Tag: A’s

After playing dead for seven innings, A’s spring to life in the eighth, and win 3-2 over the Angels

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no-for-nolasco

By Morris Phillips

In Ricky Nolasco’s lengthy big league career filled with ups and downs, he’s been a double-digit winner—and loser—numerous times. But he’s never had a won-loss record of 5-13, or lost for a 13th time in a season in the frustrating manner he experienced on Tuesday night at the Coliseum.

Nolasco was virtually unhittable, retiring the first 16 A’s he faced, and allowing just one hit through seven. By that point, the A’s were virtually inconsolable, as slugger Khris Davis threw his bat down in disgust after striking out to end the seventh.

Then everything changed in a hurry, the second time in three days the A’s have fashioned a late-game about face.

Trailing 2-0, the first five A’s to bat in the eighth reached, chasing Nolasco, and making the A’s 3-2 winners over the Angels in a most unique manner. Again, the most youthful of the A’s young roster led the way, and sounded like season veterans that have been through the paces afterwards.

“Whether we get 10 hits in the first five innings and lose or get whatever it was in the back half of the game and win, I don’t really care how it happens, I just want to get a victory,” Ryon Healy said.

Healy was the first Athletic to manage a hit—in the sixth—hardly the avalanche of offense A’s fans thirst for in a season of watching one of the worst teams in baseball in terms of producing offense on their home diamond. On Tuesday, the first six innings were more of the same for a team that’s won just 31 home games and is hitting .239 as a team in the Coliseum.

But the eighth was something to see as Nolasco walked Yonder Alonso, allowed a base hit to Billy Butler, then walked Arismendy Alcantara to load the bases. That ended Nolasco’s evening, despite him allowing just two hits and the two, eighth inning walks.

“It looked like he lost his release point,” Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia said.

Reliever Mike Morin followed Nolasco, and seven pitches later the A’s had the lead. Healy knocked in Alonso, and Joey Wendle, just one day removed from his first major league RBI and hitting just .214, delivered a two-run single through a drawn-in infield to put the A’s up 3-2.

Alcantara, briefly a major leaguer with the Cubs in 2015, and toiling with Single-A Stockton over the weekend, was promoted before the game and scored the winning run. Alcantara’s promotion was his fourth this season, giving him a keen appreciation of Northern California highways, and Wendle was participating in just his fifth major league game.

“For a guy that just got called up, that really makes him settle in,” manager Bob Melvin said of Wendle, though he probably he could have been speaking of Alcantara as well. “We liked him in the spring. Now he’s getting an opportunity.”

The A’s won for just the 12th time in their last 36 games, but they’ve played cardiac kids in winning on Sunday against the Red Sox, and again on Tuesday. On one level, it’s frustration for the guys that have spent the entirety of their season in Oakland. For the younger group, it’s fun mixed with frustration.

In the case of Wendle, he got his scouting report on the fly from hitting coach Darren Bush. Consider it the athletic equivalent of Donald Trump’s handlers prepping him mere seconds before a big campaign speech.

“He told me that he’s got a changeup, then he’s got a slower changeup,” Wendle said of Bush’s scouting report on Morin.

The A’s close their series with the Angels on Wednesday afternoon, as Jharel Cotton makes his big league debut in a matchup with the Angels’ Alex Meyer at 12:35pm.

 

 

 

 

Alcantara has an A’s debut for the ages–and one to forget

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By Morris Phillips

Nerves were written all over the first major league appearance for Raul Alcantara.

Alcantara, the sixth pitcher to make his first big league start for the A’s this season, walked a batter, hit three more, and was charged with a balk, belying the excellent stats he compiled in his brief stint with AAA Nashville.  Plenty frustrating, and aided by some questionable calls by home plate umpire Vic Carapazza, Alcantara’s afternoon started with some pretty good pitches.  Then things deteriorated quickly.

