Tag: A’s

“Country Breakfast” delivers late in A’s third straight win over the Rays

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Madson save
Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Ryan Madson, right, is greeted by catcher Bruce Maxwell, left, at the end of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays Sunday, July 24, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. Oakland won the game 3-2. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND–No, the baseball season doesn’t start on July 15, but, yes, the A’s are playing well.

Looking to turn dismal into respectable, the A’s took a big step forward on Sunday, beating the Tampa Bay Rays for the third consecutive day, 3-2, with Billy Butler’s eighth inning home run registering as the difference.

The A’s have won seven of 10 since the All-Star, with all 10 at the Coliseum. Oakland opens a three-game series at Texas on Monday, the first of 12 games remaining with the AL West leaders, nine of those at Arlington, Texas. The A’s remain in fourth place in the division, 12 games behind the Rangers.

Jesse Hahn returned to the big club, and pitched 7 2/3 innings—the second longest start of his career—departing with a 2-0 lead after allowing just four hits. Hahn’s outing impressed manager Bob Melvin, who cited the rigorous program his big right hander undertook at AAA Nashville in order to regain his form of last season.

But Hahn’s impressive outing turned into a no-decision just four pitches after his departure, as rookie Ryan Dull, who had allowed just two earned runs in his last 26 innings pitched, faltered. After starting Kevin Kiermaier with a called strike, Dull threw wild pitches on his next two offerings, allowing Kiermaier to advance to second, then third. Dull’s fourth pitch turned into a no-doubt homer to Logan Forsythe that tied the game.

“I just wanted to get a fastball in and I didn’t execute it,” Dull said. “Could have went with to the slider because we had the base open, maybe a better matchup against Miller. But you can’t second guess yourself anymore, just goes down as I didn’t execute the pitch I needed to.”

When Dull returned to the dugout, Hahn came to him to console the reliever, who admitted he was downcast at having given away the team’s lead and the starter’s opportunity to grab a win. But right after Hahn executed that classy move, Butler changed the narrative with his lengthy blast off reliever Erasmo Ramirez.

Already without Stephen Vogt and Josh Reddick, the A’s were without Coco Crisp as well, due to a reoccurrence of his neck issues. That left the A’s with a makeshift lineup with Jake Smolinski in center field, Danny Valencia (for the first time) in right field, and rookie Ryon Healy hitting sixth. Rookie Bruce Maxwell made his first big league start, catching Hahn, but went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. With all the injuries, catcher Matt McBride was the team’s only positional reserve.

For Butler, the tie-breaking shot could rank as a high point of the designated hitter’s season of relative inactivity.  A career-long designated hitter and first baseman, Butler hit just his third homer of the season. “Country Breakfast,” a mainstay with the Royals for years, has hit 144 home runs at the big league level.

Butler’s shot allowed the team to avoid exposing their lack of depth, and a lengthy ballgame on getaway day. Ryan Madson came on to pitch a perfect ninth inning, striking out the final two batters of the ballgame.

Rookie Daniel Mengden will start for the A’s in Arlington on Monday, opposed by the Rangers’ Martin Perez. Mengden is still looking for his second major league win with his record sitting at 1-5.

A’s quiet for eight innings, then the fireworks in their 4-3 win over the Rays

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By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND–Limited offense and a familiar deficit on the scoreboard had A’s fans sitting on their hands for eight innings on Saturday night. But the explosive ninth inning capped off by rookie Ryon Healy’s game-ending home run had those same fans howling all the way through the post-game fireworks display.

The A’s beat the Tampa Rays with walk-off dramatics for the second night in a row, just enough to at least temporarily escape the cellar in the AL West. And they did so despite two, major holes in their starting lineup, continuing an upward trend since the All-Star Break with a sixth win in nine outings.

“I don’t think there’s anything more fun than walk-off wins in baseball,” Healy said. “The fact we’ve been able to have so many in my short, eight-day career makes winning that much better.”

