Category: Oakland Athletics

That’s Amaury News and Commentary podcast: It’s Olson and Braves down for a battle with A’s tonight at Coliseum

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 Ronald Acuna Jr. (13) who scored, Austin Riley (27) and Dansby Swanson (7) all congratulate the Atlanta Braves Matt Olson after hitting a top of the eighth inning grand slam at PNC Park in Pittsburgh against the Pirates on Wed Aug 24, 2022. Olson and the Braves are in Oakland to open a two game series at the Oakland Coliseum Tue Sep 6, 2022 (AP file photo)

On That’s Amaruy’s News and Commentary’s podcast:

#1 Seth Brown was swinging the heavy bats for the Oakland A’s (50-85) hitting two home runs and Oakland got some nifty pitching out starter Adrian Martinez and four relievers for a 5-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles (71-62) at Camden Yards in Baltimore to avoid getting swept in three games.

#2 The Orioles who had a six consecutive game win streak going had it snapped with the loss and drop to 2.5 games behind third place Toronto for the final AL wild card spot. The O’s in order to get back in the hunt will have to do some damage on the Jays starting Monday as they open up a four game series at Camden.

#3 The A’s will be facing a team that came from behind in 2021 to win the National League crown and then went on to defeat a very good Houston Astros team four games to two. The Atlanta Braves started slowly this year but have been on fire.

#4 They trail the first place New York Mets by one game in the standings. Their record is 84-51. The Braves, the Mets, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are the three best teams in the National League. 

#5 The Braves will be starting Kyle Wright whose 17-5 and former Athletic Matt Olson will be facing his old teammates tonight at the Coliseum and he could very well be the reason why the A’s will get extra fans out at the Coliseum tonight.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish play by play lead announcer on flagship station Le Grande 1010 KIQI San Francisco and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s Preview: Braves and A’s open two game set at Coliseum Tuesday night

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Atlanta Braves fire baller Max Fried is seen here throwing against the Miami Marlins in the top of the first inning at Truist Field in Cobb County on Sun Sep 4, 2022. Fried and the Braves will pay a visit to the Oakland Coliseum Tue Sep 6, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–The Oakland A’s are returning home after a short road trip to Washington and Baltimore. The A’s won two and lost four on the trip. They now have to face the defending World Champion Atlanta Braves for two games starting Tuesday in Oakland.

The A’s will be facing a team that came from behind in 2021 to win the National League crown and then went on to defeat a very good Houston Astros team four games to two. The Braves started slowly this year but have been on fire.

They trail the first place New York Mets by one game in the standings. Their record is 84-51. The Braves, the Mets, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are the three best teams in the National League. The Braves sit in the first slot in the NL Wild Card race. They have a ten-and-a-half-game lead over the San Diego Padres.

The Braves are a very good team. Atlanta’s starting rotation is excellent. Their rotation includes the lefty Max Fried, righties Carlie Morton, Kyle Wright, Spencer Strider, and Jake Odorizzi. The Braves acquired Odorizzi at the trade deadline from the Houston Astros.

Former LA Dodger closer, Kenley Jansen, has not disappointed the Braves or their fans. Jansen has 31 saves so far this season. The big right-hander has recorded 381 saves in his illustrious career. In addition, the Braves traded for former Los Angeles Angels’ closer Raisel Iglesias.

Iglesias has 17 saves this season and 157 in his career. The Braves feature four left relievers in their bullpen. Their manager Brian Snitker will certainly be calling on lefties A.J.Minter, Tyler Matzek, Dylan Lee, and Kirby Yates to enter the game at some point in the series. The righties in the bullpen are Collin McHugh, former A’s reliever Jesse Chavez, and Jackson Stephens.

The Braves are loaded with talent at every position. Atlanta’s two catchers have provided the team with a lot of production. Travis d’Arnaud, a former Met, is hitting .265 with 16 homers and 53 RBIs. Rookie catcher William Contreras, the younger brother of the Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras, has played well when handling the catching chores. Contreras has hit 17 dingers and knocked in 37.