With one out, and an  0-2 count against Mike Trout, Alcantara plunked the slugger, allowing his first baserunner.  Albert Pujols, doing his professional hitter thing, calmly deliver a single to center.  Again on a 0-2 count, C.J. Cron singled to load the bases.  Alcantara then plunked Jefry Marte, walked Andrelton Simmons and allowed a run-scoring, sacrifice fly to Nick Buss putting the Angels up 3-0.

In the second, Alcantara allowed a homer to Kole Calhoun.  In the third, Simmons doubled, then moved to third on Carapazza’s questionable balk call, and scored on Buss’ second run-scoring sacrifice fly.

Needless to say, very few pitchers have experienced a big league debut like Alcantara.  In fact, he became just the second A’s pitcher–and the first in 86 seasons–to hit three batters and commit a balk.  Still, the guy who compiled a 1.18 ERA in Nashville, striking out 24, and walking just three over eight starts bears watching according to manager Bob Melvin.

“Toward the end of his outing we saw the stuff that we think we’re going to see, and he got better as he went along,” Melvin said.  “Sometimes nerves hit you in your first outing, especially when a couple of things transpire.”

Through an interpreter, Alcantara denied nerves, saying “I was trying to make perfect pitches.”

Down 5-2 when Alcantara departed, the A’s would fall behind 8-2 in the fifth before rallying.  With three runs in the fourth, a single run in the fifth, and another impressive opposite field blast from Khris Davis in the seventh, the A’s made a game of it, crawling within 8-7.

But with the game on the line, a pair of sloppy errors allowed the Angels to add on in the ninth and win 10-7.  Having won just 11 times in their last 35 ballgames, it was more of the same for the A’s, but a few interesting happenings outside of Alcantara’s debut took this one outside the mundane.

Angels’ starter Jered Weaver was hit by a ball off the bat of Danny Valencia in the third, taking a shot to his hip and buttocks that he said wasn’t serious, but caused some numbness.  But just one day after the entire Angels’ organization was frightened by starter Matt Shoemaker being hit in the head by a batted ball in Seattle, it was definitely alarming.

Shoemaker remains in Seattle where he was operated on overnight after suffering a small skull fracture.  He was speaking after the surgery, and seems on track to return to Souther California at the end of the week.  Out of caution, as much as ineffectiveness, Weaver lasted just four innings on Monday.

Despite the abbreviated start, Weaver became the third pitcher to compile 2,000 innings pitched in an Angels uniform, joining Nolan Ryan and Chuck Finley.

Sean Doolittle pitched the seventh inning, his first appearance for the A’s since June 25 after battling shoulder issues.  Joey Wendle, the A’s starter at second base, picked up his first RBI in the big leagues in the fourth.

Sonny Gray, Chris Bassitt and Felix Doubront–three fifths of the A’s rotation at the beginning of the season made appearances before the game, all doing soft tossing in the field in the hopes they can at some point resume throwing off the mound.  None of three are expected to pitch again this season.

The A’s will face Angels’ starter Ricky Nolasco in the series second game on Tuesday evening.  Ross Detwiler was scratched from the start when he was ushered into Monday’s game in relief of Alcantara in the fourth.  Zach Neal will instead make the start for the A’s on Tuesday.

 

Red Sox relentless again versus the A’s, win 11-2, their fifth consecutive double-digit win against Oakland

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By Morris Phillips

A’s manager Bob Melvin used the word relentless to describe the Boston Red Sox, but this time it isn’t a weathered sports cliché.  When it comes to facing the A’s, the Red Sox really are relentless.

The A’s fell for the fifth consecutive time to the sock ’em Sox on Saturday night, and actually achieved a season-best in terms of runs allowed, losing just 11-2.  In the first four meeting with Boston, the A’s allowed 56 runs, and at least 13 in each game.

“Teams that take a lot of pitches and make you throw a lot of pitches, it’s like a boxer.  Just body blows and body blows and then they give you a good one,” Melvin said.

Before the A’s could manage their first hit–that didn’t come until the sixth inning against Red Sox’ starter Rick Porcello–Boston put up nine runs.  The body blows Melvin described came in the third when the Red Sox scored seven runs, all seven with two outs.

