Tag: A’s

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Los Angeles Angels won the rubber game of the three-game set by a score of 9-4 Wednesday afternoon at the O.Co Coliseum. They gave Sonny Gray the worst defeat of his young career. Gray lasted just five innings giving up six runs on eight hits. Gray’s record drops to 12-7. The Angels starter, Andrew Heaney, earned his sixth win of the season. He pitched seven innings giving up three runs on seven hits.

The Angels got to Sonny Gray for four runs and five hits in the first inning to take a 4-0 lead. Kole Calhoun started the inning with back to back singles to put men on at first and third with no out. Gray threw a wild pitch allowing Calhoun to score. Albert Pujo;s singled to drive in Trout with the second run of the inning. David Murphy singled sending Pujols to third. Murphy advanced to second on the throw.  C. J. Cron ground out to Marcus Semien. Pujols scored. David Freese singled to drive in Murphy with the fourth run of the inning. The A’s came roaring back in their half of the first. With two out, the A’s scored three times and had five straight hits. Brett Lawrie doubled down the rightfield line to get the rally started. Danny Valencia singled to drive him in with the A’s first run. Catcher Josh Phegley blasted his eighth home run of the year to dead center field to close the deficit to just one. Jake Smolinski and Billy Butler singled, but Heaney struck out Josh Reddick to end the frame. A’s trail 4-3.

Albert Pujols took Sonny Gray deep with a man on in the second inning to give the Angels a 6-3 lead halfway through the second inning. Pujols has hit thirty-five homers this year and 555 lifetime. He is tied with Manny Ramirez for fourteenth all-time.

The Angels added two more runs in the top of the eighth. David Murphy singled leading off the inning. He scored on a C.J.Cron double. Cron advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a David Freese single. The A’s got one back in the bottom of the eighth. Brett Lawrie, leading off, hit a laser shot over the wall in left. The fifteenth homer of the year and second in the last two games.

The Angels scored another run in the ninth to put them up 9-4. Single, double and a fielder’s choice put the run on the board for LA.  The A’s could do nothing in the bottom of the ninth, and they lose 9-4.

Game Notes- The A’s have lost two straight games and are now 7-7 in their last 14 games. The A’s have homered in a season-high nine consecutive games (12 total). Billy Burns had his eight-game hitting streak snapped. Billy Butler hit his 300th career double in the fourth inning. Brett Lawrie had two hits including a home run and is hitting .340 (16-for-47) with five home runs, nine RBI and 12 runs scored over his last 12 games.

The A’s are off Thursday. Play will resume Friday in Oakland when they Seattle Mariners come to town for a three-game series this weekend. The A’s announced that Aaron Brooks (1-1, 5.47) will handle the pitching chores and the Mariners’ starter will be left Edgar Olmos (1-0, 2.13).

Time of game was 2 hours and fifty-three minutes and 13.392 were on hand for the final game of the three-game series with the Angels.

The 17th Annual Oakland A’s Breast Cancer Awareness, Day, presented by Zevia, is set for this Sunday, September 6th. The A’s again honor those who have courageously battled breast cancer. This event raises funds to support research, education, advocacy and free services for cancer patients and their families throughout the Bay Area.

by Jerry Feitelberg

It was the Mark Canha, Danny Valencia, and Mark Smolinski show Monday night as the trio drove in ten of the eleven runs scored by the A’s Final score 11-5 for Oakland. A’s starter Felix Doubront went six-plus innings allowing seven hits and four runs while winning his second game of the year. Angels’ starter Hector Santiago was tagged with the loss his record drops to 7-9.

The Angels scored the first run of the game in the first inning. With one out, Felix Doubront walked Mike Trout and Albert Pujols. C.J.Cron flew out to deep left field for the second out. Erick Aybar, who has a history of tormenting the A’s, singled to drive in Trout. Shane Victorino followed with a single to load the bases, but Doubront was able to strike out Chris Iannetta to end the threat.

The Angels scored two more runs in the top of the third. Singles by Pujols and Cron put men at first and third with one out. Pujols scored on an Aybar sacrifice fly. Victorino singled to advance Cron to third. Cron scored when the Angels pulled off a double steal. Phegley attempted to nail Victorino, but the throw was not in time, and Cron was able to make it home safely.