The Braves lost former National League MVP to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Braves traded for the A’s power-hitting first baseman, Matt Olson, to replace the hard-hitting Freeman. Olson has shown the wisdom of the Braves front office in making the deal.

Olson has responded by belting 27 home runs and knocking in 87. The Braves’ outstanding second baseman Ozzie Albies is on the 60-day IL. Albies fractured his foot back in June. He is currently in rehab and will probably miss the series with the A’s. The Braves will use Vaughn Grissom, Ehire Adrianza, or Orlando Arcia at the position.


The left side of the Braves’ infield features two outstanding players. Their shortstop Dansby Swanson is hitting .282 with 17 dingers and 79 RBIs. Third baseman Austin Riley enters Tuesday’s game with a .287 batting average, and he has hit 35 balls to go along with 88 RBIs, good for sixth most in the National League.

The Braves will use three guys in left field. Their power-hitting left-fielder, Adam Duvall, is on the 60-day IL with a fractured wrist. The Braves acquired former A’s outfielder Robbie Grossman from the Detroit Tigers to help at that position.

Eddie Rosario also will see playing time in left. Marcel Ozuna, another slugger, can also be used. Ozuna had 21 dingers and 49 RBIs. The Braves have a 21-year-old phenom in center-field. Michael Harris has had 314 at-bats in his young career.

Harris is hitting .309 with 15 homers and 50 RBIs. Ronald Acuna, Jr, another young, outstanding player, will be in right. Acuna is 24 years old. In his brief career, and after missing a lot of playing time due to an injury, he is hitting .273 with 11 big flies and 38 RBIs. For his career, he has a lifetime BA of .279 with 116 home runs and 284 knocked in.

Contreras, Ozuna, or Orlando Arcia will be the DH.

The A’s received two young players from the Braves in the Matt Olson trade. They are Cristian Pache and She Langeliers. Pache had a tough time earlier in the season and was sent down to work on his hitting. Langeliers spent most of the season at Triple-A Las Vegas.

Langeliers has shown that he deserves to play at the Major League level. While the A’s are having a dismal season, other young players like Nick Allen, Jonah Bride, Cal Stevenson, and Skye Bolt are showing what they can do on the diamond.

The pitching matchups for the two-game set will see the A’s send Cole Irvin (7-11, 3.35 ERA) for Tuesday night. Irvin did not pitch well in his last start against the Washington Nationals. He did get credit for the win. He was better in his outing against the Miami Marlins as he allowed three hits and one run in seven innings.

The A’s have not given Irvin much offensive support this season. The Braves starter will be Kyle Wright. Wright has had an excellent season for Atlanta. He is 17-5, and his ERA is 2.85. Wednesday night’s game will see A’s lefty Ken Waldichuk make his second big league start.

Waldichuk is 0-0, with an ERA of 1.93. Waldichuk made his debut against the Washington Nationals last week and went four and 2/3rds innings, allowing just one run. Spencer Strider will go for Atlanta. The game will start at 6:40 pm.

The young A’s would love to upset the Braves’ applecart. Under manager Mark Kotsay’s watchful eyes, the A’s will play hard. The A’s have nothing to lose. The Braves need every win as they are in a dogfight to win the NL East Division crown. Should they beat out the Mets for the title, they would have a bye in the first round of the playoffs. I think it will be a very interesting series

Oakland A’s podcast with Barbara Mason: Brown supplies the home runs and Martinez provides the pitching

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Oakland Athletics shortstop Sheldon Neuse can’t handle the hot potato hit to him at shortstop by the Baltimore Orioles Ramon Urias at Camden Yards in Baltimore on Sun Sep 4, 2022 (AP News photo)

On the A’s podcast with Barbara:

#1 Barbara Oakland A’s first baseman Seth Brown had himself an after noon slugging two home runs off Baltimore Orioles pitcher Spencer Watkins.

#2 Oakland starter Adrian Martinez and four A’s relievers combined for a shutout giving up a combined three hits, two walks and four strikeouts in six innings of work.

#3 The loss for the Orioles reduces them in the AL wild card standings and increases the number of games in chasing the third and final wild card spot held by the Toronto Blue Jays by 2.5 games.