A’s starter Daniel Mengden, recalled from AAA Nashville to make the start, didn’t survive that third inning.  So far in his career, Mengden’s no fan of pitching in the Coliseum, he fell to 0-5 in home starts, tying an undesirable team record by losing his first five career decisions at the Coliseum joining Dallas Braden and Steve Ontiveros on that list.

The Red Sox pounded out 17 hits, with Mengden allowing eight of those, highlighting the issues the A’s ragged bullpen have had with Boston this season.  One night after the bullpen threw 187 pitches, three A’s relievers actually kept things respectable, led by Chris Smith, who got the team through four innings himself, allowing just one run.

Porcello retired the first 15 hitters he faced, with some impressive defense behind him, and picked up the win, his major league-leading 19th.  Porcello’s enjoyed success against everyone he faced this season, not just the A’s, as he became the first Red Sox pitcher in their long history to win 19 times in 22 decisions.

The Red Sox third straight win allowed them to gain a tie atop the AL East with the Blue Jays, with both teams two games ahead of the Orioles.  All three teams would qualify for the playoffs if the season ended today, but instead will jockey head-to-head with at least six meetings between each of the teams still remaining in the last month of the season.

The A’s fell 21 games under .500 with the loss, their fifth straight, further illustrating two clubs heading in opposite directions.  The A’s managed five hits after Porcello blanked them over the first five innings, but they rank last in the AL in runs scored after the abbreviated offensive effort.

CANSECO RETURNS: Jose Canseco made his rounds at the Coliseum on the night the team honored the slugger with a bobblehead giveaway.  When asked if MLB has toughened its stance against performance-enhancing drugs, he lauded the league for its efforts, saying the risk/reward no longer makes it prudent to experiment with PED’s given the stringent penalties in place.

A’s try to get focus on their play on the field, but they run into Cleveland’s Carlos Carrasco

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By Morris Phillips

The A’s returned to the Coliseum on Monday, losers of seven of eight, and saddled with a story of a clubhouse fracas that put the team in a more negative light than their desultory play.

So unlike Ryan Lochte, the team fessed up, and demanded that the focus return to their play on the field, which they insisted would not be impacted negatively.

And the result? Carlos Carrasco, as good a starting pitcher away from his home park as there is in big league baseball in 2016, pitched so well it mattered little what the A’s said before the game, or what they did during it as the first place Indians took down the A’s, 1-0, while surrendering just four hits.

While Carrasco was great, the A’s Andrew Triggs was slightly less than that, throwing six shutout innings allowing three hits and a walk. Triggs was a footnote, but manager Bob Melvin was quick to give his starter credit for his efforts in trying to put the team in a better light.

“You feel for him because he’s such a good solider about going up and down (to the minors) and appreciates the opportunity he gets,” Melvin said. “You can’t help but pull for a guy who’s a great team guy and he performed.”

Triggs’ night could have had a different outcome had Coco Crisp hadn’t been thrown out at third trying to stretch a double in the sixth. Called out by third base umpire Clint Fagan, Crisp saw the call upheld by a replay demanded by the A’s. Was Crisp thrown out? Melvin diplomatically said no, as did the team’s announcers upon seeing the same replays, but the call stood, and the game stayed scoreless after six innings and Triggs’ departure.

The A’s would go the entire game with just one player reaching second base, and one at-bat with that runner in scoring position. The Indians would fare better on one swing of Carlos Santana’s bat, in which reliever Ryan Dull allowed the slugger to pull his offering down the right field line with such force and placement that it decided the game.

Santana’s big shot would stand up when Carrasco pitched a scoreless eighth, followed by closer Andrew Miller’s dominant 1-2-3 ninth.

Carrasco improved to 6-3 in his 10 road starts, lowering his already miniscule 1.97 ERA on the road. The 29-year old veteran struck out nine, the fourth straight start he’s struck out at least eight batters.

