Tag: Baseball

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Texas Rangers pounded the A’s Wednesday night in Oakland by a score of 10-3. A’s starter, Felix Doubront, went 4 and 2/3rds inning allowing 8 hits and seven runs all earned. Doubront allowed two Earl Weaver homers. Weaver managed the Baltimore Orioles many years ago and he believed in the three-run homer. Elvis Andrus and Adrian Beltre each had one. Colby Lewis continued his mastery of the A’s beating them for the eleventh time in his career. With the win, the Rangers increased their lead over the Houston Astros to three games. Houston lost to the Angels and are just one game ahead of the Minnesota Twins for the second Wild Card slot. The Rangers travel to Houston after Thursday’s game with the A’s.

The A’s scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the third. Rangers’ pitcher, Colby Lewis, walked Brett Lawrie to start the inning. Eric Sogard singled to move Lawrie into scoring position. A’s rookie catcher, Carson Blair, singled to drive in Lawrie. The A’s loaded the bases, but Lewis struck out Danny Valencia to end the threat. 1-0 after three.
The lead didn’t last long as the Rangers scored four times in the top of the fourth. Three straight singles by Adrian Beltre, Prince Fielder and Mitch Moreland tied the game at one. Ranger shortstop, Elvis Andrus, hit his seventh dinger of the year to give the Rangers a 4-1 lead in the middle of the fourth.

Texas added three more runs in the fifth. Delino DeShields led off the inning with a double to right and advanced to third when Josh Reddick could handle the ball cleanly. Doubront walked Shin-Soo Choo to put two men on with no out. Rangers’ third baseman and future member of Baseball’s Hall of Fame, Adrian Beltre hit a monster shot that went halfway to the moon before landing on the left field steps as it came down from space in front of the Cache Creek sign. The A’s did not score in their half of the fifth. Texas out in front 7-1.

A’s right fielder, Josh Reddick, led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo blast to right. Reddick was attempting to atone for the two errors he committed earlier in the game. A’s trail 7-2 after six. The A’s scored another run in the bottom of the seventh. Eric Sogard hit his first home run of the year leading off. Sogard had 457 plate appearances since he last homered in 2014, and it was his first in 141 games. A’s trail 7-3 heading into the eighth.

Texas continued to clobber the A’s. Their second baseman, Rougned Odor, led off the ninth with a bomb down the right field line. Drew Stubbs walked and then scored all the way from first on a double by Will Venable. Shin-Soo Choo singled to drive in Venable with the tenth run of the game. The A’ lose 10-3.

Game Notes- The A’s have lost four in a row and have 88 losses that match the most by an A’s team in the last 18 years. The A’s are 6-9 over the last 15 games and 13-26 over the last 39 games. A’s starting pitchers are 6-20 with a 6.36 ERA over the last 39 games dating back to August 11th. Felix Doubront is 2-2 with an 8.33 ERA over his last five starts. Doubront took the loss and his record is now 3-3 for the year.

The Rangers have won three of the last four games and nine of the last twelve and are 43-34 on the road. Colby Lewis won his seventeenth game of the year and is now 11-4 lifetime against the A’s.

The A’s conclude the three-game set with Texas Thursday afternoon at 12:30 pm at the O.co Coliseum. Chris Bassitt(1-6, 2.82 ERA) will pitch for Oakland, and Texas will send their ace, Cole Hamels (4-1, 3.73 ERA) to face the Green and Gold.

Time of game was 2 hours and fifty-two minutes and 16,445 were on hand to watch the A’s lose.

by Jerry Feitelberg

 Mitch Moreland

The Texas Rangers beat the A’s Tuesday night at the O.co Coliseum by a score of 8-6. The Rangers gained a game on the Houston Astros to increase their lead in the AL West to two games. Lefty Sean Nolin started for Oakland and he was opposed by lefty Martin Perez. Neither pitcher did well and neither was involved in the decision. Nolin pitched five-plus innings allowing 5 runs and giving up seven hits. Perez went four-plus and he was touched for four runs and six hits. The A’s had a 4-1 lead after three innings of but Texas kept coming back and took the lead  in the sixth when they put three runs on the board. They scored two more in the eighth and held on as the A’s rally fell short in the ninth.

Texas took a 1-0 advantage in the first inning. Adrian Beltre singled to eight to drive in Delino DeShields from second. The A’s regained the lead in the bottom of the second when they scored three times. Josh Reddick walked with one out. Jake Smolinski tripled to left center to drive in Reddick. Marcus Semien also tripled to drive in Smolinski. Semien was thrown out at home when Billy Burns tried to surprise the Rangers with a bunt. Mark Canha followed with a single to drive in Burns.

