Tag: A’s

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-2 to sweep the two-game series Wednesday afternoon at the O.co Coliseum. The story of the game was the pitching of Jesse Chavez. Chavez probably had his best game of the year as he went eight innings allowing just two hits. His only mistake was a pitch to Jimmy Rollins in the third inning. The A’s rallied for two runs in the sixth and again in the eight to get Chavez his seventh win of the year. Lefty Alex Wood acquired from Atlanta at the trade deadline absorbed his eighth loss of the season against eight wins.

The A’s jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Billy Burns led off with a single. Burns advanced to third on a Mark Canha single to put men on at first and third with no out.  Danny Valencia hit into a fielder’s choice, and that allowed Burns to score the first run of the game. 1-0 after one.

The Dodgers took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third. With one out, Chavez walked Dodger center fielder, Joc Pederson. Chavez retired Kike Hernandez for the second out, but Jimmy Rollins took one of his pitches into the right field seats. Rollins, a graduate of Encinal High School in Alameda, now has twelve dingers this year.

The A’s rallied to score two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Eric Sogard led off the inning with a single. Billy Burns drilled a ball to the gap in left-centerfield to drive in Sogard with the A’s second run of the game. Mark Canha singled to right to advance Burns to third. Danny Valencia grounded into a 6-4-3 double play allowing Burns to score. The A’s lead3-2 after six complete.

The A’s added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth to take a 5-2 lead. Eric Sogard, as he did in the sixth inning, led off with a single. Billy Burns laid down a bunt that went for a base hit to put men on at first and second with no out. Mark Canha walked to load the bases.  Former A’s reliever, Jim Johnson, struck out Valencia for the first out of the inning. Dodger manager Don Mattingly brought in lefty Luis Avilan to pitch to Stephen Vogt. Vogt, pinch-hitting for Josh Phegley, Flew out to right driving in Sogard with the A’s fourth run. Righty Pedro Baez was now on the hill for LA to pitch to Jake Smolinski. Smolinski came through with a double to drive in Burns with the fifth and final run of the game for the A’s. Drew Pomeranz set the Dodgers down in order in the ninth to secure the win for the A’s. Final score 5-2 in favor of Oakland.

Game Notes- Jesse Chavez line was 8 IP, two hits, two runs, two walks and six strikeouts while throwing 116 pitches. The hitting stars for the A’s were Billy Burns, who had three hits including two singles and a double. Mark Canha had two more hits and has had six hits in his last seven at-bats. Second Baseman Eric Sogard had two hits and scored each time he reached base.

After the game, Bob Melvin said that it was about time the A’s “gave him run support. He gave us eight innings, and it was one of his best games of the year. He also commented that a lot of people felt that Chavez faded down the stretch last year and that Chavez ” was on a mission to prove that wrong.” Melvin pointed out that Billy Burns was in the “middle of a lot” and that when he is”on base, he creates havoc.”

The A’s have an off-day Thursday and will resume play Friday night against the Tampa Bay Rays. RHP Chris Bassitt (1-4, 2.60) will go for the A’s, and  LHP Drew Smyly (0-2,4.35) will pitch for the Rays.

Time of game was 2 hours and thirty-four minutes and 26,122 paid to see the A’s win.

by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s ended their seven-game losing streak Tuesday night as they beat the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers 5-4. It was a very entertaining game. A’s starter, lefty Felix Doubront pitched six strong innings for Oakland. He gave up just one hit and one run. The run was unearned. Doubront walked six batters. A.J.Ellis and Joc Pederson received four of them. The Dodgers’ ace, Clayton Kershaw was not as sharp as usual, but he was still very impressive. Kershaw went seven innings, and he allowed just one run on five hits. He walked two and struck out seven. The switch-pitcher, Pat Venditte, pitched a strong seventh for Oakland and retired the first two batters in the eighth. The A’s brought in Fernando Rodriguez to finish the inning, but he couldn’t get anyone out. The Dodgers scored three times to take a 4-1 lead and it looked like Kershaw was in line for the win. The A’s, however, came back in their half of the eighth, and they scored three times to tie the game. The A’s then won it in the tenth. Much maligned designated hitter, Billy Butler won it for the A’s by hitting a double to drive in Canha with the winning run.Butler got the traditional pie in the face and the Gatorade dousing.