The A’s played without shortstop Marcus Semien who was on hand for the birth of his first child, and also without designated hitter Billy Butler, who was placed on the 7-day concussion protocol list. Butler’s circumstances were all anyone wanted to discuss before the game as it’s rumored that he suffered his injuries in the scuffle with teammate Danny Valencia over the weekend in Chicago that was confirmed by team officials.

The team announced before the game that both players had been fined for their actions, and Valencia pinch hit in Monday’s game, striking out against Miller in the ninth.

The A’s fell to a season-worst 19 games under .500 after losing for the 17th time in 23 games, marking their worst 125-game record since 1997 (53-72).

On Tuesday, the A’s look to bounce back with Sean Manaea on the mound in a matchup with Cleveland’s Danny Salazar.

 

 

 

Cruz, Cano homer in the Mariners’ 4-3 win over the A’s

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By Morris Phillips

AP photo: Robinson Cano of the Seattle Mariners rounds third greeted by third base coach Manny Acta (14) after hitting a two run home run in the fifth off Oakland A’s starter Kendall Graveman at the Oakland Coliseum on Saturday night

OAKLAND–Kendall Graveman ranks as the most experienced starter the A’s currently have to offer, but that’s hardly enough cache to keep the right hander from getting schooled by Seattle’s grey beard, sluggers Nelson Cruz and Robinson Cano.

Cruz and Cano both homered off Graveman, the difference in a narrow, 4-3 loss for the A’s at the Coliseum on Saturday night. Catcher Stephen Vogt noticed the similarity in the home run pitches, both cutters on the first pitch of the at-bat.

“I’m surprised they put such good swings on them,” Vogt said. “It’s almost like they were sitting on it.”

“For the most part I thought I threw the ball well, maybe not commanding it early as well as I wanted to, to get ahead. But that’s the way it goes,” Graveman said.

Graveman’s record fell to 8-8, his first loss at the Coliseum since May 19. The homers were surprising as well, he hadn’t allowed a round tripper at home since July 18. But Cruz and Cano, with 55 home runs between them, have made careers of spoiling the plans of pitchers.

Cruz connected in the fourth inning, erasing the A’s early 1-0 lead. Cano’s shot came in the fifth, capping a three-run rally that put the Mariners up 4-1. The A’s would respond with a pair of runs in the sixth, but they couldn’t tie it, despite getting a leadoff hit from Coco Crisp in the seventh.

In the end, a frustrating loss for the A’s, who had 11 hits, and a bunch of opportunities, but just one hit and opportunity after the sixth inning when the Seattle bullpen took over. With runners in scoring position, the A’s squandered nine of their 11 at-bats.

The A’s are 14-14 since the All-Star break, after failing to win a fifth in the last six games of their home stand. With the disabled list (14 players currently) as populated as their dugout on most nights, the A’s are just trying to tread water while playing a string of opponents that have designs on the post-season.

Billy Butler had three hits and scored twice, as Melvin has found ways to get his part-time slugger in the lineup in the absence of a few other options. Vogt and Crisp combined for five hits, but both top-of-the-lineup hitters failed to score a run.

The A’s look to grab the rubber game of the series on Sunday with Zach Neal facing Seattle’s Wade LeBlanc.

Oakland A’s Tuesday night game wrap: Zach Neal Shines, the A’s squeak by the Orioles 2-1

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by Jerry Feitelberg

AP photo: The Oakland A’s Zach Neal deals to the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night at the Oakland Coliseum to improve his record to 2-1

OAKLAND–The Oakland A’s behind a strong performance by Zach Neal beat the Baltimore Orioles Tuesday night in Oakland. Neal, making his second start for the A’s, was terrific. He pitched five and 1/3rd innings allowing just two hits and one run. The A’s bullpen did a super job, too. Liam Hendriks retired all five hitters he faced, and John Axford kept the O’s scoreless in the eighth as he faced four hitters. Axford walked one and struck out two. Ryan Madson closed out the game in the ninth. The Orioles got the leadoff hitter on base via a single but Madson got the next hitter to hit into a double play. Madson walked Manny Machado but was able to strike out Chris Davis looking to end the game

The A’s scored twice in the bottom of the third to take a 2-0 lead. Miley gave up singles to Marcus Semien and Jake Smolinski. Danny Valencia doubled down the right field line to drive in Semien.Khris Davis hit a sacrifice fly to right to drive in Smolinski with the A’s second run of the inning.