The A’s added a run in the fourth The A’s put together a walk, single and two ground outs to record  their fourth run of the game. Texas came back in the top of the fifth scoring twice. Ranger catcher Chris Gimenez walked to start the frame. He went to third on a single by DeShields. Gimenez scored on a sac fly and DeShields tagged and took third on the throw. DeShields then scored on another sac fly to male it a 4-3 game.

The A’s got a run back in their half of the fifth. A single and  two errors, one by Beltre and one by left fielder Mike Napoli, allowed Oakland to have the lead 5-3 after five. Texas scored three runs in the sixth. Mike Nolin gave up a big fly to Mitch Moreland with a man on that tied the game. A’s manager removed Nolin and Drew Pomeranz took over. Pomeranz gave up a single to Elvis Andrus. Rougned Odor laid down a bunt that first baseman Mark Canha couldn’t handle. The Rangers used another sacrifice bunt to move the runners up and Andrus scored on a sac fly to put them up 6-5.

The Rangers scored two more times in the eighth. Andrus doubled with one out. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Odor. Gimenez hit a ball to right that bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double to put men on at second and third. Odor scored on a fly ball to second baseman Brett Lawrie. Lawrie made a sensational over the shoulder catch but Odor was ready and he tagged up and sprinted home with the score. The A’s rallied to score one in the ninth, but it was not enough as the fall to Texas.

Notes- The A’s tied a club record when they had  two triples in the game to give the forty for the season. The record for triples was set in 1968, the first year the A’s played here in Oakland. Also, it was the first time since 1992 that the A’s had back-to back-triples in a game. The Rangers recorded four sacrifice flies in the game.

Chi Chi Gonzalez was the winning pitcher and Drew Pomeranz took the loss.

The line score for Texas was 8runs on 12 hits and two errors. The line for Oakland was six runs on nine hits and two errors.

Felix Doubront will go for Oakland and Colby Lewis will pitch for Texas. Lewis will be looking for his seventeenth win of the year.

Time of game was three hours and thirty-eight minutes and 16,524 people paid to see the game.

by Jerry Feitelberg

Well, folks, the A’s have just twelve games left to play this year. They arrive home after a 4-6 road trip to Texas, Chicago, and Houston. The A’s have six games left in Oakland and then end the season on the road. The next three home games will be against the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants. The A’s then go to Anaheim for three and Seattle for three more.

The A’s, while having a dismal season, still can play a spoiler role. While the A’s have a record of 64-86 overall, they are 10-6 against the Rangers. The Rangers are 80-69 and lead the Houston Astros by  a game and 1/2 in the race for the AL West crown while the Astros hold down the second Wild Card slot leading the Angels and Twins by two and 1/2 games. The A’s would love nothing better than to sweep the Rangers and upset their plans. The A’s also play the Angels next week and beating them could possibly keep the Angels out of the playoffs.

The Rangers have overcome a ton of injuries to their pitching staff and have a potential Manager of the Year candidate, Jeff Bannister, running the club. The Rangers did not start the season well but have been playing much better since the return of Derek Holland and the acquisition of lefty hurler, Cole Hamels. Prince Fielder, who missed most of last year due to a neck injury, has been on fire while being used as the designated hitter.

The pitching matchups for Tuesday’s game will be Left Sean Nolin pitching for the A’s against lefty Martin Perez of the Rangers. Nolin has a 3.24 ERA in his three starts with Oakland while Perez is 3-4 with a 5.59ERA in his last seven games.

On Wednesday, Felix Doubront goes for the A’s and the Rangers will counter with righty Colby Lewis. Lewis has a record of 1608. The sixteen wins are the most that Lewis has ever had in a season.

The A’s, under Bob Melvin, always play hard and will not go through the motions. They play to win and the Rangers will have to figure out a way to keep the A’s from beating them. Should be a good three-game series.

by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s scored three times in the top of the ninth to rally from a 2-1 deficit to beat the Whites Sox 4-2 Thursday in Chicago. It was a warm and breezy day in the Windy City but after three games of high scores, it turned out to be a pitcher’s duel. Lefty Sean Nolin went for Oakland and he pitched very well. He went 5 innings and allowed just two runs on five hits. The White Sox lefty, Jose Quintana was up to the task and he restricted the A’s to just one run and four hits in seven innings of work.