The A’s scored five times in the bottom of the third. Josh Reddick led off the inning with a double. With one out, Reddick tagged up and went to third on a long fly out to center. Santiago walked Mark Canha and Brett Lawrie to load the bases. Danny Valencia doubled down the left field line to drive in two. Josh Phegley walked to load the bases for the second time in the inning. Jake Smolinski also doubled down the left-field line to clear the bases and give the A’s the lead 5-3 after three complete.

The A’s scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-3 lead. With one out, Brett Lawrie reached on an error by Angels’ third baseman Kaleb Cowart. Danny Valencia followed with his second double of the night to drive in Lawrie all the way from first. Left fielder Shane Victorino slammed into the wall causing part of the wall to collapse. The players came off the field until the repairs were made.

The A’s scored three more runs in the bottom of the sixth. “County breakfast’ Billy Butler doubled to right center. Reddick walked, and Marcus Semien singled to left. Third base coach, Ron Washington held Butler at third. Billy Burns then hit into a  very unusual double play. He hit a sharp ground ball to third. Angel third baseman, Kaleb Cowart, stepped on third to force Reddick. Cowart threw to first but the throw was wide. Butler tried to score from third but was thrown out at the plate. Butler should have gone back to third, The next batter, Mark Canha, unloaded his eleventh home run of the year over the left-field wall to drive in Semien and Burns as well as himself. 9-3 at the end of six.

The Angels added single runs in the seventh and eighth to make it a 9-5 game. The A’s, however, came back in the bottom of the eighth to score twice and take an 11-5 lead heading into the ninth. Evan Scribner started the ninth but had to leave with an injury. The A’s brought in Drew Pomeranz and he close out the win for Oakland.

Game Notes- The A’s have won their last three games in a row while the Angels are heading south rapidly. The Angels are 2-5 on the nine-game road trip and are 11-26 in their last 37 games. . The A’s are 11-4 in their last 15 home games and are 26-27 against American League West competition.

The Angels and A’s resume the series Tuesday night at the O.co Coliseum at 7:05 pm. Cody Martin will pitch for the A’s and he will be making his first Major League start. Martin was acquired by Oakland from the Atlanta Braves in July. The twenty-five-year-old righty made 21 appearances ion relief for the Braves and had an ERA of 5.40. Matt Shoemaker will go for the Angels.

Time of game was three hours and thirty-four minutes, and 12,049 hardy souls watched the game.

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s continue their two-city six-game road trip Friday night in Phoenix when they face the Arizona DiamondBacks in interleague play. Since the A’s will be in a National League park, the designated hitter will not be used and the pitcher will have to hit. The A’s have one more series in interleague play and that will occur when the San Francisco Giants cross the bay to face the A’s for three games on September 25th, 26th and 27th. It will also be the last three home games of the season for the A’s.

The D-Backs finished 2014 with a won-loss record of 64-98. Over the winter, the D-Backs hired former A’s manager and a member of Baseball’s Hall of Fame, Tony La Russa as their Chief Baseball Officer. They named former A’s pitching great, Dave Stewart, as their Senior Vice-President and General Manager. They also hired former A’s bench coach, Chip Hale to be the club’s manager. Hale was Bob Melvin’s bench coach the last three seasons but will be starting his eleventh year working for Arizona. The team has several other former A’s on their coaching staff. Mike Fetters, who was with the club in 1998, is the club’s Quality Assurance Coach. Don’t ask me what that means but it sounds like a good job. Mike Harkey, who is the pitching coach, played for Oakland during the 1995 season. Dave McKay is the first base coach and he held that position when La Russa managed the A’s from 1986 to 1995. Ariel Prieto, who was a translator here when the A’s employed Yoenis Cespedes and Bartolo Colon, is the  D-Backs coach/interpreter

The D-Backs have improved their won-loss record so far this year. They have a record of 62-64 and will play one more game before starting the series with the A’s Friday night. They have lost three in a row but are 5-5 in the last ten games. Arizona will send Chase Anderson to the mound to pitch Friday night. Other starters include Robby Ray, Jhoulys Chacin, Patrick Corbin and Rubby De La Rosa. Corbin pitched Wednesday night and De La Rosa is scheduled to pitch Thursday.  The bullpen is manned by Daniel Hudson, David Hernandez, Andrew Chafin, Addison Reed, Randall Delgado, Josh Collmenter and their closer is Brad Ziegler. Ziegler is a former A and has twenty-three saves to his credit in 2015.