The Orioles got on the board in the top of the fourth when their star center fielder, Adam Jones, sent a Zach Neal pitch into the bleachers to lead off the inning. For Jones, it was his twenty-second homer of the year. It was also the Birds’ first hit of the game as Neal had retired the first nine hitters he faced.

The Orioles threatened in the top of the sixth. Second baseman Jonathan Schoop led off with a double. Neal retired the next hitter, but that was the last hitter he would face. A’s manager Bob Melvin took him out of the game and brought Liam Hendriks to pitch. Hendriks did his job as he retired the next two Oriole batters to end the inning. Neal was outstanding as he went five and 1/3rd innings and allowed one run and just two hits. The A’s bullpen will have to shut down the hard-hitting Orioles the rest of the way to secure the win for Neal. A’s win 2-1

Game notes- The A’s won their second straight one-run game over the Orioles. The Orioles have hit 170 home runs so far this year to lead the AL in that department. Zach Neal, as mentioned above, was superb. He had to be as his opponent Wade Miley also pitched well. Miley went six innings plus and allowed six hits and two runs and took the loss. He is now 7-10 for the year with Seattle and Baltimore.
After the game, Zach Neal said this about being a starter “I was going to go until they took it away from me.” He said he “threw his sinker down in the zone and was able to spot his fastball.” Bob Melvin commented in a very short and succinct manner” boy; that was impressive.” Melvin also remarked that Liam Hendriks had been pressed into a different role due to his improved performance.”

Game three of the four-game series will be played Wednesday night at the Oakland Coliseum at 7:05 pm. Lefty Ross Detwiler will pitch for Oakland. The A’s obtained the veteran from Cleveland and Detwiler will be making his first start as an Oakland Athletic. Yovani Gallardo will pitch for Baltimore.

A’s look good, but play poorly in 4-0 shutout loss to the Cubs

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By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND–Jake Arrieta, right at the top of the list of major league pitching performers since the beginning of the 2015 season, is almost back to form after a more than a month without a victory, and the hapless A’s got a firsthand look on Saturday at the transformation.

Arrieta went eight innings, allowing just three hits, in the Cubs 4-0 shutout of the A’s that has the two clubs headed in opposite directions. The A’s have lost seven of eight to fall a season-worst 14 games below .500, while the Cubs have won 16 of 22 to move a season-best 27 games above .500 for second time.

The most obvious sign of Arrieta’s reemergence is the seamless combination of his slider and his sinker, which A’s manager Bob Melvin lauded after the game. Given the control of those two pitches, Arrieta has become calculating in eschewing strikeouts for easier outs after a couple of pitches.

“Not worrying about strikeouts,” Arrieta said. “Those will come in big situations. Maybe a guy on third, a guy on second base, no outs, less than two, punchouts are more important. I’m trying to get through the middle innings.”

In his month long slump—after he won 28 of his 31 decisions spanning this season and last—Arrieta struggled to get through the middle of games, going 0-3 in five starts. Now according to the pitcher, he’s almost back to form, so dominant that he can decide how he retires the hitters he faces.

For the A’s, who have dropped the first two games of this series, and are only hitting .241 as a team at home this season, Arrieta’s return to form meant a very quiet afternoon for the Oakland offense. Yonder Alonso’s two-out double in the second inning rated as the high point on Saturday, and that preceded a strikeout of Marcus Semien that ended the inning.

Only one other A’s baserunner—Semien in the fifth—even reached second base against Arrieta and Travis Wood, who pitched the ninth for the Cubs.

The A’s had hoped that a return to the Coliseum after a rough road trip would signal a return to playing competitive baseball, but the A’s have been quiet in dropping the first two games of a 10-game home stand. In addition, the A’s were blindsided by the bizarre story of staffer Mike Henriques installing a hidden camera in the team’s weight room, likely to monitor injured Athletics work out habits. Henriques was suspended on Thursday when the camera was discovered.