If anyone portends a brighter future for the Athletics, it’s Healy, who made his major league debut on July 15, signaling a reduction in playing time for veterans Danny Valencia, Yonder Alonso and Coco Crisp. A big guy with pop, Healy made his transition smoother by providing the quick feet and glove necessary to take over the third base job. Like a couple of other inexperienced A’s contributors, Healy has the look of a big-league mainstay with consistency as a hitter the final step in establishing himself.

Until those transformations take place, the A’s have to deal with their current reality, with lack of offense in home games as one of their biggest issues. On Saturday, Rays’ starter Drew Smyly took that issue and ran with it, holding the A’s to six hits and one run through six innings. Smyly entered Saturday’s contest with 11 losses, and no wins since May 16, but the A’s saw another, confounding left handed starter.

The A’s entered Saturday’s game hitting just .242 as a team at the Coliseum. Against left-handed starters, the A’s had lost 10 of 11, ending a streak of nine, consecutive losses on Tuesday against Houston’s Dallas Kuechel.

But those, two factors were just the foundation of the adversity facing the A’s on Saturday night. Josh Reddick and Stephen Vogt were scratched before the game, Reddick due to discomfort in his back, and Vogt was placed on the family medical leave list, necessitating that the veteran catcher miss at least three games.   Coupled with the 6:05pm start time, the bright sun and shadows, the Oakland offense not surprisingly mustered just one run, and only three baserunners getting as far as third base, through the briskly played, first eight innings.

Then in the ninth, with the A’s trailing 3-1, and Kendall Graveman’s five-game win streak in jeopardy, the A’s were faced with Tampa Bay closer Alex Colome, who had converted all 21 of his save chances. Likely alone in his optimism, Graveman held out hope in the A’s dugout, after pitching all nine innings, allowing nine hits and three runs.

“You just kind of had a feeling in the dugout we were gone to put something together eventually,” Graveman recounted.

Something came in the form of a pair of fastballs—interspersed with some nasty, breaking balls—from Colome. With a runner on, Jake Smolinski delivered first, sending a get-ahead fastball over the left field wall with Khris Davis aboard. Davis, the A’s leading home run hitter, had reached on an unlikely walk to a .246 hitter who with the A’s trailing by two runs, couldn’t tie the game as the inning’s leadoff hitter.

One out after Smolinski tied it, Healy ended it, sending a 3-2 offering over the wall in the left field power alley.

“It was awesome to see the guys there and how excited they were,” Healy said. “I saw the bullpen sprinting down, so I sort of slowed my jog a little bit to enjoy it and let them get there.”

The A’s look to make it three of four in their series with Tampa Bay on Sunday. Jesse Hahn was recalled from AAA Nashville to make the start, and he will face the Rays’ Blake Snell at 1:05pm.

 

 

The A’s win in a walk-off in the tenth

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by Jerry Feitelberg

AP photo: Oakland A’s Josh Reddick (center) gets the treatment from his teammates after his walk off single RBI in the tenth for the gamer for the A’s fourth straight win

OAKLAND–The Oakland A’s came back from a three-run deficit as they scored two in the seventh, one in the ninth and one in the tenth to defeat the Houston Astros 4-3. The A’s sent rookie Dillon Overton to the mound to start the game Tuesday night. Overton pitched into the seventh inning, but he would have been the losing pitcher had the A’s not rallied to win. Overton went six and a third innings. He allowed nine hits and three wins, and he received credit for a “quality start.” The Astros’ Dallas Keuchel also pitched very well. He went six and a third innings, and he allowed just two runs on five hits. The A’s bullpen allowed just two hits and no runs after the fifth inning while the A’s broke through against Houston’s All-Star close Will Harris to tie the game in the ninth.

The Astros struck first in the top of the third. With one out, A’s starter Dillon Overton gave up a single to Marwyn Gonzalez and a double to Jose Altuve.  The next hitter, Carlos Correa, hit a swinging bunt. Dillon made a terrific play as he fielded it and threw home to nail Gonzalez at the plate to keep the Astros off the board.   Dillon couldn’t keep the Astros at bay as Luis Valbuena singled to drive in Altuve.