#4 The win for the A’s avoids them from getting swept by the O’s. The A’s did have to work for it scoring a run in the top of the second and another two runs in the top of the third.

#5 The A’s return to the Oakland Coliseum for a brief two game series starting Tuesday night against the Atlanta Braves starter Kyle Wright (17-5, 2.85) goes for the Braves and the A’s will start Cole Irvin (7-11, 3.35) a 6:40 pm PDT first pitch.

Join Barbara for all the A’s podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Four A’s pitchers combine in six hit shutout of Orioles 5-0 at Camden Yards; A’s avoid getting swept

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Oakland Athletics’ Vimael Machin, right, and Seth Brown (left) celebrate their win over the Baltimore Orioles Sun Sep 4, 2022 at Camden Yards in Baltimore (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

Seth Brown was swinging the heavy bats for the Oakland A’s (50-85) hitting two home runs and Oakland got some nifty pitching out starter Adrian Martinez and four relievers for a 5-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles (71-62) at Camden Yards in Baltimore to avoid getting swept in three games.

The Orioles who had a six consecutive game win streak going had it snapped with the loss and drop to 2.5 games behind third place Toronto for the final AL wild card spot. The O’s in order to get back in the hunt will have to do some damage on the Jays starting Monday as they open up a four game series at Camden.

In the meantime the A’s played the role of spoiler Sunday behind Martinez who pitched six innings giving up three hits, with two walks and four strikeouts. After dropping the first two games of this series to the Orioles the A’s were laser focused in trying to get into the win column.

With good pitching the A’s got runs in the top of the second and third innings to take a 3-0 lead. In the top of the second inning Sheldon Neuse hit for an RBI single and in the third catcher Shea Langeliers hit a two run RBI single.

Orioles starter Spencer Watkins surrendered another run in the top sixth and that was all for him pitching six innings, with nine hits, four earned runs one walk and no strike outs. The biggest let down for Watkins were the two home runs he coughed up to rightfielder/first baseman Brown who hit a homer in the top of the sixth and top of the eighth innings.

Martinez had set down ten Oriole hitters before giving up a walk to Jorge Mateo “Everybody’s been at that point of just pressing, and I think we’re finally starting to see the results of being together and trying to get the next guy out,” Brown said. “Somebody’s going to come up big, and it just happened to be me today.”

A’s have Monday off and they’ll host the Atlanta Braves and starter Kyle Wright (17-5, 2.85) on Tuesday night the A’s will start Cole Irvin (7-11, 3.35) a 6:40 pm PDT first pitch at the Oakland Coliseum.

Oakland A’s podcast with Jeremiah Salmonson: Two doubles from O’s Henderson helps defeat A’s 5-2

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The Baltimore Orioles Jorge Mateo gets the splash treatment from teammates as Mateo got a two run RBI in the bottom of the eighth against the Oakland A’s at Camden Yards in Baltimore (AP News photo0

On the A’s podcast with Jeremiah:

#1 The Baltimore Orioles Gunnar Henderson smashed two doubles and Jorge Mateo got a two run single in the bottom of the eighth inning to cap off a three run rally and help top the Oakland A’s at Camden Yards 5-2 on Friday night.

#2 Orioles rookie Adley Rutschman got a bases on balls that forced in a running with the bases loaded that put the Orioles ahead 3-2 breaking a 2-2 deadlock in the eighth.

#3 Rutschman was jazzed about the win and said that his teammates have each others backs and that the players have confidence in the coaches on the Orioles.

#4 The Orioles Ryan Mountcastle reached base in the top of the third inning with an RBI single for the second run to give the O’s a 2-0 lead off A’s starter JP Sears who before facing Mountcastle gave up only two runs in scoring position after facing 25 hitters.

#5 For Saturday night at Camden in game 2 of the series the Oakland A’s Adam Oller (2-6, 5.66) will be facing Baltimore pitcher Austin Voth (4-2, 4.48). First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 PM PT.