The A’s scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning. Mark Canha, playing first base tonight, singled sharply to left field. Designated hitter Billy Butler walked to put men on at first and second with no out. A’s right fielder, Josh Reddick, laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. Marcus Semien drove in Canha when he ground out to the second baseman. A’s lead 1-0 after two complete.

The Dodgers tied the game in the top of the fifth without the benefit of a hit. Doubront walked A.J.Ellis and Joc Pederson to start the inning. Ellis and Pederson walked to start the third, but Doubront escaped unscathed in that frame. Ellis and Pederson advanced on a passed ball. Dodger shortstop Jimmy Rollins ground out 4-3 driving in Ellis with the run. The official scorer ruled the run was unearned. The game is tied 1-1 in the middle of the fifth.

The Dodgers took a 4-1 lead in the top of the eighth. With two out, A’s manager Bob Melvin replaced switch-pitcher Pat Venditte. Fernando Rodriguez was brought in, and he could not get anyone out. Yasiel Puig singled; Andre Ethier also singled. Dodger catcher A.J.Ellis, who had walked three times in the game, drilled Rodriguez’s pitch into the left-field bleachers for his third home run of the year.

The A’s refused to quit. Kershaw was out of the game and the A’s attacked reliever Pedro Baez. Danny Valencia singled; Josh Phegley doubled to put men on at second and third with no out. Mark Canh, the hitting star of the night for Oakland, lined a double into the right field gap to drive in Valencia and Phegley. The Dodgers brought in lefty J.P. Howell to face Josh Reddick. Reddick reached on an infield single. The next hitter, Marcus Semien, singled to drive in Canha with the tying run. Howell retired Sogard for the second out. Don Mattingly brought in former A’s reliever Jim Johnson to face Billy Burns. Johnson entered the game with an ERA of 20.25, but he retired Burns to end the inning. Game tied at four heading to the ninth inning.

Neither team scored in the ninth, and the game went to extra innings. The A’s kept the Dodgers off the board in the top of the tenth. Yimi Garcia was on the mound for LA, and the A’s ended the game in dramatic fashion. Mark Canha led off the tenth with a double. Ir was the first four-hit game in Canha’s career. “country breakfast” Billy Butler won the game for Oakland with a double to right as the A’s won in a walk-off. Final score 5-4 in favor of the Green and Gold.

Game Notes- Mark Canha was the hitting star for the A’s. Canha had his first career four-hit game and his fifteenth multiple hit game of the year. Josh Reddick was 2-for-2. Danny Valencia was 2-for-5 and has three doubles and four home runs and nine RBIs in eleven games with the A’s.

Game two of the two-game series will be played Wednesday afternoon at 12:35 at the O.Co Coliseum.

Jesse Chavez will toil for Oakland, and Alex Wood will go for LA.

Time of game was 3 hours and 45 minutes, and there were 35,067 on hand to watch.

by Jerry Feitelberg

Monday night’s game in Baltimore was the last game of a seven-game road trip. The A’s had lost all six games in a row before the start of play and were hoping to get a win before heading home to Oakland. The A’s, however, played another sloppy game and they lost 4-2 to the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles completed a four-game sweep and, to make matters worse, the A’s have a long flight home and probably will be very tired when they face the Los Angeles Dodgers at the O.co Coliseum Tuesday night. The A’s sent their ace, Sonny Gray, out to pitch and they were hoping that Sonny could stop the losing streak. Gray, without a doubt, is one of the best pitchers in the American League.  The A’s took an early 1-0 lead on a Danny Valencia home run but the defense let Gray down in the fourth inning, Orioles first baseman, Chris Davis, reached on an error by Eric Sogard. Sogard knocked the ball down but couldn’t find it until it was too late and Davis reached first safely. The next batter, second baseman Johnathan Schoop singled and that was followed by a blast off the bat of Designated hitter Steve Clevenger to put the Orioles ahead 3-0. Marcus Semien made a throwing error in the inning, but it did not cost the A’s.

The A’s got a run back in the top of the sixth. Left fielder Mark Canha took a Chris Tillman pitch to right for a solo home run. The Orioles got the run back in their half of the inning. Shortstop J.J.Hardy singled and that was followed by a double by catcher Caleb Joseph. Gray walked Manny Machado and that was it for him. Drew Pomeranz finished the inning.

The A’s were done for the evening.  Tillman went seven innings in recording his ninth win of the year. Darren O’Day pitched a scoreless eighth for the Birds and Zach Britton pitched the ninth and picked up his 29th save of the season.