The ‘Stros plated two more runs in the fifth. George Springer led off the frame with a booming fly ball to deep center that looked like it was ready to orbit the planet. With one out, the leading hitter in the AL, Jose Altuve, tripled off the center-field wall. Altuve scored on a sacrifice fly to put Houston ahead 3-0 in the middle of the fifth.

The A’s scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Billy Butler singled. Jake Smolinski doubled to deep right field but Butler, not having any speed, had to stop at third. Rookie third baseman, Astros’ manager A.J.Hinch removed Dallas Keuchel from the game and brought in Ken Giles to pitch. Ryon Healy  Greeted Giles with a double to drive in Butler and Smolinski. Giles retired the next two hitters to get out of the jam.

The A’s threatened to score in the eighth.They received two walks and had the benefit of a wild pitch to put men on at first and third with two out. Bob Melvin called on Josh Reddick to pinch-hit for Jake Smolinski. The Astros’ Luke Gregerson induced Reddick to fly out to left to end the inning.  ‘Stros sill lead 3-2 after eight.

The A’s tied the game in the bottom of the ninth. Stephen Vogt won a twelve-pitch battle with Astros’ closer Will Harris when he doubled to right-center. Coco followed with a blast to right to drive in Vogt. Coco probably made the biggest baserunning blunder of his life. He thought the ball went over the wall for a walk-off win for  Oakland. However, the ball was in play, and Crisp was just jogging the bases when the throw came in from the right fielder, and he was tagged out. The game is tied at three and we head to extra innings.

The A’s won the game in a walk-off. With two out, Marcus Semien singled to get the rally going. Semien stole second . Yonder Alonso walked to put men on at first and second with two out. Josh Reddick, who came into the game as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, singled to deep short to drive in Semien with the winning run.

Game Notes- The A’s have won four of their last five games since the resumption of play after the All-Star game break. The A’s announced that they recalled Dillon Overton and Daniel Coulombe from Nashville to replace Andrew Triggs and Tyler Ladendorf. Triggs was placed on the DL and Ladendorf was optioned back to Nashville.

The Line score for Oakland was four runs, eleven hits, and one error. Houston’s line was three runs, ten hits, and one error.

Game three will be played Wednesday afternoon at 12:30 pm at the Oakland Coliseum. Daniel Mengden will pitch for Oakland and the veteran righty Doug Fister will go for Houston.

Time of game was three hours and forty-one minutes, and 15,143 fans watched the A’s comeback to win.

 

Rookie homers in his second big-league game to lead the A’s over the Jays

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Healy homers

 

By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND–It’s buy or sell time for the Oakland A’s, an annual check of the temperature for an organization of constantly moving parts. So that brings us to Saturday’s 5-4 win over the Blue Jays, engineered by a guy who just got here, another who’s probably not going anywhere, and a third whose arrival was certainly unexpected, given that he figured to stay where he was at.

Khris Davis, the guy who was traded to Oakland after putting up decent numbers that would suggest he would remain with the Brewers, homered twice in the win. Ryon Healy, who made his major league debut on Friday night, hit a three-run homer off R.A. Dickey for his first big league hit. And Sonny Gray ended a streak of 12 consecutive appearances without a win by hanging around long enough to benefit from all three long balls hit by Davis and Healy.

“I don’t think it’s any secret things haven’t been as you would hope for the majority of the year” Gray said. “And then today was a little bit more of physical and mental together after the second inning. Like I said, ‘Mentally, just stop fighting yourself. Don’t try to be too perfect.’”

Gray hadn’t picked up a win since April 22 before Saturday, the longest drought of any starter in baseball. Along with the hold-your-breath back issues that cost Gray two weeks last month, it hasn’t been the Oakland ace’s best season, just one year after he finished third in the AL Cy Young race. Manager Bob Melvin has termed Gray’s struggles as just an off year. Consequently, it’s less likely that Gray’s traded before the August 1 deadline. Gray’s trade value has lessened to a degree, not the ideal circumstances for a Billy Beane trade executed for the purpose of bringing back a bushel of prospects.