The D-Backs offense is led by Paul Goldschmidt. Goldy is hitting .331 and is third  in the National League in that department. He has hit 25 homers and knocked in 94. The other big bats in the lineup are right fielder David Perata, center fielder A.J.Pollock, and right fielder Ender Inciarte. Peralta is batting .303 with thirteen home runs and sixty-seven RBIs. Pollock checks in with a .321 average with thirteen dingers and 54 RBIs. Inciarte is at .295, four homers, and 34 RBIs. In addition, Yasmany Tomas, in his first season in the Majors, playing forty-nine games in right and thirty-one at third base is at .292, eight home runs and forty-three runs batted in in just ninety-eight games.

Jake Lamb plays most of the game at third, Chris Owings is at second and shortstop is manned by Nick Ahmed.The veteran, Aaron Hill fills in as a utility player. Catching is handled by Wellington Castillo and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

The A’s, in the meantime, will be looking to break a modest two-game losing streak. The A’s won the first game of the road trip but lost the last two games to the Mariners in Seattle. At this point in the season, the A’s will be looking at their players and will be evaluating them for 2016. For example, Mark Canha is playing every day at first base. Ike Davis is on the DL for the rest of the year and Canha, hopefully, will take advantage of the opportunity and show that he does not have to be platooned. The A’s will also be making decisions on second baseman Eric Sogard. Sogard can also play short and is relatively inexpensive. The A’s may want to keep him around. The A’s have moved Brett Lawrie over to second to give Danny Valencia playing time at third base. Lawrie is fun to watch. He is just twenty-five years old and has played well all year. Valencia, in the short time that he has been an A, probably will return next year as the A’s third baseman. A’s shortstop Marcus Semien has been a work in progress. Semien can hit and has some pop in his bat. His big problem has been fielding. While his error rate slowed down since the start of the season, he still has committed thirty-two so far and is just two shy of the record of thirty-four held by Burt Campaneris in 1968.The big question for the A’s in the outfield will be left field. Coco Crisp is not having a good year. Crisp has been slowed by injuries the last two years and he has not been able to get it going this year.  Coco is hitting just .152. He has been so important to this team since 2010 and the A’s hope that he can return to his high level of play. Burns in center and Reddick in right should be back.

The big reclamation project over the winter should be the bullpen. The A’s need a closer. Last year’s closer, Sean Doolittle, has been on the DL most of the season. His last two appearances were not great. Doolittle has lost velocity and command. He will need to get stronger over the winter if he is to return to that role. The bullpen, at times, has been the arson, squad. Evan Scribner started well but has given up too many home runs. Fernando Rodriguez, Fernando Abad, Drew Pomeranz, Edward Mujica, Pat Venditte, and Dan Otero have all been inconsistent. The A’s have the most blown saves in baseball and they have lost the most one-run games, too.

The A’s vs the D-Backs for three in Phoenix. Should be a good series. Opportunity for the A’s to evaluate their players and opportunity for the D-Backs to continue to improve.

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Seattle Mariners, behind a stout pitching performance by King Felix Hernandez, defeated the Oakland A’s 8-2 Wednesday afternoon in Seattle. The Mariners took the three-game series two games to one. The A’s were hoping that their starter, Chris Bassitt, would be on the top of his game. The A’s were facing their nemesis, Hernandez, and they knew that it could be a rough afternoon. Indeed, it was. Hernandez was dominant. He made two mistakes in the game. The first mistake was a leadoff home run to Billy Burns to start the game. The second mistake came in the seventh when Brett Lawrie led off with his thirteenth homer of the year. The A’s had just three hits total in the game. Hernandez went eight innings allowing three hits and two runs and those runs came on the two homers. Bassitt, on the other hand, was roughed up for four runs ans six hits in the first inning.

The A’s took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Billy Burns hit the first pitch of the game over the wall for his third home run of the season. The lead didn’t last long as the Mariners stormed back in their half of the first inning. They  sent ten men to the plate and scored four runs and had six hits. Rookie shortstop Ketel Marte led off the frame with a single. He advanced to second on a ground out. Mariner right fielder, Nelson Cruz who is a candidate for MVP honors, singled to drive in Marte with the tying run. Robinson Cano followed with a single. Former Athletic, Seth Smith, doubled down the left-field line to put the Mariners ahead 2-1. Mark Trumbo singled to plate Cano. Smith scored on a single off the bat of Logan Morrison. Mariners lead 4-1 after one inning of play.