Game notes- Not too many highlights for the A’s Monday night as they lost for the seventh straight time. It is the longest losing streak of the year for Oakland. The A’s defense made three errors in the game to have a total of 99 in 2015 so far. A’s designated hitter, Billy Butler, grounded into two more rally-killing double plays. Butler’s average is below .240 and he seems to be in a fog at the plate.

Stats for the road trip are as follows. 0-7 record. Runs scored per game 2.9. Runs allowed per game 7.4. Team batting average was .240 and the pitchers had an abysmal ERA of 6.93.

The A’s manager Bob Melvin and center fielder Sam Fuld were ejected from the game in the fifth inning on a very rare batter interference call. Fuld laid down a bunt that went about two feet in front of home plate. Fuld, running hard, all the way down the baseline, appeared to interfere with Chris Davis’ attempt to catch the ball. The ball dropped to the ground, but home plate umpire Brian Knight called Fuld out. Melvin came rushing out of the dugout and was tossed after protesting the call vehemently. Fuld continued to argue with Knight even though Knight put up his hand as if to tell Fuld to stop. Fuld didn’t stop and he was tossed, too.

The A’s had just three hits in the game. Danny Valencia had a solo homer in the second inning to go along with Canha’s blast in the sixth.

Sonny Gray went 5 2/3rds innings allowing 7 hits and four runs. Only one of the runs was earned. His record is now 12-5 and his ERA actually dropped slightly.

The A’s are now eighteen games under .500 with a record of 51-69. Baltimore improved to 61-56 and would be the second Wild Card in the AL if the playoffs were to start.

The A’s face the Dodgers at 7:05 Tuesday night at the O.co. Clayton Kershaw, the reigning NL Cy Young winner, and NL MVP will pitch for LA. The A’s will have their hands full.

by Jerry Feitelberg

It was another tough day in Toronto for the A’s as the Jays beat them 4-2 to sweep the three-game series. Jesse Chavez pitched well but not well enough to win. He had one bad inning, the second. The Jays, for the third game in a row, scored enough runs to put the game away. Chavez went six innings allowing four runs on six hits. Chavez struck out nine but still came away with a loss. Jays’ starter, Mark Buehrle won his thirteenth game of the season. He went seven-plus innings, allowing seven hits and two runs.

The A’s had a chance to do damage in the first inning. They loaded the bases with no out, but could not score. Buehrle got out of the jam by getting Danny Valencia to hit into a 1-2-3 double play. He then retired Josh Phegley for the third out.

In the fateful second inning, Jays’ catcher Dioner Navarro singled with one out. He went to third on a long single to right off the bat of Justin Smoak. Kevin Pillar followed with the third hit in a row to drive in Navarro with the first run of the game. The next batter, Shortstop Ryan Goins, made Chavez and the A’s pay as he put a Chavez mistake into the right field seats for a three-run homer. Jays lead 4-0 after two.

Chavez settled down and kept the Jays off the board for the rest of the time he was in the game. He went six innings giving up just six hits and four runs. It was his twelfth loss of the year.

Buehrle was cruising until the top of the eighth. Marcus Semien led off with a single. He scored all the way from first when Billy Burns’ line drive got by Kevin Pillar for a triple. The Jays brought in Aaron Sanchez to pitch. He got A’s first baseman Mark Canha to ground out. Burns scored on the play, and that was all the A’s could do. Roberto Osuna closed out the game for Toronto. Jays win 4-2.

Game Notes- The red-hot Blue Jays won their eleventh game in a row and fourteenth of the last fifteen played and picked up 1/2 game on the New York Yankees. The Yankees play Cleveland later in the day.

The A’s announced that Sonny Gray was scratched from Thursday’s game due to back spasms, and he will not pitch Friday night in Baltimore. The A’s start a four-game series with the Orioles Friday night. Ubaldo Jiminez will pitch for the Orioles. Game time will be 4:05 pm.

Time of game was two hours and twenty-five minutes. 46,902 were in attendance.

by Jerry Feitelberg

It was another tough night for the A’s in Toronto Wednesday night as they were trounced by the Toronto Blue Jays 10-3. Aaron Brooks started for the A’s. His last two outings for Oakland were very impressive but on this night, Brooks lasted just 1 and 2/3rds innings, and he allowed six hits that produced eight runs. Toronto’s R.A.Dickey, one of the few knuckleball pitchers in baseball, was not on the top of his game but went six innings allowing the A’s just three runs.