The biggest reason—and there are several—the A’s are where they are lies with their tepid, inconsistent offense, especially at the Coliseum. Coming into Saturday’s tilt with Toronto, the A’s had lost 10 of their last 14 at home, and are hitting just .244 as a team in their own building, the third worst showing by an AL team at home. But that changed a bit with the three home runs, especially the bomb hit by Davis in the sixth that put the A’s up 5-3.

Davis’ blast to right center traveled 431 feet, power that Melvin termed a gift that only a handful of major leaguers possess. He also homered on Friday, and he leads the A’s with 22 on the season. While Coco Crisp and Danny Valencia will see their playing time reduced to make room for younger players to audition at the big league level, and Josh Reddick is likely to be traded, Davis is on track to stay, play and but up the biggest numbers of his four major-league seasons, hopefully somewhere north of 35 homers and 95 RBI.

After hitting 27 home runs in 121 games for the Brewers, Davis was thought to be establishing himself in Milwaukee. But the Brewers wanted to make room for a pair of younger outfielders, Domingo Santana and Rymer Liriano, and didn’t like the look of their outfield defense with Ryan Braun and the weak-armed Davis in the corners. So the 28-year old was shipped to Oakland in February after almost all the off-season deals had been consummated.

Davis hasn’t been a complete knockout, walking just 11 times while striking out 87, but he’s outdone Braun (13 home runs), Santana (4), Liriano (1) in the power department by quite a bit.

After allowing three home runs on Saturday, Dickey’s allowed 22 on the season, and he admitted the chemistry of his trademark knuckler was off on Saturday. The veteran pitcher has said in the past that the quality of the pitch varies with temperature, wind and velocity, and it was obvious that those factors weren’t meshing in the second inning when Healy and Davis both went deep.

“If you got the ball up in the air today, it was going to go,” Dickey said. “Unfortunately, I left one up, but that’s the first slow knuckleball I’ve thrown in four years that has gotten hit out, so I thought it was a safe pitch.”

Healy’s moon shot ended up just inside the left field foul pole, and elicited various reactions. His mom, Laurie, among a group of 10 family members and friends in the stands, shed a tear. The rookie was greeted enthusiastically at home plate by Stephen Vogt and Marcus Semien who scored ahead of him. And the A’s dugout ignored Healy just long enough to make it a lovable act.

Healy’s home run was the first of the 22 Dickey has allowed with as many as two baserunners aboard. It put the A’s up 4-2, and set the Steve Vucinich Ball Retrieval Machine in motion. The A’s equipment manager was successful in finding the rookie’s initial hit and home run ball, exchanging it for another ball and a signed bat.

“Much appreciation for him,” Healy said of fan David Thompson, who caught the ball and took the deal.

The A’s look for the sweep on Sunday with Rich Hill getting the start. He’ll face Toronto’s J.A. Happ, who has an exemplary 12-3 record, which includes an impressive shutout of the Giants at AT&T Park in May.

Mid-season report on the A’s position players

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by Jerry Feitelberg

zimbio.com file photo: Oakland A’s outfielder Coco Crisp is near the end of his career but would like to have a great finish in the second half of the season

OAKLAND–The Oakland A’s resume play Friday night against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Oakland Coliseum. The A’s have fallen to fourth place in the AL West, and unless a miracle occurs, they will not make the playoffs in 2016. The time is now to look at what players the A’s have and who do they want to keep and who will be the players that will rebuild this club.

Let’s start with the outfielders first. The A’s have been using the veteran, Coco Crisp, in both left and center. Crisp is now thirty-six years old and has been playing well lately but is he the type of player that you place your fortunes in? Crisp was injured the last two years, and he did not play well earlier in the season. Coco, a fan favorite, however, is nearing the end of his career. Billy Burns, at twenty-six, had a great rookie year in 2015. Burns, however, is hitting just .236, and it looks like he has been bitten by the sophomore jinx. The A’s best outfielder, Josh Reddick, is having a very good year. Reddick was sidelined with a thumb injury, but he is hitting .295 and is a terrific defensive player. Reddick will be a free agent at the end of the year. There are no negotiations going on with Josh’s agent, and it looks like he will walk. The A’s probably will trade him for prospects. Khris Davis also plays left-field and is the DH on occasion. Davis started slow, but he is tied with Marcus Semien for the club lead with nineteen homers and leads the team with fifty-five ribbies. One would think the A’s would want to keep him but Davis, too, will be a free agent at season’s end.

