab. Tyler Clippard, who was acquired to be a setup man, has filled in at closer and has been good for the most part. Evan Scribner has also been reliable but had a bad inning a couple of games ago and was victimized by the A’s defense on Wednesday. Lefty Eric O’Flaherty had bad outings and is now on the DL. Fernando Abad is also not pitching well. Abad had a good year for Oakland in 2014 but has not been the same in 2015. The A’s have added Angel Castro and Fernando Rodriguez in the hopes that they will strengthen the ‘pen, but it’s too early to tell.

There is a huge problem that Oakland has to address as soon as possible. Simply stated, the A’s defense is terrible. The A’s have the worst fielding percentage in all of baseball and have committed 36 errors in 36 games. Shortstop Marcus Semien, acquired from the White Sox in the Samardzija trade, has made 11 and several of them have been throwing errors. Semien did not play at shortstop for the White Sox and is really getting on-the-job training at short this year. The A’s offense, if one is looking at numbers only, looks formidable. Yes, the A’s have scored runs.Yes, Stephen Vogt and Josh Reddick are among the top ten hitters in the AL and Vogt leads the AL with 30 RBI. They have not won a single extra inning game this year and are 1-11 in one-run games. This indicates that they cannot get clutch hits when needed. They need a walk-off win or a win when they come back from a deficit to win.  If the went 6-6 in the one run games, their record would be 18-18. The season can be saved. They are not a terrible team, but they need to get their act together and start winning series. The time is now.

Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca; Wed May 13, 2015

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by Michael Duca

OAKLAND–The A’s dropped their seventh game in eight games to the Boston Red Sox 2-0 on Wednesday afternoon at the Coliseum. If I’m A’s pitcher Sonny Gray I’m slapping my hitters silly. At one point in that game the A’s were 0-13 with runners in scoring position they made 13 outs with runners in scoring position and that was through six innings.

Three of the five outs that the A’s made weren’t with runners in scoring position they led off the inning. So basically the A’s spent the whole day leaving runners on and not getting them home. Gray pitched very well but there was no reason to allow him to finish the game. With the A’s misfortune and no run support their not going to risk Gray.

The Red Sox starter Wade Miley was very efficient he was effective with the curve ball and he had nine strike outs he was getting guys looking and he was getting guys swinging. Miley had the A’s off stride all day. The Sox first run came on a bloop hit that just hit no mans land in the Burmuda Triangle in left field and of course it happened with two outs and it wouldn’t have to come any other time but with two outs and that’s when it had to come.

San Francisco Giants update: The first game against the Houston Astros on Tuesday night of the series the Giants scored three runs in the second and five runs in the fifth first time they did that all year. It’s beginning to become a very interesting tine for Giants third baseman Casey McGehee too because it’s going to be progressively more and more difficult to keep the bat away from Matt Duffy not to mention out of the line up.

The Astros who came into Tuesday night’s game with a five game lead in the American League West got totally throttled and their not used to seeing that kind of hitting against them. They also saw a virtuoso performance by a young pitcher Chris Heston who got to throw a two hitter for a 2-1 win for the Giants.

The story flipped on Wednesday night as the Astros who were trailing the Giants at one point in the game by two runs 3-1. Giants pitcher Tim Hudson lost command of that lead in the sixth inning when the Astros tied up the ball game 3-3 when Houston’s Luis Valbuena belted a 385 foot homer to deep right center off Hudson. The relief staff couldn’t hold the lead when the Astros George Springer in the eighth ripped one to deep left center to give the Astros the lead and win 4-3.

Michael Duca does weekly commentary on the A’s and Giants each week at http://www.sportradioservice.com listen to the podcast below

Sonny Gray pitches well but the A’s still lose to the Red Sox

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by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s ace, Sonny Gray, faced the Boston Red Sox Wednesday afternoon in the rubber game of the three game set. Gray pitched extremely well but did not get any run support from his teammates and took the loss as the Sox defeated Oakland 2-0 and took the series 2 games to 1. Red sox starter, Wade Miley, who performed his Houdini act all afternoon, picked up his second win of the season. Miley was in trouble in five of the first six inning but, somehow, he escaped unscathed. The A’s had their chances, but could not get a hit when it was needed. They were 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position and a key hit in any one of those innings could have broken the game wide open, but they could not get the job done.The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Sox left-fielder, Hanley Ramirez, led off with a single. He advanced to second on a Sonny Gray wild pitch. Gray struck out Sandoval and Brock

The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Sox left-fielder, Hanley Ramirez, led off with a single. He advanced to second on a Sonny Gray wild pitch. Gray struck out Sandoval and Brock Holt but Daniel Nava singled to drive in Ramirez with the run.

The Red Sox scored an unearned run in the top of the eighth to take a 2-0 lead. Daniel Nava led off the inning with a single. Nava went to second when Scribner hit Sox catcher, Sandy Leon, with a pitch. Scribner struck out Mookie Betts but A’s shortstop, Marcus Semien made a throwing error allowing Nava to score. It was Semien’s 11th error of the year and the 36th error in 36 games for the A’s. Worst in baseball.

Game Notes.- The A’s have lost seven of their last eight games and are 1-2 on the six-game homestand. The Chicago Whites Sox arrive Friday for three games with Oakland. Sonny gray lost for the first time this year and is now 4-1 for 2015.  The A’s went 0-for14 with RISP for the first times since Aug 8th, 2010 against Texas. The A’s have committed an error in the last eleven games.  The A’s record is now 13-23 and they are 1-11 in day games. the Red Sox have have won three of their last four games and are 3-3 on the 10-game roadtrip. They move on to Seattle for four games with the Mariners.