The Blue Jays took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Brooks walked Troy Tulowitzki to start the inning. Josh Donaldson singled to put men on at first and third with no out. Brooks retired the dangerous Joey Bautista for the first out but threw a belt-high fastball with a 2-0 count to Chris Colabello that hit off the facade over the second deck of Rogers Center.

The A’s scored two runs in the top of the second. Danny Valencia hit a solo dinger to left to get the A’s on the board. Valencia has knocked in seven runs in six games since joining the club. Billy Butler singled and went to third on a ground-rule double off the bat of Mark Canha. Eric Sogard hit a slow grounder to second to drive in Butler.

The Blue Jays put the game out of reach as they exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the second inning. They sent eleven men to the plate and had seven hits that produced seven runs. With the score at 7-2, A’s manager Bob Melvin brought in Lefty Felix Doubront to pitch against his former team. Doubrount gave up a single, and a home run to Justin Smoak, and another hit before getting the third out of the inning.
Toronto leads 10-2 after two.

The Jays did not score the rest of the way, but the A’s picked up another run in the top of the fourth. Dickey walked Valencia and Stephen Vogt to start the inning. Butler hit into a 5-4-3 double play with Valencia advancing to third. Canha hit his second double of the night to drive in Valencia with the third and final run of the game for Oakland.
Final score 10-3 in favor of Toronto.

Game Notes – The Toronto Blue are smoking hot. They have won ten games in a row, and thirteen out of the last fourteen played. Also, they have moved into first place by a half-game over the Yankees, who lost to Cleveland Wednesday night. New York has now lost five in a row,
and they come to Toronto for a three-game series starting Friday night.

Mark Canha was the hitting star for the A’s with three hits, including two doubles. Chris Colabello was Toronto’s star with two hits, including a three-run dinger and four RBIs for the night.

Felix Doubront pitched extremely well for Oakland. After giving up three hits to the first three batters he faced, Doubront went 6 and 1/3rd innings and did not allow any further damage by the potent Toronto offense. He threw 95 pitches giving up five hits and two runs.

Game three of the series will start at 9:30 am Thursday. Sonny Gray (12-4, 2.06ERA) will go for Oakland, and Mark Buehrle (12-5, 3.34ERA) will toil for Toronto. It will be a matchup of two quality pitchers. Don’t miss it.

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Toronto Blue Jays remained red-hot as they beat the A’s 4-2 in the first game of a three-game series in Toronto Tuesday night. The A’s had three former Blue Jays in the lineup. Brett Lawrie was at third, Danny Valencia was the DH and Kendall Graveman was pitching for the Green and Gold. Graveman deserved a better fate as the A’s defense committed two errors in one inning allowing three runs to score. Two of the runs were unearned.  Toronto slugger, right fielder Joey Bautista slammed a solo homer in the bottom of the fifth for the Jays fourth run of the game. The game summary follows below.

The A’s took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Coco Crisp walked with one out. Right Fielder Josh Reddick hit a ground ball to the hole between first and second. The ball was scooped up by Josh Donaldson who was at second because of the shift. Donaldson threw to Tulowitzki to get the force on Crisp and  Tulo’s throw to first appeared to nail Reddick. Bob Melvin challenged the call and Reddick was ruled safe after the review. Former Jay, Danny Valencia, in his first game back in Toronto after being designated for assignment, doubled to left-center to drive in Reddick.

The lead didn’t last long as Toronto scored three times in the bottom of the second. Sloppy play led to all three runs. Chris Colabello hit a line drive to left that should have been a single. However, Coco Crisp came in too fast and the ball bounced over his head and that turned the hit into a double. Jays’ catcher Russell Martin followed with a ground ball to shortstop Marcus Semien. Semien thought about throwing to third to throw out Colabello but thought it would be better to get Martin at first. Semien sidearmed the throw and it went over Ike Davis’ head at first base for an error. Colabello scored and Martin took second on the play. Semien committed his thirtieth error of the year and just his second in the last 25 games. He still leads the AL shortstops in most errors. First baseman Justin Smoak lined a ball to deep left field. Martin scored and it appeared that Crisp’s throw to Eric Sogard was in time for the out. The Jays challenged the call and for the second time in the game, a call was overturned. Second baseman Eric Sogard committed the A’s second error of the inning when he couldn’t handle a sharp ground ball off the bat of Kevin Pillar. The error allowed Smoak to score the third run of the inning.