The A’s infielders are also getting long in the tooth. Valencia is 31, Yonder Alonso is twenty-nine, Jed Lowrie is thirty-two and shortstop Marcus Semien is just twenty-five. Trade rumors have been swirling around Danny Valencia’s name for a while. Valencia has stated that he would like to stay here but with Billy Beane and David Forst running the show, no one is safe. Alonso and Lowrie are good but not great players. They are expendable and are not going to be here for the long haul. The one gem is Marcus Semien. Semien came to the A’s last year in the trade that sent Jeff Samardzija to the White Sox. Semien had a terrible year in the field as he committed thirty-five errors. The A’s hired Ron Washington to work with him. Wash said that Semien had never played short when he was in Chicago. Semien bought into Wash’s program, and he has been terrific this year. Marcus has committed just nine errors in eighty-nine games and has excelled on offense. He is hitting .242 with nineteen homers and 47 RBIs. Semien looks to be a keeper.

Stephen Vogt handles most of the catching chores. Vogt is thirty-one and has made the All-Star team the last two seasons.  Vogt is a leader in the clubhouse and is one of the people the A’s should keep. Josh Phegley, currently on the DL, is a capable backup.

There are a lot of question marks about this team. Will Reddick, Davis, Valencia, and Vogt be here after the trade deadline?  Will the A’s trade assets for prospects? Do they bring in new players, as they did in 2012, and hope that they catch lightning in a bottle. The trade deadline is eighteen days away. Let’s pull up a chair and see what happens.

Graveman, A’s rebound from frustrating loss with a 3-2 win at Minute Maid Park

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A's double play

By Morris Phillips

If momentum is today’s starting pitcher than Kendall Graveman provided plenty for the A’s on Saturday.

Graveman stymied the Astros for eight innings, and the A’s held on for a 3-2 win over the Astros in Houston. The pitcher’s trademark sinker kept the defense behind him alert and productive, and the opponent off the scoreboard save for a couple of ninth inning runs after Graveman departed.

“He was outstanding,” Stephen Vogt said of Graveman. “With the exception of maybe three pitches, he was in the bottom part of the zone.”

On Friday, the A’s scored five times in the ninth inning to put themselves in line for an improbable, come-from-behind victory, only to see Luis Valbuena’s three-run homer win it for the Astros in the bottom of the inning. The 10-9 loss ranks at the team’s worst of the year, and Graveman and the A’s had to be back on the diamond to face the hottest team in baseball just 16 hours later.

Since May 12, the Astros had won 30 of 42 games, and their starter for Saturday’s third game of the four-game series, Lance McCullers, had never allowed more than three earned runs in any of his 16 starts at Minute Maid Park. Despite all that momentum, and Valbuena’s game-winning home run on Friday, Graveman made himself the story on Saturday.

The A’s starter retired the first 14 batters he faced, and shutout the Astros for the first eight frames on just three hits. Graveman featured his sinker throughout, and the A’s defense behind him was flawless, going a franchise record 15th consecutive game without committing an error, and turning a big double play to end the seventh inning.

“We’ve seen once he gets on a roll, his confidence elevates. So this was a nice little stretch here leading up to the break that he can feel good about,” manager Bob Melvin said.

Melvin offered Graveman an opportunity to pitch a complete game for the first time in his career, and to become the first A’s starter to go the distance this season. But after allowing three hits through eight, Graveman allowed back-to-back singles to Jake Marisnick and Marwin Gonzales opening the ninth, and Melvin summoned Ryan Dull to finish what Graveman started.

Despite the ninth inning hiccup, Graveman registered his fifth start in his last six in which he’s allowed two runs or less. After opening the season with a 5.36 ERA through nine starts, Graveman is 4-0 with 3.40 ERA over the following eight starts.