Join Jeremiah for the A’s podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Athletics Drop First Game Against Baltimore 5-2

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The Baltimore Orioles Gunnar Henderson is seeing double after hitting a third inning double against the Oakland A’s at Camden Yards in Baltimore on Fri Sep 3, 2022 (AP News photo)

Athletics Drop First Game Against Baltimore 5-2

By Barbara Mason

The Oakland Athletics (49-84) took on the Baltimore Orioles (70-61) Friday night in a three game series at Oriole Park. Oakland is coming off a three game series with the Nationals only winning one of the three.

The A’s took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the tenth inning in game three in that series only to let it slip away when Joey Meneses homered driving in two runners and that was the ball game 7-5 on Wednesday.

Friday night Oakland sent JP Sears to the mound in the hopes of getting back on track. Sears has a 5-1 win/loss record and a 2.28 ERA. Baltimore is in fourth place in the American League East with a 69-61 record in a tough division. They sent Dean Kremer to the mound with a 3.22 ERA in tonight’s game.

The Orioles are coming off winning a series in Cleveland over the Guardians. Baltimore took an early third inning 2-0 lead. Robinson Chirinos doubled driving in Gunnar Henderson. Ryan Newcastle singled driving in Henderson for the two runs.

Oakland answered in the fifth inning. With the bases loaded Tony Kemp singled driving in Dermis Garcia and Vimael Machin to tie up the game 2-2.

This game would remained tied into the eighth inning. Baltimore went to work in the bottom of the inning loading the base with one out. Domingo Acevedo walked Adler Rutschman and Anthony Santander scored giving Baltimore back the lead 3-2.

The Orioles would add two more runs when Jorge Mateo singled and Ryan Mountcastle and Cedric Mullins both scored.

Going into the ninth inning Baltimore had a 5-2 lead. The A’s were three outs away from dropping the first game of this series. Seth Brown singled but that was all that Oakland would get in the ninth. Shea Langliers struck out and Vimael Machin grounded into a double play and that was the ball game.

JP Sears went six innings and allowed 6 hits and two runs with five strikeouts.

In game two of this series the Athletics will send Adam Oller to the mound. He has a 2-6 win/loss record with a 5.66 ERA. The A’s offense will be facing Baltimore pitcher Austin Voth. He has a 4-2 win/loss record and a 4.48 ERA. First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 PM PT.

Joey Meneses’ three-run walk-off homer in the tenth, wins game for Washington 7-5

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Joey Meneses gets quite a greeting at home plate after hitting the game winning 10th inning three run home run against the Oakland A’s at Nationals Park in DC on Thu Aug 31, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Washington Nationals (45-86) beat the A’s 7-5 in ten innings on Thursday to win the series two games to one. In a game that took four hours and two minutes, the Oakland A’s (49-83) scored two runs in the top of the tenth to take a 5-3 advantage. With rookie Norge Ruiz on the mound for Oakland, the Nats scored four runs in their half of the tenth to win in a walk-off.

The A’s had two players in the lineup making their Major League debuts. They were Ken Waldichuk and Cody Thomas. Thomas came to the A’s in a trade for Sheldon Neuse in 2021.
Lefty Ken Waldichuk was acquired from the Yankees in the trade for Frankie Montas. Waldichuk, who played his college ball at St. Mary’s in Moraga, went four and 2/3rds innings.

He allowed five hits and one run, struck out six, and walked four. Waldichuk showed grit as he worked out of jams in the first three innings. The Nats’ centerfielder Lane Thomas doubled on Waldichuk’s first pitch.

Joey Meneses singled to drive in Thomas with the Nats’ first run of the game. Nelson Cruz singled to put men on at first and third with one out. Waldichul retired the next two hitters to end the threat. The Nats’ Alex Call led off the frame in the second inning with a triple. The Nats failed to score as Waldichuk retired the next three hitters, two on strikeouts.

The Nationals threatened to score in the third. They had men on at first and second with one out. Waldichuk struck out Ildemare Vargas for the second out. Cesar Hernandez walked to load the bases. Alex Call was retired on a fly ball to left to end the inning. Washington led 1-0 after three.