The A’s next game will be Friday night at the O.co Coliseum at 7:05. The A’s will send Jesse Hahn (1-3, 4.73 ERA) to the mound and he will be opposed by Chicago’s Hector Noesi (0-3, 6.06 ERA)

Time of game was 2 hours and 33 minutes and the pais attendance was 22,389.  The A’s have drawn 358,151 for 16 games and they are averaging 22,384.

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: A’s snap the losing streak at six but need to find a way out of the cellar soon

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by Charlie O Mallonee

When you look at the A’s right now and look at the situation 13-22 as a record their last in the American League West. They have the worst record in the A.L. Really I could stop there and that would be enough, there is more to go with that that makes the troubles of the A’s that much greater. They did snap a six game losing streak on Tuesday night against the Boston Red Sox with a 9-2 romp and home run help by A’s slugger Josh Reddick.

Prior to the win on Tuesday the A’s were 0-6 in extra innings as they dropped a 5-4 decision to the Sox on Monday night in 11 innings. Even more importantly when I saw the stat I had to check it a couple of times to make sure it was correct. The Athletics are 1-11 in one run games. Now over the course of the season in baseball your going to have a lot of one run games.

If you’ve got a ratio like that it’s going to be a season that’s totally forgettable 1-11 is just unbelievable. The kind of stretch that their in right now this is the kind of stretch that cost managers their job. Let’s be clear A’s manager Bob Melvin should not be fired. A lot of things that are happening are beyond Melvin’s control.

When a team is on a slide like this it’s a situation where you can’t fire players, you can trade them, you can move them up and down in some cases to the minor leagues. You can’t fire everybody and start a new, so somebody when you get fired it’s usually the manager. I’m concerned for Melvin right now. Whether or not if he’s able to hang on as skipper if things continue to slide the way they are.

The A’s are going to want somebody’s head soon, the other thing this kind of situation that creates for a team the attitude of “maybe we ought to have a fire sale” that’s a little bit early were 35 games into the season to talk about a fire sale that may seem a little early. You have to think realistically that if the A’s stay on the path that their on right now their eight games out of first place if they continue this kind of slide their not gaining any traction. You have the complete possibility of having a team completely out of the race by the All-Star break.

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

The A’s put it together, pummel the Red Sox

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by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s beat the Boston Red Sox Tuesday night 9-2. The A’s played the type of game they thought they would play all season. They had offense, they had excellent defense and they had terrific pitching. Drew Pomeranz went seven innings holding the powerful Red Sox to just 2 runs and four hits and the A’s much-maligned bullpen shut the Sox down in the eighth and ninth innings to secure the win. Coco Crisp, Sam Fuld, Eric Sogard, Stephen Vogt and Josh Reddick all made sparkling defensive plays that stopped the Sox cold. The Sox, on the other hand, did not get a good start from Justin Masterson. Masterson went 2 1/3rd innings  allowing six runs on six hits and was tagged for two home runs

The A’s scored three times in the bottom of the first. With one out, A’s shortstop, Marcus Semien, hit a blast the hit off the top of the wall in deep center field just to the right of the 400-foot mark. Josh Reddick singled to right to drive in Semien and Reddick came in to score when Stephen Vogt lined his ninth home run of the year  to right that barely made it over the wall. The runs batted in were the 29th and 30th of the year and Vogt now leads in the AL with 30 RBI.

The A’s made it a 4-0 game in the second. Brett Lawrie started the inning with a single. Lawrie advanced to second on a fielder’s choice and scored on an Eric Sogard double.

The A’s drove Red Sox starter to the showers in the bottom of the third. Josh Reddick led off with a big fly to deep right field For Reddick, it was his sixth home run of the year. Masterson retired Billy Butler for the first out but walked Vogt. Sox manager John Farrell removed Masterson from the game and brought in Steven Wright to pitch. Wright walked Max Muncy and gave up a single to Brett Lawrie to load the bases. Wright retired Sam Fuld but was tagged for a single by Eric Sogard that drove in Vogt and Muncy with two more runs for the A’s. 7-0 in favor of Oakland after three innings of play.

The A’s extended the lead to 8-0 in the fourth. Marcus Semien led off the inning with a home run over the scoreboard in left field. Semien now has six home runs this season for Oakland.

The Red Sox scored their first run of the game in the top of the sixth. Shane Victorino led off with a double to left field. Ground outs by Xander Bogaerts and Blake Swihart allowed Victorino to advance to third and then score. The Sox tacked on another run in their half of the seventh inning. Dustin Pedroia reached second on an infield single and a throwing error by Marcus Semien. Pomeranz struck out Big Papi and retired Hanley Ramirez on a ground out. Pedroia took third on the play and scored after a bloop single to right by Mike Napoli.

The A’s added a run in the eighth to make it a 9-2 game. Coco Crisp walked with two outs and singles by Semien and Reddick brought him home with the run.

Game notes- The A’s snapped their six-game losing streak with the win and if they win on Wednesday, they will have back to back wins since they took from Houston early in April. Drew Pomeranz won his second game of the year and is 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA in three starts at home. Josh Reddick was 4-for-5 with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI. Marcus Semien had 3 hits including a single, triple and home run. Eric Sogard was 2-for4 with 3 RBI. Stephen Vogt is hitting  .314 with five home runs and 11 RBI in May.

The Red Sox have lost eight of their last eleven games and have been outscored 55-29 over that stretch.

Oakland’s line score was 9 runs, 12 hits, and one error. Boston’s was 2 runs on four hits and no errors.

Game three of the series will be played at 12:35pm PT at the O.co Coliseum on Wednesday. Sonny Gray (4-0,1.65ERA) will go for Oakland and he will be opposed by Wade Miley (1-4, 6.91 ERA)

Time of game was 2 hours thirty-two minutes and 24,065 paid their way in to see the game.