Dull nearly induced a double play ground ball off the bat of Jose Altuve, but the speedy baserunner beat the turn, allowing Marisnick to score from the third. Two batters later, Valbuena was at it again with an RBI single that made it 3-2. But Dull recovered, striking out Carlos Gomez to end the game.

Altuve’s fielder’s choice ended Dull’s incredible streak of stranding 36 consecutive inherited baserunners, a record for relievers as far back as the record keepers can measure, but the final result was Dull’s first ever save, quite a feat on the heels of Friday’s bullpen meltdown.

Stephen Vogt homered, doubled, and came up with an RBI single in the third to make it 3-0. That, along with some contributions from Coco Crisp (back from a one-game suspension) and Josh Reddick were all the offense the A’s needed.

In Sunday’s first half finale, Sean Manaea will start for the A’s in a matchup with Houston’s Dallas Kuechel, who has won four straight decisions.

A’s Minor League Spotlight: Richie Martin

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

 

martin

By Charlie O. Mallonee

Richie Martin is ranked at the fourth best prospect in the Oakland Athletics minor league system. Martin was the A’s first-round selection (number 20 overall) in 2015 out of the University of Florida.

Martin was drafted as a shortstop but most college shortstops wind up playing at some other position as a professional. That will not be the case for Martin. He possesses all of the tools necessary to play shortstop in the big leagues.

Martin has impressive range and speed. He also has that elusive first-step quickness that is needed to play short. Martin has an above average arm that allows him to get rid of the ball quickly. He is also an above average fielder. Think top 10 plays of the night.

As a hitter, Martin is seen as average with below average power. He is at his best when he sprays line drives to the opposite field. Martin is likely to be a number seven to nine in the order hitter.

The key for Martin to make it to the big leagues is not his bat but his defense. His skills at shortstop alone could make him an everyday player in the majors.

Martin is currently assigned to the Stockton Ports of the high Class-A California League. His season got off to a slow start as he injured his knee sliding into a base. Martin missed six weeks due to surgery to repair his left medial meniscus.

Martin has now appeared in 28 games for the Ports and has a .257 batting average, .330 on base percentage and .310 slugging percentage. He has 29 hits in 113 at bats and four steals in eight attempts.

Scouts speculate that Martin will be ready to play in the big leagues in 2018 which then begs the question what do you do with Martin? Marcus Semien has become a double threat by producing with power on offense and showing vastly improved defense. Semien’s emergence may make Martin available as a trade piece.

Teams are always looking for solid defense so Martin could be packaged to help bring the A’s players to fill holes where they see needs at this time. Whether it is as a player or as a trade asset, Richie Martin is an important part of the Oakland Athletics future.

A’s don’t put up much fight in Lincecum’s big league return, lose to Angels 7-1

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Lincecum in red

By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND–Another day in June, another occasion for the A’s to tip their collective caps in deference to an opposing starting pitcher.

Who, in this case, just happens to be Tim Lincecum.

Lincecum resumed his major league career on Saturday in Oakland, and shut down the A’s for six innings to mark the occasion as the Angels cruised to a 7-1 victory. While the A’s hosted the game, Lincecum brought out the crowd, some curious, some referential, and some dressed in orange and black, in support of the two-time Cy Young award winner who pitched nine seasons in San Francisco before he was sidelined by a hip injury.

The crowd greeted Lincecum with an ovation when he approached the bullpen to warm up, and again when he took the mound to pitch the first inning. Both cheers were loud, with the second one louder and lengthier.

“It’s nice being here close to where I started and having my Bay Area fans here,” Lincecum said. “Definitely made it feel like a home game to me.”

Lincecum cruised through the first two innings, gave up a bloop, RBI single to Danny Valencia in the third, and didn’t experience anymore blemishes in his six innings of work. He hit 91 on the gun with his fastball, no surprise given his decline in velocity over the previous couple of seasons. But Lincecum worked smart, and hit his spots, a critical component for the pitcher who was determined to return to the big leagues on his own terms, and as a starting pitcher.

“I wasn’t getting to counts that I’d like to, to get strikeouts, but they were putting the ball on the ground,” Lincecum said.