The Nats’ hurler, Paolo Spino, kept the A’s off balance with his mix of sliders, curveballs, and a 90-mile fastball. Rookie catcher Shea Langeliers broke the spell in the top of the fifth. Shea led off the fifth with his third home run of the year. The ball just made it over the fence in left.

The game remained tied until the top of the seventh. Cristian Pache, pinch-hitting for Thomas, drew a walk. Nick Allen laid down a successful sacrifice bunt to send Pache to second. With two out, Tony Kemp singled to drive in Pache.

Sean Murphy singled to right. Joey Meneses overran the ball, allowing Kemp to go to third. Seth Brown singled to drive in Kemp. The A’s led 3-1. Washington got a run back in their half of the inning. With one out, Meneses singled. It was his third hit of the game. Luke Voit followed with a single and sent Meneses to third. Nelson Cruz hit into a fielder’s choice to drive in Meneses with the run.

The Nationals tied the game in the eighth. Sam Moll was now pitching for Oakland. Moll hit Cesar Hermnadez with a pitch. The ball appeared to hit Hernandez on the top of his foot. The A’s challenged the call. After a short review, the call on the field was upheld. Hernandez stole second and scored the tying run on a single by Gargas.

Neither team scored in the ninth. In the tenth, the A’s scored two runs to take a 5-3 lead. Sean Murphy was the ghost runner at second base. Hunter Harvey, armed with a 100-mile-an-hour fastball, retired Brown and Stephen Vogt. Vimael Machin walked. Shea Langeliers doubled to drive in both runners to put the A’s ahead 5-3.

A’s manager Mark Kotsay summoned Norge Ruiz from the bullpen to pitch the tenth. Cesar Hernandez was the ghost runner. Ruiz retired Josh Palacios for the first out. Keibert Ruiz singled to drive in Hernandez. The A’s led 5-4 at this point in the game.

Vargas struck out for the second out. Ruiz walked Lane Thomas. The next hitter Joey Meneses, who had three hits earlier in the game, homered to win the game for the Nationals. The Nats win 7-5. It was the Nationals’ first walk-off win of the year.

Game Notes- With the loss, the A’s are 49-83. Oakland has 30 games left to play in 2022. The Nationals improved to 45-86.

The hitting star for Oakland was Shea Langeliers, with a home run and a double. Langeliers drove in three runs. The Nats’ Joey Meneses had three singles and a game-winning three-run home run.
The line score for Washington was seven runs, 11 hits, and one error. The A’s line was five runs, 11 hits, and no errors.

In his first Major League game, Cody Thomas recorded his first hit in the fifth inning.

Oakland set a franchise record, having used 58 different players in 2022. They set an Oakland record using 29 rookies, another Oakland record with 15 rookie pitchers.

The A’s meet the Baltimore Orioles for three games starting Friday night. J.P. Sears (5-1, 2.28) will go for Oakland. The O’s will counter with righty Drew Kremer (6-4, 3.24 ERA) a 4:05 pm PDT.

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: Nats Sanchez was a flat out mystery for A’s hitters Wednesday

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Washington Nationals starter Anibal Sanchez picked up his first win of the season against the Oakland A’s at Nationals Park in DC on Wed Aug 30, 2022 (AP News photo)

On the A’s podcast with Jerry F:

#1 The Oakland A’s (49-82) were just baffled facing Washington Nationals (44-86) pitcher Anibal Sanchez who three hits, one run in seven innings of work.

#2 Jerry, the A’s just couldn’t figure Sanchez out talk about his mix of pitches where the A’s hitters just couldn’t wrap enough of them to even catch the Nats on the scoreboard.

#3 The loss snapped the A’s three game win streak that Oakland had built up when they were at home taking the last two of a four game series against the New York Yankees and then taking the opening game in Washington on Tuesday night against the Nats 10-6.

#4 For Sanchez it’s his first win of the season and defeating a team that’s just above them for the worst record in baseball.

#5 The A’s and Nats conclude this three game series at Nationals Park in DC Thursday. Starting for the A’s Ken Waldichuk whose making his first start for the A’s he’ll be opposed by Nats starter Paolo Espino (0-6, 4.35 ERA) a 1:05 pm PDT first pitch.