The A’s put one run on the board in the top of the third. Catcher Josh Phegley doubled to left field leading off the inning. Phegley scored on a single to right by Marcus Semien. The White Sox tied the game in the bottom of the fourth. Third baseman Mike Olt blasted a monster shot to deep left center. Olt has homered in his last two games against the A’s. Olt is the only player in Major League history to homer for both the Cubs and White Sox in the same season.

The White Sox added another run in the fifth. Nolin walked Micah Johnson and Alexi Ramirez to start the inning. Left fielder Melky Cabrera singled to drive in Johnson to give the Chisox a 2-1 lead.
Fernando Rodriguez pitched two scoreless innings for the A’s and Sean Doolittle came through big time as he shut the White Sox down in the eighth and ninth innings. Chicago’s Matt Albers pitched a strong eighth inning to keep Oakland from getting even. The turning point came in the ninth inning. White Sox closer David Robertson was now pitching. Robertson, still in shock from his disastrous ninth inning Monday night, had another rough outing. A’s second baseman Brett Lawrie led off the ninth with a double to left. With one out, third baseman Danny Valencia singled to left. Lawrie made sure the ball went for a hit and was not able to score. Third base coach, Ron Washington, wisely put up the stop sign. Runners are at third and first with just one out. The designated hitter, Billy Butler, hit a long fly to right field. Chicago right fielder Avasail Garcia leaped high for the ball and appeared to have made the catch but coming down his wrist hit the top of the fence and the ball dropped out of glove for a home run. Oakland is in front 4-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth. As mentioned earlier Doolittle pitched the ninth inning. A’s manager Bob Melvin decided to let Doolittle pitch as he threw just fifteen pitches in the eighth. Doolittle did the job and
retired the side to secure the win.

Notes- The A’s split the four-game series with the White Sox. The A’s are on their way to Houston to play the Astros. Houston is now longer in first place in the AL West and trails the Texas Rangers by 1 and 1/2 games. The Astros are now the second Wild Card team and lead the Minnesota Twins by a game and a half.

Felix Doubront will pitch for Oakland on Friday and Mike Fiers will fo for Houston. On Saturday, it will be Sonny Gray going against his good friend Scott Kazmir. Gray beat the Astros and Kazmir last week when the Astros were in town. Game time will be at 5:10 pm PT.

by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s lost their fourth game in the last fives, going down to the Chicago White Sox 8-7 in a fourteen inning marathon. Time of game was five hours and nineteen minutes. Dan Jennings won the game in relief for Chicago, and Arnold Leon took the loss for Oakland.

Sonny Gray started for the A’s and had the shortest outing of his career. Sonny lasted just three-plus innings and allowed seven runs before departing the game. White Sox starter John Danks pitched giving up just three hits. All the hits were solo home runs and the A’s trailed the White Sox 7-3 after seven innings of play.The A’s, however, came back in the ninth to score four times on just two hits to tie the game at 7. The game dragged on until the bottom of the fourteenth when Melky Cabrera singled to right to drive in the winning run.

The A’s took the lead in the top of the third. Jake Smolinski hit a solo home run to give the A’s the lead 1-0. The Chisox scored four times in the bottom of the inning. Gray gave up two two-run dingers. The first one was home run number twenty-eight for Jose Abreu and came with a man aboard. Trace Thompson also homered with a man on to put the A’s down 4-1 after three.

Brett Lawrie homered leading off the fourth inning to make it a 4-2 game but the White Sox scored three times to send Gray to the showers. The A’s picked up a run in the seventh on a Josh Reddick. The A’s loaded the bases in the ninth in a very strange inning. The A’s loaded the bases on a double, Danny Valencia struck out but reached as the pitch went wild, and he reached first safely. Josh Reddick reached on catcher’s interference after it looked like his grounder to second was a double-play ball that would have ended the inning. Coco Crisp walked to drive in a run and another run scored on a Tyler Flowers passed ball. The pitch hit Flowers in the masked and that allowed the run to score. Sam Fuld came through with a single to drive in two more to tie the game.