At least the A’s looked resplendent in their 1981 throwback uniforms, which coincided with a celebration of the division-winning club under manager Billy Martin that year. The Cubs stepped up their uniform game as well on Saturday, sporting baby blue pinstripe uniforms from the same year.

On Sunday, the A’s look to avoid the sweep with Sean Manaea on the mound in a matchup with Chicago’s Kyle Hendricks.

NOTES: A’s starter Sonny Gray departed early on Saturday after experiencing discomfort in his upper forearm. Gray lobbied to remain in the game, but Melvin pulled his pitcher just to be cautious. Gray will be re-examined on Sunday in an attempt to determine if he will be available for his next start.

 

A’s drop another one in Cleveland, Overstreet gives up three home runs

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Kipnis konnects

By Morris Phillips

Surrendering hard hit balls in play, including three that cleared the fences, made Saturday’s lesson in baseball’s finer points a particularly tough one for Dillon Overstreet.

The fast-rising rookie who has excelled throughout the A’s minor league system was promoted for the third time this season, a nice reward for a 24-year old who has big league talent, if not at this point, big league chops.

Overstreet’s biggest issue with missing pitch locations was plastered over Cleveland’s scouting reports and brought home by his Oakland coaches entering his outing at Progressive Field. Miss, and like his struggles in his first three major league starts, home runs could result. That aspect of Overstreet’s game cropped up early on Saturday, while he was warming up.

“I could tell a little bit in the bullpen I wasn’t as crisp as I was when I was up here a couple weeks ago,” Overstreet said. “I could tell I was just a little off. Obviously it went into the game.”

Overstreet went on to surrender five runs on 10 hits, and he was removed in the fourth inning of the Indians 6-3 win over the A’s. The A’s have dropped the first two games in Cleveland, after winning two of three games in each of their previous three series.

As manager Bob Melvin explained afterwards, Overstreet was over the plate and the Indians, with just one home run hit in their previous six games, in turn went over the wall. Melvin got specific, saying his rookie pitcher needed to bust hitters inside with pitches just tantalizingly off the plate, then build on that with swing and miss strikes away. Instead, the hyped-up Overstreet was in between and elevated on home runs hit by Jason Kipnis and Jose Ramirez, the second and sixth batters of the night.

With the game tied at 2 in the fourth, Abraham Almonte hit a 442-foot bomb off Overstreet. It was Almonte’s first home run of the season, a sign that the Cleveland outfielder knew what to look for and where against Overstreet. In four starts, Overstreet has now given up nine home runs, a number that likely will insure he makes his next start at AAA Nashville, not with the A’s. According to Melvin, Overstreet appears to lost some confidence after allowing so many round trippers.

Josh Tomlin did the job against the Oakland offense, holding the A’s to six hits and two runs in seven innings of work. The veteran pitcher got a nice assist from Almonte, who threw out Bruce Maxwell at second base trying to stretch a single in the fifth.

Billy Butler and Marcus Semien hit home runs for the A’s, with Semien’s coming with two outs in the ninth inning and the A’s trailing by four. Butler’s tied the game in the fourth inning, and may have fired up the Indians.

A couple of pitches before Butler connected, he and Cleveland catcher Chris Giminez had words about some of the verbal jockeying Giminez was doing in attempts to influence umpire Tripp Gibson. The jawing continued as Butler flipped his bat before rounding the bases, and Gibson got between the players as Butler crossed the plate.

The Indians’ response came in their next at-bat with a four-run outburst that chased Overstreet, and effectively put the game away.

On the trade front, rumors persist regarding Josh Reddick and Rich Hill, even as Hill was placed on the disabled list with his blister issue that forced him from his last outing after just five pitches.   Billy Burns, however, was moved on Saturday, traded to the Royals for outfielder Brett Eibner. Both Eibner and Burns are currently playing at the AAA level.