Join Jerry for the A’s podcasts Thursdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Anibal Sanchez’ Strong performance sends the A’s down to defeat 5-1

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Washington Nationals starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez delivered a pitch in the third inning against the Oakland Athletics at Nationals Park, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, in Washington (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

Behind a superb performance by the veteran Hurler Anibal Sanchez, the Washington Nationals snapped the Oakland A’s modest three-game winning streak Wednesday night with a 5-1 win at Nationals Park in DC. Sanchez had not won a game since the 2020 season. He was 0-5 before the start of the game, and his ERA was 5.72.

The A’s starter James Kaprielian absorbed the loss. Kap’s record is 3-9. Kaprielian has pitched six innings or fewer in his last 32 starts. Kap seems to run into trouble whenever he faces the opponent’s lineup for the third time.

The A’s grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. First baseman Dermis Garcia hit a 457-foot blast into the left-field seats with one out. It was Garcia’s second homer run in the last two games and his second home run in his Major League carer. Garcia did not doubt that the ball would leave the yard after he hit the ball. The A’s didn’t know it at the time that they were done putting runs on the board.

Kaprielian had his way with the Nats for the first three innings. He got out of a jam in the fourth. With two out, Nelson Cruiz and Keibert Ruiz singled to put men on at first and third. Kap struck out Lane Thomas for the third out.

Things went south for Kap in the bottom of the fifth. Kap walked the leadoff hitter CJ Abrams. A’s second baseman Jonah Bride misplayed Idelmaro Vargas’ ground ball. The speedy Abrams went to third on the play. Josh Palacios singled to drive in Abrams. Nats’ second baseman Luis Garcia singled to drive in Vargas.

The Nats led 2-1. Kaprielian got the 30-year-old rookie, Joey Meneses, to hit into a 5-4-3 double play. All Kaprielioan had to do to get end the inning was retire Luke Voit. Voit had a tough night in Tuesday’s game. He was hitless in five trips to the plate and struck out three times. Voit was hitless in his first two appearances Wednesday night. Voit ended the drought when he blasted his 17th home run of the year into the right-center-field seats to put the Nats ahead 4-1.

A’s manager Mark Kotsay elected to send Kap out to pitch the sixth. Three of the four runs the Nats scored in the fifth were unearned. Kaprielian retired Ruiz and Thomas for the first two outs. Abrams ended Kap’s night when he doubled. Kotsay brought in lefty Zach Logue to pitch to the switch-hitter, Ildemare Vargas. Vargas doubled to make it a 5-1 game.

As mentioned above, Sanchez went seven innings, allowing three hits and one run. His only mistake was Demis Garcia’s monster home run. Charles Edwards, Jr. and Kurt Finnegan held the A’s scoreless in the eighth and ninth innings to preserve the win for Sanchez and the Nationals.

Game Notes- With the loss, the A’s are 49-82. The Nats are 44-86. Washington entered the game with a woeful home record of 20-47.

The line score for Washington was five runs, nine hits, and one error. The line for Oakland was one run, five hits, and no errors. The A’s loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth but failed to score.

The A’s meet the Nationals Thursday at 1 pm. The A’s will start Lefty Ken Waldichuk, who will make his first Major League start. Waldichuk came to the A’s from the Yankees in the trade for Frankie Montas. Righty Paolo Espino (0-6, 4.35 ERA0 will be on the mound for the Nats.
After the series with the Nationals end, the A’s will head to Baltimore to play three games against the revitalized Orioles.

Murphy’s grand slam leads A’s to a 10-6 win over Nationals in DC on Tuesday

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Oakland A’s infielder Dermis Garcia raises his hand in appreciation of the success the A’s offense was having against the Washington Nationals on Tue Aug 30, 2022 at Nationals Park in DC (@Athletics photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s(49-81) playing in the fairly new Washington Nationals (43-86) stadium for the first time, beat the Nats 10-6 in a wild and woolly contest. It had been hot and humid in the Nation’s Capitol earlier in the day. However, after a rain shower, the temperature at the start of the game was 73 degrees, and the humidity was 95%.