“He threw fastballs in breaking ball counts and breaking balls in fastball counts,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We couldn’t solve him.”

The A’s were limited to three singles and two doubles, and only in the third inning did they manage to get more than one hit. With Lincecum tiring, and close to the end of his afternoon, the A’s did the pitcher a big favor when Khris Davis grounded into a rally-snuffing double play.

The A’s have lost 11 of 15 in June, and fell two full games behind the Angels, and 15 ½ games behind the AL West-leading Rangers.

The Angels got all they needed in the fourth when Mike Trout and Johnny Giovatella clubbed solo shots to give them the lead. In the sixth, reliever Francisco Rodriguez allowed a RBI sacrifice fly to Andrelton Simmons, while recording the first two outs of the inning. But Rodriguez then gave way to John Axford who threw 22 pitches before recording the final out of the inning. Within those 22 pitches, Marcus Semien booted a ground ball with the bases loaded, allowing a second baserunner to score. Then Trout capped his afternoon with a two-run double that put the Angels up 7-1.

Andrew Trigg was recalled from the minors and made his big league debut, starting and pitching three innings, allowing a run. Trigg operated strictly as a reliever in the minors, and pitched effectively in his first opportunity to start. But of the six relievers to follow Trigg, Ryan Dull and Rodriguez had the biggest struggles, combining to allow four earned runs.

Yunel Escobar and C.J. Cron each had three hits for the Angels, roughly half of their 13-hit attack. Trout and Albert Pujols each had two hits and scored a run.

On Sunday, the A’s look to capture the rubber game of the three-game series with Eric Surkamp facing the Angels’ Jered Weaver. Surkamp’s still looking for his first win of the season, he’s 0-4 with an 8.07 ERA.

The losing streak is over, A’s beat Reds 6-1

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MLB: Oakland Athletics at Cincinnati Reds
Marcus Semien hits a two-run home run Photo Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland Athletics went into the game on Sunday against the Cincinnati Reds needing a win in the worst way. Losers of seven consecutive games, the A’s were in danger of going 0-8 on an eight game road trip. The psychological damage to the team by going winless on the road trip could have devastating effects for the rest of the season.

Not only did the A’s have to battle a losing streak, they had to battle the weather. The Midwestern summer has come early and it was 89-degrees with 55-percent humidity at game time. That made it feel like the temperature was 96-degrees. The Athletics are not used to playing in those conditions.

The A’s found their power and used the long ball with men on base to take an early lead that they never relinquished but only added to as the game progressed. Oakland had to pitch by committee due to the weather and because they were playing an Inter-league game in a National League park where the pitchers had to bat. They played the game like a team that knew they had to win the game.

In the batter’s box

Marcus Semien started off the scoring for the A’s in the top of the second inning when he hit a 3-1 pitch from John Lamb over the left field wall with Billy Butler on base to give Oakland a 2-0 lead. It was Semien’s 12th home run of the season. He finished the day going 2-for-4 with two RBI and one run scored.

The A’s scored two more runs in the second inning when Jake Smolinski hit his second home run of the year off Lamb with Josh Phegley on base. Smolinski’s home run gave the A’s a 4-0 lead at the time.

Danny Valencia joined the home run derby when he hit a solo shot into the left field seats in the top of the eighth inning off reliever A.J. Morris to give the A’s a 5-1 lead.

The A’s manufactured a run in the top of the ninth when Khris Davis hit a line drive single to center that allowed Coco Crisp to score the sixth run from second base.

Khris Davis had a 2-for-5 game with the insurance RBI.

Billy Butler continued to be productive at the plate going 3-for-3 with a run scored. The A’s have been waiting all season for Butler to catch fire.

Jed Lowrie stayed hot with the bat going 3-for-5 in the game. Lowrie’s average now stands at .303.

The A’s scored six runs on 15 hits with eight runners left on base.

The Reds only run came in the bottom of the second inning when outfielder Steve Selsky scored off catcher Ramon Cabrera’s double to left field. Kendall Graveman was on the mound for the A’s.

The Reds scored one run on seven hits and left six men on base despite the A’s having to use five different pitchers in the game.

