Oakland Athletics second baseman Tony Kemp, left, and center fielder Esteury Ruiz dive unsuccessfully for an RBI double by Cleveland Guardians’ Jose Ramirez during the top of the fifth inning at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, Tue, April 4, 2023 (AP News photo)
Cleveland. 000 210 000 – 3 8 0
Oakland. 002 001 001 – 4 6 1
Time: 2:41
Attendance: 3,407
Tue, April 4, 2023
By Lewis Rubman
OAKLAND–Monday night’s game was marred by the strong winds that whipped around the Coliseum during most of the contest. Those winds, as unwelcome as those over the late Candlestick Park and Cleveland Municipal Stadium, not only not only played havoc with the balls’ trajectory, but the chill factor they caused made gripping bats and balls painful and difficult.
Tonight, the winds were milder. And the results were more satisfying for the East Bay Faithful as the outhit home team pulled off a walk off 4-3 triumph over their guests from the middle west.
Cleveland’s see-saw extra innings victory over Oakland yesterday was exciting and, to A’s fans, disappointing. That disappointment wasn’t caused by the mere fact of the home team coming out on the short end of the stick, which was, in any case, an almost foregone conclusion.
The game was disappointing because it was sloppily played. Although only two errors showed up in the official records, there were plays that deserved that description that were charitably given other names. There were base running mistakes.
And one batter, Seth Brown, had a third strike called on him because of a time clock violation. I have no problem with the shorter, crisper games that the TCV rule achieves; I question where MLB is cutting the temporal fat. Does it make sense to fundamentally alter the relationship between pitching and hitting–arts of timing, both of them–to allow for two minutes of television advertisements at every half inning break and the singing of “God Bless America” along with “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”? (To their credit, they don’t do that at every Coliseum game).
Southpaw JP Sears, Oakland’s starting pitcher was making his first appearance of the ’23 season. He came to the team from the Yankees last August 1 in the same deal that brought Ken Waldichuk, last night’s unfortunate starter, to the Athletics and sent Frankie Montás and Lou Trivino to the Bronx.
He had gone 3-0, 2.05 for the pinstriped Bombers and was 3-3, 4.69 with the green and gold for overall rookie year numbers of 6-3, 3.36. He has a good fast ball, change up, and slider, although their velocity isn’t particularly outstanding. They have plenty of zip to them, and he mixes them well.
Shane Bieber, his opposite number for the Guardians, already had one game under his belt this year. He started their season opener in Seattle, throwing six scoreless frame in a contest that the Ohians eventually lost, 3-0. Bieber has a distinguished resumé, having won the Cy Young award in the covid shrunken 2020 season. He toed the rubber with a lifetime record of 54-26, 3.15 and was 0–1,3.45 against the A’s in two starts.
Oakland drew first blood. Ryan Noda drew a lead off, full count walk and raced to third on a sinbgle to short center by Carlos Pérez. Esteuriy Ruíz followed with a double to left that drove in Noda with the game’s first run and enabled Pérez to motor to third. He scored on a sac fly (pretty much of a line drive) ro left by JacePeterson.
But the Athletics couldn’t hold that two run lead. Oscar González sent a fly ball that thudded against the centerfield fence for a one out triple in the Guardian fourth. An out later, Gabriel Arías drove an 81 mph sweeper into. deep center flied – 423 feet deep – to knot the score at 2-2.
Cleveland untied the knot in the next frame. With the speedy Myles Straw, who had drawn a leadoff wak, on first, José Ramírez lifted a can of corn to center. Brown and Ruíz collided beneath it, and the can of corn became a Texas League double that gave Cleveland and 2-1 lead and brought Zach Jackson in to replace Sears, who had pitched better than his numbers would indicate.
Those numbers were 4-2/3 innings pitched, in which the lefty allowed three runs, all earned, on eight hits, one of them out of the park, and a walk. Sears struck out five Gardoams and threw 98 pitches, 64 for strikes.
The A’s caught up with Cleveland in an improbable way. Kemp started the sixth with a single to left and stole second, advancing to third on a one out ground out to second by Díaz. When Brown swung and missed at a two out, third strike slider that Mike Zunino couldn’t capture, Kemp scored came home on the wild pitch.
So, when Dany Jiménez strolled to the mound to face the Guardians in the top of the second, he was pitching in a game tied at two.
That mean that Trevor Stephan, entering the fray after the cozy gathering of 3,407 had finished its rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” neither starter would be involved in the decision. Bieber had gone sixth innings of three hit ball, in which he allowed as many runs, all earned, and struck out seven opposing batters. 65 of his 89 offerings were strikes, and he reduced is ERA to 2.25.
Jiménez left after a successful 1-2/3 innings to allow southpaw Sam Moll to pitch to fellow lefty Josh Naylor with two down in the top of the eighth, He got him to ground out to short. Enyel de los Santos then took over for Cleveland to face the A’s in the bottom of the frame. He got through the A’s first two batters but surrendered a ringing double to right by Brown and a free pass to Jesús Aguilar before blowing a third strike past Laureano.
And then it was Trevor May, last night’s loser, on the mound for Oakland. He retired Cleveland, allowing only a base on balls.
The Guardians called on James Karinchak ro try to force another extra innings contest. He walked Noda to start the inning but struck out Pérez and retired Ruíz on a productive ground out to second, on which Giménez made a lovely play to prevent a hit. But no one could prevent Kemp’s solid walk off single to right that brought Noda home with the winning, walk off run.
Trevor May earned the win. He’s now 2-1, 3,00. Karinchalk was charged with the loss, leaving him with a record of 0-2, 12.00.
The series will resume and end tomorrow, the fifth. Game time is scheduled for 12:37. Righty Hunter Gaddis (0-0,9.82) will pitch for the visitors. and lefty Kyle Muller (0-0,1.80) will start for the Athletics.
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