With humidity numbers in that range, the players on the field will work up quite a sweat, and the players know the ball carries better with high humidity. Would the starting pitchers be able to keep their opponents’ bats quiet? Could Cole Irvin get run support from his mates? The A’s hitters did give Irvin support.

The A’s put ten runs on the board and recorded 13 hits. After a great performance against the Miami Marlins last week in Oakland, Cole Irvin was not sharp. Irvin allowed nine hits and five runs in five and 1/3rd innings.

Irvin did not get a decision in the game against the Marlins. Baseball is a strange game. Irvin gave up five runs and got the win. This game leaves so many fans scratching their heads.

The A’s jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Playing in left field, Tony Kemp led off the inning with a double. Nats’ starter Erick Fedde struck out Seth Brown for the first out. A’s catcher Sean Murphy singled to center to drive in Kemp with the run.

The lead didn’t last long. Nats’ leadoff hitter Lane Thomas sent Irvin’s second pitch of the game over the fence to tie the game. The next hitter, Joey Meneses, doubled. Meneses tagged and went to third on Luke Voit’s fly ball to right. Nats’ DH Nelson Cruz, who loves to torment the A’s, drove in Meneses with a sacrifice fly. The Nats led 2-1 after one inning of play.

In the bottom of the second, Washington plated two more runs to go ahead 4-1. With one out, Victor Robles singled. Irvin hit CJ Abrams with a pitch to put two men on with one out. Lane Thomas singled to drive in Robles. It was Thomas’ second RBI of the game. Meneses followed with his second double of the night to make it 4-1.

The A’s, in the third, sent nine men to the plate as they put five runs on the board to lead 6-4. With one out and Sean Murphy at second, A’s first baseman Dermis Garcia hit his first Major League home run to make it a 4-3 game.

Fedde retired Vimael Machin for the second out. Three straight singles by Jonah Bride, Cal Stevenson, and Nick Allen plated the A’s fourth run of the game. The Nats brought in Hunter Harvey to pitch to Tony Kemp. Kemp doubled to drive in two more runs. The A’s led 6-4 midway through the third inning.

Washington added a run in the bottom of the fourth to make it a one-run deficit 6-5. With two out, Lane Thomas walked. Joey Meneses doubled for the third time to drive in Thomas.

The A’s put four more on the board in the top of the fifth. With one out, Cal Stevenson walked. Nick Allen struck out. Tony Kemp singled.

It was Kemp’s third hit of the game. Seth Brown walked to load the bases. Sean Murphy, who had two singles in his first two trips to the plate, hit a grand slam to propel the A’s to a 10-5 advantage. For Murphy, it was his first-career grand slam. As the late Dave Niehaus would say:” Grandma, get out the mustard and the Rye bread; it’s a grand salami.”

The Nationals’ Luis Garcia homered off Austin Pruitt in the eighth to make it 10-6. Domingo Acevedo set the Nats down in order 1-2-3 in the ninth to secure the win for Oakland, 10-6.

Game Notes: The A’s won their third straight game. They are now 49-81. They have 32 games left to play this year. The Nationals dropped to 43-86. Washington owns the worst record in all of baseball. The A”s have the second-worst record. 

The A’s line was ten runs, 13 hits, and no errors. Tony Kemp had two doubles and a single. Sean Murphy had two singles and a grand slam. Quite a night for Murphy. A’s rookie, Jonah Bride, had a single and a double.

The hitting star for Washington were Joe Menses and Lane Thomas. Meneses had three doubles in his first three trips to the plate, and Thomas had a home run and a single. Victor Robles had two singles for the Nats. Luis Garcia had a solo home run.

The A’s announced pitchers Dany Jimenez and Zach Jackson are on the ten-day IL. 

The A’s and Nats will meet Wednesday evening again. James Kaprielian (3-8, 4.88) will pitch for Oakland, and Anibal Sanchez (0-5, 5.72) goes for the Nats’. The game will start at 4:05 pm.

The time of the game was 3:24. 26,321 fans were in attendance, but it appeared a lot of fans stayed away due to the possibility of rain.