On the Mound

Kendall Graveman started the game for Oakland on Sunday. Graveman entered the game with a 2-6 record and had really been struggling in last several starts. Graveman pitched well but succumbed to the weather very quickly. Graveman pitched to one batter in the fifth inning but had to come out of the game. He worked 4.0 innings giving up one run (earned) on seven hits while striking out five and walking two batters. Because Graveman did not work five innings it was up to the official scorer to assign the win and Graveman was given a no decision for his 4-plus innings of work.

Fernando Rodriguez came on in the top of the fifth for Graveman and pitched two perfect innings of baseball in relief. For his efforts, Rodriguez was credited with his second win of the season.

John Axford, Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson each worked a perfect inning of relief for Oakland on Sunday. Axford and Doolittle were impressive as they were throwing pitches in the high 90’s. For Madson, it was his first work on the mound since his appearance in Houston seven days ago.

John Lamb (1-4, 5.14) took the loss for the Reds even though he only pitched four innings. Cincinnati used four pitchers in their losing effort.

Defense

The key on defense for the Oakland Athletics was the fact they did not commit an error in the game. Not only did they play errorless baseball, the A’s turned three double plays that all killed potential scoring opportunities for the Reds.

The Reds did not commit an error in the game.

Up next

The A’s will have no time to rest and celebrate their victory. Oakland heads back into action on Monday night as they open a four-game home series with the Western Division leading Texas Rangers. The Rangers are 8-2 in their last 10 games and have won two games in a row.

LHP Sean Manaea (2-4, 6.20) will take the mound for Oakland. The Rangers have yet to officially name their starter although speculation centers on LHP Cesar Ramos who is a long reliever and spot starter.

 

Mengden distinctive in his big league-debut, but the A’s ordinary in their seven straight loss

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Mengden gives it up

By Morris Phillips

The A’s ninth consecutive loss on the road didn’t look much different from their eighth. Staked to an early, 1-0 lead, the Oakland starting pitcher needed to be perfect, but wasn’t, losing 2-1 to the Reds on Friday night and again on Saturday afternoon.

But there was one significant difference between the ballgames: Houston native Daniel Mengden, making his first major league appearance as the A’s starting pitcher, looked resplendent with his Rollie Fingers-like, handlebar mustache.

So much for the ever-present battle of style over substance. The A’s haven’t displayed much substance lately, losing their last seven ballgames while scoring just 15 runs total. That’s two runs or fewer in five of those seven contests.

Only five big-league clubs have faced a right-handed starting pitcher more frequently than the A’s (48 times) and there’s a reason. The A’s just don’t matchup against righties, ranking second-worst in the AL by a Bill James-created stat that quantifies a team’s offensive value. Less complicated is the fact that Oakland lost for the 30th time when facing a right-handed starter on Saturday, only the Twins have lost more (34 times) in that situation.

What’s worse, Saturday’s right-handed starter, the Reds’ Dan Straily, is a familiar face, having made 41 starts for Oakland from 2012-2014. Since then, Straily has bounced around, making 15 starts for the Reds, Cubs and Astros, but winning just four times. Of course that fourth win came against the A’s, as Straily was efficient on Saturday, going seven innings, allowing five hits and a run.

After Danny Valencia knocked in Coco Crisp to give the A’s the early 1-0 lead, Straily retired nine straight batters (with five strikeouts) before the A’s mounted a rally in the fourth. But with the bases loaded and two outs, center fielder Tyler Holt made a diving catch on a ball in front of him, to retire Billy Burns and end the inning.

Like Straily, Mengden made the fast track to the big leagues, having not pitched above AA before his major league-debut on Saturday. The Texas A&M product was distinctive not just for his mustache, but his exaggerated windup with the leg kick and his arms above his ahead before the release. All the newfangled stuff appeared to work, but Mengden fell in trouble in the third, walking Joey Votto ahead of Jay Bruce’s long two-run shot.

It was Bruce’s 14th homer of the year, but his sixth in the last two weeks.

The A’s look to avoid the sweep on Sunday with Kendall Graveman facing the Reds’ John Lamb at 10:10 PST.