On Sunday, Sonny Gray goes for the A’s, attempting to win for the second time on the road trip. Corey Kluber will pitch for the Indians with the first pitch at 10:10am.

A’s Minor League Spotlight: Oakland extends association with Lake Monsters

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland Athletics have announced they are extending their player development contract with the Vermont Lake Monsters of the New York-Penn League through 2018. The New York-Penn League is a short-season Class-A league that plays 79 regular season games from mid-June to Labor Day. A playoff schedule runs through September 15th.

The league is made up of 13 teams that are divided up into three divisions. Teams play in small towns like Burlington, Vermont to large cities like Brooklyn, New York.

“We are pleased to extend our partnership with the Vermont Lake Monsters. A number of our organization’s most talented players have thrived during their time with the Lake Monsters before advancing through our system,” said A’s General Manager David Forst. “Over the past six seasons, we’ve enjoyed a great working relationship with Ray Pecor, Kyle Bostwick, and the entire Lake Monsters organization, as well as with the City of Burlington. We look forward to future success.”

“The Oakland Athletics have been great partners, both on and off the field,” said Vermont Lake Monsters Vice President Kyle Bostwick. “We are excited to continue to work together to help develop ballplayers into future Major Leaguers.”

The Athletics have five players on their current 40-man roster that played for the Lake Monsters during their minor league career. Ryan Dull, Ryon Healy, Bruce Maxwell, Dillon Overton and Jake Smolinski (as a member of the Nationals organization) all played in Vermont.

The Lake Monsters are currently in fourth place in the Stedler Division with record of 17-22 which puts them six games out of first place. They are 3-7 in their last 10 games and are currently battling a five game losing streak.

The manager of the Lake Monsters is Aaron Nieckula who has been with the A’s minor league organization as a manager at Class-A and Double-A levels. He is also Minor League Field Coordinator for the A’s.

Oakland A’s Tuesday game wrap:The A’s Sonny Gray gets some support, the A’s down the Rangers

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by Jerry Feitelberg

AP photo: The Oakland A’s shortstop Marcus Semien (10) puts the tag on the Texas Rangers Rougned Odor (12) after attempting to stretch a hit into a double at Arlington on Tuesday night

The A’s evened the series with the Texas Rangers at one apiece when they beat them 6-3 Tuesday at the Globe Life Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The A’s ace, Sonny Gray, pitched well for the first four innings of the game. He unraveled a bit in the fifth as the Rangers had five straight hits and scored three times. Josh Reddick had the defensive play of the night when he threw out Rougned Odor at second when he tried to stretch a single into a double. Gray righted the ship and pitched a clean sixth inning, and the A’s bullpen did not allow Texas to score in either the seventh, eighth, or ninth innings to preserve the win.

The A’s scored three times in the fourth inning. The veteran center fielder, Coco Crisp, hit a solo homer with no on and no out for the A’s first run. It was the eighth of the year for Coco. Josh Reddick hit his seventh of the year with a man aboard to put the A’s ahead 3-0.

The A’s scored two more in the fifth. Marcus Semien hit his twenty-first of the year to center with nobody aboard. Reddick drove in his third run of the game later in the inning. The Rangers scored three runs in their half of the fifth. The Rangers’ Joey Gallo hit a solo homer to put Texas on the board. It was the first dinger of the yer for Gallo. Later in the inning, big Mitch Moreland hit a two-run blast to reduce the deficit to two.

There was no more scoring in the game until the ninth inning. The A’s put an insurance run on the board, nd they won by a final of 6-3.

Game Notes- With the win, the A’s improve to 8-4 since the All-Star break and 46-55 for the season. The Rangers drop to 58-43 and are still in first place in the AL West.The Astros lost to the Yankees and they trail the Rangers by 3.5 games. The A’s are in fourth place twelve games behind Texas in the division.

The rubber game will be played Wednesday night at 5:05 pm in Texas. Lefty Sean Manaea will go for Oakland. Manaea had his best game of the year against Tampa Bay last week and the A’s are hoping he can continue to pitch well. Yu Darvish, on the comeback trail, will pitch for the Rangers.