The Mariners added a run in the bottom of the sixth. Switch-pitcher Pat Venditte was now on the hill for the A’s. Ketel Marte led off the inning with a double. He advanced to third on a ground out and then scored on a single by Nelson Cruz. The A’s scored their second run of the game when Brett Lawrie homered leading off the seventh. The Mariners got the run back in their half of the seventh. Sean Doolittle pitched the seventh and appeared that he was struggling with his command as he had top throw thirty-three pitches in the inning. 6-2 after seven.

The Mariners added two more runs in the eighth inning. Fernando Abad was in the game for Oakland. Kyle Seager took him deep. Nelson Cruz followed that with his thirty-ninth home run of the year to make it an 8-2 game.

The A’s have an off-day on Thursday as they travel to Phoenix to meet the Arizona DiamondBacks for three games over the weekend.  Sonny Gray will go for Oakland and he will be opposed by Chase Anderson.

by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, but the Mariners scored six unanswered runs to come from behind to defeat the A’s 6-5 Tuesday night in Seattle. The Mariners scored three in the fourth and three in the fifth, and they drove A’s starter Jesse Chavez out of the game in the fifth and sent him to his thirteenth loss of the year. Mariners starter Mike Montgomery lasted just an inning  and a third as the A’s scored all five runs off him. The big story of the night was the Mariner bullpen. Edgar Olmos, Logan Kensing, Carson Smith and Tom Wilhelmsen kept the A’s at bay and secured the win for Seattle.

The A’s scored the first run of the game in the top of the first. Billy Burns, swinging on the first pitch, lined a single to center. Montgomery retired Mrk Canha and Brett Lawrie. However, he walked third baseman Danny Valencia to advance Burns into scoring position. A’s catcher Josh Phegley came through with a single to drive in Burns. 1-0 in the middle of the first.

The A’s scored four times on five hits in the second. Billy Butler led off the inning with a double to left. Josh Reddick then doubled down the right-field line to drive in Butler. Reddick advanced to third on a wild pitch. Shortstop Marcus Semien, back in the lineup after a two days on the bench, put a Mike Montgomery pitch into the left field seats.  Billy Burns singled for his second hit of the night. Montgomery retired Canha for the first out of the inning. Lawrie followed with a single to move Burns over to third. Mariners’ manager Lloyd McClendon decided that it was time to take Montgomery out of the game. The Mariners brought in lefty Edgar Olmos to face Danny Valencia. Valencia hit a sacrifice fly to left to drive in Burns with the fourth run of the inning and the fifth of the game for Oakland.  A’s lead 5-0 in the middle of the second inning.

The Mariners scored three times in the bottom of the fourth with his 38th home run of the year. Chavez retired the next two Mariner hitters. Austin Jackson doubled to deep center and then scored when first baseman Logan Morrison lined a shot down the right-field line that landed in the seats for his 13th homer of the season. Chavez retired Brad Miller for the third out.Mariners trail 5-3 after four.

The Mariners put three more runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-5 lead. Mike Zunino singled to get the rally going. He advanced to second on a ground out to first. Zunino tagged and went to third on a long out to center. Nelson Cruz walked to put men on at first and third with two out. Robinson Cano hit a ball that glanced off Chavez’s glove that went for an infield hit. Had the ball not been deflected, Brett Lawrie probably would have retired Cano. Zunino scored on the play. Seth Smith walked to load the bases, and Austin Jackson singled up the middle to drive in two to take the lead.

The A’s had a chance to tie the game in the ninth. Sam Fuld reached second on a ground-rule double with two out. Josh Reddick flied out to right to end the threat.

Game Notes- A’s shortstop Marcus Semien hit his eleventh home run of the year in the second inning. Four of Semien’s homers have come against the Mariners. The two Seattle home runs off Jesse Chavez marked the sixth straight game that he has allowed a home run. The Mariners’ Robinson Cano hit his thirtieth double of the year. For Cano, it was the eleventh straight year with thirty doubles. Only Honus Wagner and Stan Musial in Major League have more consecutive years with thirty or more doubles.

The rubber match of the three-game series will start Wednesday afternoon at 12:30 in Seattle. Chris Bassitt (1-5,2.48) will pitch for Oakland, and King Felix Hernandez (14-8,3.74) will toil for Seattle.

Time of game was three hours and five minutes ans 17,498 were in the house.

