Category: Oakland Athletics

Seattle Mariners’ Ty France hits a solo home run on a pitch from Oakland Athletics starting pitcher JP Sears during the first inning at T Mobile Center in Seattle on Thu May 25, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland A’s 3-2 Thursday night at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. The Mariners completed a four-game sweep of the A’s. The A’s starting pitcher, J.P.Sears, had an outstanding outing. Sears went five innings, allowing one run and three hits. Sears struck out three and did not walk a batter. His ERA dropped to 4.70.

Trevor May relieved Sears in the sixth inning. The M’s first baseman, Ty France, who homered in the first, took May deep to tie the game. The Mariners’ starter Logan Gilbert gave up two runs in the first inning. Seth Brown homered to give Oakland an early 2-0 lead. Gilbert was lights out after the first.

In his next seven innings of work, Gilbert allowed one hit. He did not issue the A’s a walk. Closer Paul Sewald did his magic and set the A’s down in order in the ninth.

The A’s took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. With one out, Ryan Noda doubled. Gilbert struck out Brent Rooker for the second out. The next hitter, Seth Brown, homered to put the A’s ahead 2-0 midway through the first. The Mariners put one on the board in their half of the first.

In his first game after being hit by a pitch Tuesday night, France hit a solo dinger off Sears. France hit a hanging slider for his fourth home run of 2023. France was 0-for-9 against Sears until his home run. For Sears, it was his 11th gopher ball that he has allowed. The A’s lead 2-1.

There was no scoring until the bottom of the sixth. A’s manager Mark Kotsay brought in reliever Trevor May to pitch. Sears allowed the M’s one hit in the four innings after France’s home run. The first Mariner that May faced was France. May hit France with a pitch Tuesday night.

May suffered a bone bruise and had to leave the game. The best revenge for France would be to hit a home run off May. That is what happened. France homered to tie the game. The score is 2-2 after six.

The Mariners scored a run in the bottom of the eighth. Lefty Richard Lovelady was on the hill for the A’s. Lovelady walked leadoff hitter Jose Caballero. It was the first walk issued by the A’s in the game. Lovelady struck out J.P. Crawford for the first out. The next hitter, France, hit a popup that A’s shortstop, Nick Allen, let drop. Allen threw out Caballero at second.

The A’s took a speedy runner off the bases by erasing Caballero at second. It was a smart move, as Julio Rodriguez doubled. France had to stop at third. The A’s issued an intentional walk to Jarred Kelenic to load the bases.

A’s reliever Garrett Acton walked Eugenio Suarez to force in the Mariners’ third run. The Mariners lead 3-2 after eight.
The Mariners brought in closer Paul Sewald to pitch the ninth. Sewald did the job by setting the A’s down to secure the win for Seattle.

Game Notes- With the loss, the A’s are 10-42 for 2023. They have lost eight in a row. The Mariners are 26-24.

The A’s Sears pitched well for Oakland. Sears gave up a home run in the first inning to France and then went four more innings allowing no runs and one hit. Sears threw 59 pitches. Kotsay said Sears did “a nice job.”

The Mariners’ Gilbert gave up a two-run blast to Brown in the first inning. Gilbert retired 15 hitters until Noda singled in the sixth. Gilbert’s line was eight innings, two runs, and three hits.

Noda had two hits, a single and a double. The A’s only other hit was Brown’s home run in the first inning.

The A’s will host the Houston Astros at the Coliseum for three games starting Friday night. The A’s will send James Kaprielian (0-4, 8.68 ERA) to the mound. The Astros will counter with Hunter Brown(4-1, 3.20ERA)

The time of the game was 2:01 and T Mobile crowd for Thursday night in Seattle 19,268.

Oakland Athletics’ Ryan Noda walks away after striking out against Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryce Miller during the first inning at the T Mobile in Seattle on Wed May 24, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s woes continued once again on Wednesday night. The Seattle Mariners (25-24) sent the beleaguered team down to the seventh consecutive loss by a score of 6-1. The A’s are now 10-41 for 2023. The A’s needs to play better. The starting rotation has an earned run average of 7.5 runs per game.

Teams can only win games with good pitching. A’s manager, to his credit, has his players giving 100%. There is no quit on the team, but the A’s do not have the talent to win. It’s a very sad situation. The A’s coaching staff hopes things will turn around. Oakland has yet to have a one-game losing streak this year. As the losses pile up, players must wonder when things will change. They may, but it appears hopeless at this point in the season.

The A’s played a bullpen game Wednesday night. Reliever Austin Pruitt started the first inning and allowed one hit. Lefty Ken Waldichuk was next as he was brought in to pitch to start the second inning. The A’s lefty gave up three hits to the M’s in the second inning and struck out the side in the third, but things went south in the bottom of the fourth.

The Mariners put five runs on the board. M’s catcher Cal Raleigh started the rally. Waldichuk struck out Teoscar Hernandez for the first out. Waldichuk walked Jose Caballero, sending Raleigh to second. A.J. Pollock singled to load the bases. Sam Haggerty, playing first base instead of the injured Ty France, doubled to drive in two. Pollock stopped at third. J.P. Crawford singled to drive in Pollock with the M’s third run.

Julio Rodriguez singled to make it 4-0. The bases remained loaded. Waldichuk walked Eugenio Suarez to force in the fifth run of the inning. A’s manager replaced Waldichuk with Lucas Erceg. The M’s sent eleven men to the plate in the fourth, leading 5-0.