Jays’ slugger Joey Bautista hit a solo homer  with two outs in the bottom of the fifth to give the Jays a 4-1 lead. the next hitter Colabello singled and that ended the night for Graveman.

The A’s made it a 4-2 game in the top of the eighth. Semien reached on an infield single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Sogard. Billy Burns singled to drive in Semien, but the A’s could do no more as they fall to the Jays by a final of 4-2.

Game Notes- Kendall Graveman took the loss and is now 6-8 for the year. He pitched 4 and 2/3rds innings, allowing 5 hits and four runs. Two of the runs were unearned. The Jays’ starter, Drew Hutchison, won his eleventh game of the year for Toronto.

Toronto is smoking hot as they won the ninth game in a row and are 12-0 in games that Troy Tulowitzki has started since coming over from Colorado on July 28th.

Aaron Brooks will be making his third start for the A’s and Mark Buehrle will go for Toronto.

Attendance was 39,381 and time of game was 2 hours and thirty-five minutes.

by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s are on their way to Toronto to play three games with the red-hot Toronto Blue Jays to start a seven-game road trip before returning home to face the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Blue Jays have won eight in a row and swept the AL East leading Yankees over the weekend to move into second place in the division. The Jays trail the Yankees by just 1 1/2 games and play the Yankees again this weekend after facing the A’s.

Toronto has made made significant moves the last couple of weeks to improve the team. On July 28th, the Jays acquired All-Star shortstop, Troy Tulowitzki from the Colorado Rockies. They improved the pitching by trading for lefty David Price. Reliever LaTroy Hawkins came over from the Rockies in the Tulowitzki deal and the Jays added another reliever, Mark Lowe from the Mariners. Outfielder Ben Revere came from the Phillies and they added veteran utility man, former Athletic Cliff Pennington from the DiamondBacks.

The Jays were active in the off-season,too. The big trade was with the A’s. Toronto received third baseman Josh Donaldson and the A’s received four players including Brett Lawrie and pitcher Kendall Graveman. The Jays signed free agent catcher Russell Martin, too. The Jays have a dynamic offense as evidenced by the fact that they have scored 597 runs so far this year and a run differential of plus 129 which is the best in baseball. They have five righty hitters that have fifteen or more dingers so far this year. Their lineup is potent with Tulowitzki, Donaldson, Joey Batista, Edwin Encarnacion, and Russell Martin. Chris Colabello, Kevin Pilar, Ben Revere, Cliff Pennington and Dioner Navarro all contribute to Toronto’s success.

The Jays starting pitching has improved since the start of the season. Stats show the starters have a combined ERA over four but that is misleading. Since the All-Star break, starters have an ERA of 2.69 which is the best in the American League. David Price has made two starts since coming over from Detroit which helped and starter R.A.Dickey (0.99), Marco Estrada(2.35) and veteran lefty Mark Buehrle(3.38) have a combined 9-1 record in their last 22 games.

The A’s, to their credit, continue to play hard. Their is no quit in the team. They took three out of four from the Houston Astros over the weekend. Their starting pitching continues to do well. Sonny Gray is one of the best pitchers in baseball and will be in the running for the Cy Young award. Chris Bassitt has pitched extremely well for the A’s and is much better than his 1-4 record. The rest of the staff includes Jesse Chavez, Kendall Graveman and newly acquired Aaron Brooks. Brooks has made two starts since coming over to the A’s and has been impressive. The A’s bullpen continues to flounder. The bullpen has the most blown saves in the AL.

It should be a good series as the A’s will be hoping to derail the Jays. Third baseman Brett Lawrie will be making his first trip to Toronto since coming to Oakland in the Donaldson trade and will want to show the Jays’ brass that they made a mistake trading him. Also returning to Toronto will be Danny Valencia. The A’s picked up Valencia off waivers from the Jays last week and he has had a terrific start with his new team. Valencia went 7-for-16 with two home runs in his debut with Oakland. He was used sparingly by Toronto appearing in just 58 games but was hitting .298 when they designated him for assignment. Coco Crisp has returned to the lineup after a lenghty stay on the DL. Josh Reddick has had a solid year for Oakland,too.

Tuesday night will feature Kendall Graveman(6-7) going against Drew Hutchison (10-2) and on Wednesday Aaron Brooks (1-0) will be facing left Mark Buehrle (12-5.