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s stormed back from a five-run deficit and scored eleven unanswered runs to pound the Seattle Mariners 11-5 Monday night in Seattle. The win ended the A’s eight-game road losing streak. Lefty Felix Doubront made his second start for Oakland. Doubront was injured in the first inning when a line drive hit his right foot. Doubront finished the first and second innings, but he limped off the mound at the end of the second. The A’s had to go to the bullpen early in the game. Evan Scribner pitched the third and Seattle torched him for five runs. Melvin let Scribner pitch another inning. Edward Mujica retired all six hitters he faced in the fifth and sixth innings. Switch-pitcher, Pat Venditte, also retired all six hitters in order in the seventh and eight. Melvin brought in Drew Pomeranz to pitch the ninth and he, too, retired the Mariners in order to close out the game.  In all, the A’s relievers retired sixteen Mariners in a row to secure the win.

The A’s had just one hit off Mariners’ starter Hisaki Iwakuma in the first four innings of play. The A’s scored seven runs with two out to drive Iwakuma from the game. In fact, the A’s scored ten of their eleven runs after two were in both the fifth and ninth innings.

Evan Scribner had a rough outing as he allowed five runs in the third inning. Rookie shortstop, twenty-one-year-old Ketel Marte, led off the third with a double to right centerfield. Marte then stole third. Scribner hit Nelson Cruz with a pitch to put men on at first and third with one out. Robinson Cano singled to drive in Marte with Seattle’s first run, Franklin Gutierrez followed with a blast to center to put the Mariners up 4-0. Scribner retired the next hitter, but big Mark Trumbo hit a hanging curve into the left field seats for the fifth run of the frame. 5-0 after three. Scribner has given up fourteen home runs in just 57 innings of work this year.

Things turned around in the top of the fifth for the A’s. They sent eleven men to the plate and scored seven runs in the inning. All the runs came with two out. Stephen Vogt led off the inning with a double. Looked like he would be stranded there, but Billy Butler walked and Eric Sogard singled to load the bases. Billy Burns Doubled to drive in two. Mark Canha doubled to drive in two more to make it a 5-4 game. Josh Reddick reached on a single to Mariner first baseman Jesus Montero. Montero fielded the ball and failed to flip it to Iwakuma who was running to cover the bag. Montero lost the foot race to first. Reddick was ruled safe and Montero failed to check on Canha. Canha running at full speed scored from second to tie the game.  A’s third baseman, Danny Valencia put an Iwakuma slider over the fence in left to put the A’s in the lead 7-5.

The A’s added a run in the seventh. Mark Canha singled to left and advanced to second on a throwing error by Mark Trumbo. Trumbo was charged with the error, but it was sloppy play by the Mariner infield that allowed Canha to take the extra base. Reddick singled to drive in Canha.

The A’s weren’t done. They scored three more runs in the ninth. All the runs scored with two out. Josh Reddick homered to right. It was the fifteenth dinger of the year for Josh. Valencia and Vogt singled and Brett Lawrie doubled down the right field line to drive in two more for Oakland. 11-5 final in favor of the Green and Gold.

Game Notes- Stephen Vogt had two extra base hits (doubles) in the fifth inning. He became the seventh A’s player to have two extra-base hits in an inning. It was also the second game in a row that Vogt had two hits in an inning.  It was the first time since 1975 that the A’s have scored seven runs in an inning in two consecutive games

The A’s bullpen, with the exception of Scribner, retired sixteen hitters in a row,

Earlier in the day, the A’s announce they placed Kendall Graveman on the 15-day DL with a strained oblique muscle. The A’s recalled infielder Max Muncy from Nashville to take his place on the roster. It marks the third time that Muncy has been with the A’s this year.

The A’s also announced that third base coach Mike Gallego has been relieved of his duties and Ron Washington has been named third base coach for the remainder of the season. Washington returned to the A’s on May 21st after managing the Texas Rangers for nearly eight seasons.  He compiled a 664-611 record and guided the Rangers to back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011.  Washington has more wins than any other manager in Texas/Washington history.

Jesse Chavez will pitch for Oakland Tuesday night and he will be opposed by Seattle’s Mike Montgomery.

Time of game was three hours and nine minutes and 19,907 were on hand to watch.

The line score for Oakland 11 runs fifteen hits and no errors Line for Seattle five runs nine hits and one error.

by Jerry Feitelberg

During the A’s game with the Dodgers Wednesday, the Dodgers announced that they acquired second baseman Chase Utley from the Philadelphia Phillies for two minor league prospects. In addition, the Dodgers will assume two million dollars of salary for Utley for the remainder of the season.

The A’s announced that they placed Ike Davis on the 15 day DL and recalled outfielder Jake Smolinski from Triple A Nashville.