The A’s put a run on the board in the top of the seventh. JJ Bleday led off the frame with a single. Ramon Laureano struck out. Jace Peterson singled, sending Bleday to second. Aledmys Diaz doubled down the left-field line to drive in Bleday with the A’s first run.

The Mariners’ Teoscar Hernandez, 0-for-11 in the series with the A’s, led off the bottom of the seventh with his ninth big fly of 2023. A’s reliever Sam Long settled down and retired the next three hitters to end the seventh. The Mariners now lead 6-1.

The Mariners bullpen kept the A’s scoreless in the eighth and ninth to secure the win for Seattle. The Mariners beat the A’s 6-1.

Game Notes- The A’s lost for the seventh time in a row and the ninth time in the last ten games. The hapless A’s now own baseball’s worst record, 10-41. The Mariners are now 25-24.

The line for Oakland was one run, seven hits, and no errors. Seattle’s line was six runs, 11 hits, and no errors.

Ken Waldichuk was the losing pitcher. He is now 1-4 with an astronomical 7.40 ERA. The Winning pitcher was Bryce Miller. Miller improved to 3-1.

The Mariners have beaten the a’s all six games played in 2023. The M’s are 29-8 in the last 37 games between the two teams.

The only stats of note for Oakland belonged to Esteury Ruiz. Ruiz leads Major League baseball in two categories. Ruiz has the most stolen base with 26 and has been hit with a pitch 11 times. Ruiz had his eight-game hitting streak snapped Wednesday night as he went 0-for-three.

The A’s wrap up the four-game series Thursday night in Seattle. Left J.P. Sears (0-3 ERA 4.99) will pitch for Oakland. Logan Gilbert (2-2 ERA 3.81) will be on the hill for Seattle. The game will start at 6:40m pm PT.

BY Jerry Feitelberg

There was good and bad news for the Oakland A’s in Tuesday night’s game against the Seattle Mariners. The good news was that the A’s played better than Monday night. The bad news was they still lost.

The Mariners ruined a good start by the A’s starter, Luis Medina. The 24-year-old Dominican Republic Medina pitched well for four and 2/3rd innings. Luis allowed a single in the first inning and held the M’s hitless until there were two out in the fifth.

Another bit of good news was the two runs the A’s scored in the first inning. The bad news was they managed just two hits over the next eight innings. Seattle’s three runs in the fifth were enough to give them a 3-2 win over the A’s. The loss marks the worse MLB start since the 1932 Boston Red Sox.

The A’s put two runs on the board in the top of the first. Esteury Ruiz got the rally going with a single to left. The hit extended Ruiz’s hitting streak to eight games. Ruiz stole second to get into scoring position. For Ruiz, it was his Major League-leading 25th steal.

Ramon Laureano singled to shallow right. Ruiz scored, and Laureano went to second on the throw home. Jesus Aguilar grounded out 5-3, and Laureano went to third on the play. Catcher Carlos Perez singled to drive in Ramon with the A’s second run. The Mariners did not score in their half of the first. The A’s lead 2-0

The Mariners scored three times in the fifth. Luis Medina had not allowed a hit since the first inning. Medina retired the first two Mariner hitters in the fifth. With two out, catcher Tom Murphy doubled. The next hitter, left-handed hitter J.P. Crawford, took Medina deep.

Crawford’s home run was his second of the year. The ball went out of the park in right-center field. Medina now had to face Ty France. Median retired France the first two times he faced him. Not this time, as France homered to left-center field to give the Mariners a 3-2 advantage after five.

The Mariners’ starter Marco Gonzales settled down and allowed the A’s two hits before he left the game after the sixth inning. The Mariners’ outstanding bullpen set the A’s down in order in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings to secure the win.

Game Notes- with the loss, the A’s have lost six in a row and nine of the last ten played. The A’s are 10-40 for 2023. The Mariners evened their record at 24-24.

The line score for Oakland was two runs, five hits, and one error. The Line for Seattle was three runs, five hits, and no errors. Home runs by J.P. Crawford and Ty France were the big hits in the game.

Luis Medina was the losing pitcher. His record in 0-3. Marco Gonzales was the winning pitcher.
The A’s sent lefty Kyle Muller to Triple-A. Muller was the losing pitcher Monday night. Oakland activated pitcher Trevor May from the 10-day IL. May saw action in the eighth inning, and what an inning it was.

May hit Ty France on the wrist with a wayward fastball. May was barely moving due to the pain. He did get up and made his way to first base. Sam Haggerty replaced him. The next hitter Julio Rodriguez hit a ball down the right-field line.

As Ramon Laureano went to catch the ball in foul territory, it appeared a fan interfered with it. The first base umpire ruled the batter out. The M’s challenged the call, but the review upheld the call. May retired Jarred Kelenic for the second out.

He then hit Eugenio Suarez with a pitch. The Seattle fans were enraged at the events. May stayed in the game to get the third out.

There was more bad news for the Oakland fans. The Nevada Independent reports that the A’s and major Nevada state officials have reached a loose agreement for a public financing package including $180 million in transferable tax credits and $120 million in bonds issued by Clark County.

The A’s still have two games left to play with Seattle before returning home to face the Houston Astros Friday night. It will be a battle of left-handed pitchers. Ken Waldichuk (1-3 ERA 6.85) will pitch for Oakland, and Bryce Miller (2-1 ERA 1.42) will be on the hill for the Mariners. The game will start at 6:40 pm.