Both bullpens kept the other team from scoring until the fateful fourteenth inning. White Sox catcher Geovany Soto singled to lead off the inning. Adam Eaton bunted him to second. Leon struck out Alexi Ramirez, but Bob Melvin walked Abreu to take the bat out of hands. Leon faced Melky Cabrera. Cabrera, batting left-handed, singled to right. Reddick’s throw home was not in time as Soto beat the throw to end the game Game two of the four-game series continues Tuesday in Chicago. Game time will be at 5:10 pm PT.

by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s begin a three-city, 10-game road trip Friday night with a visit to the Texas Rangers Friday night. The A’s would love nothing better than to play the role of spoiler and upset the Rangers’ apple cart. The A’s helped the Rangers out by winning two of the three games played with the Houston Astros this week. The Astros were two games ahead of the Rangers before the series with the A’s and left Oakland still ahead by two games.for the division lead. The Rangers lost to Seattle Wednesday and Thursday and now trail Houston by 2 1/2 games. Houston plays a big series with the Los Angeles Angels this weekend, and the Rangers have to face the A’s. The Rangers and Astros then play each other starting Monday in Arlington.

The A’s, without question, are not going to be in the playoffs this year, but they could play a role in determining the division champ as well as the second Wild Card team. The Rangers are currently the second Wild Card, but the lead over the Minnesota Twins is just one game. The Rangers cannot take the A’s lightly this weekend. The A’s, as mentioned earlier, are not having a great season, but A’s manager Bob Melvin will not let them lay down. There is no question that the A’s are in a rebuild mode and disappointments. Injuries have affected the A’s, too, but the Rangers were not exempt either. Coco Crisp, known as the engine that drives the team, missed most of the season. A’s starting pitching has seen Jesse Hahn, Kendall Graveman, Chris Bassitt go down with an injury. Jarrod Parker and A.J.Griffith had Tommy John surgery last year, and both players were lost 2015. Parker also had a setback to fix an elbow issue.

The A’s offense, however, is not bad. The A’s don’t have any player with more than 18 home runs, but the many of the players are solid. Billy Burns, taking over for Coco, has been a force.He is hitting a shade below .300 but once he reaches base, he can create havoc with his speed. The infield of Danny Valencia, Marcus Semien, Brett Lawrie and Mark Canha all contribute to the offense, and they all have pop in their bats. In fact, every one of them had double-digit home run performance. Catching is solid with Stephen Vogt and Josh Phegley. Josh Reddick made a nice comeback this year from injury, and he has hit sixteen dingers and knocked in sixty-eight to lead the team. Left Field has been a problem, but Coco is back and still contributes. The big problem for Oakland has been the arson squad, the bullpen.

So, the A’s have a chance to do damage in Texas with the potential to derail their playoff hopes. The Rangers made one pitching change for the weekend series. The Rangers are pushing back Cole Hamels one day. Hamels will start Monday against Houston, and he will be available to face the Astros when they play in Houston a few days later. The Ranger bullpen is solid. The Rangers have had success with Sam Freeman, Sam Dyson, James Diekman, Keone, Kela, Tanner Scheppers and their closer Shawn Tolleson. Tolleson has recorded thirty-one saves in thirty-three chances.

The Rangers have Colby Lewis (14-8) pitching Friday night. Yovani Gallardo (12-9) will go on Saturday and Chi Chi Gonzalez is set for Sunday. The A’s pitchers are Jesse Chavez, Sean Nolin, and Felix Doubront. Rangers’ manager Jeff Bannister, in his first year, is doing a great job in Texas. The Rangers lost Derk Holland and Matt Harrison last year. This year, they lost their ace, Yu Darvish, to Tommy John surgery. Holland has returned and is 3-2. Darvish is out but Harrison was traded to Philadelphia in the deal that brought Hamels to Texas. The Rangers have played well since Hamels arrived and they have shocked everyone as they are within grasp of not only the Wild Card slot but the AL West crown as well.
Adrian Beltre, Mitch Moreland, Prince Fielder, Elvis Andrus, Rougned Odor and Mike Napoli are the big boppers for the Rangers on offense. The A’s pitchers will have to work hard this weekend to keep those bats quiet.

Notes-

OAKLAND -– The Oakland A’s acquired left-handed pitcher Daniel Coulombe from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for cash considerations, the club announced today. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, the A’s placed right-handed pitcher Evan Scribner on the 60-day disabled list with a torn right lat muscle.

Coulombe appeared in five games over five stints with Los Angeles and had no decisions and a 7.56 ERA. He walked six batters in 8.1 innings and allowed a .265 opponents batting average. The 25-year-old left-hander was most recently with the Dodgers for a one-day stint July 5 when he pitched two innings and allowed a run on three hits and a walk against the Mets. Coulombe spent the balance of the season at Triple-A Oklahoma City where he compiled a 3-1 record, one save and a 3.27 ERA in 38 relief appearances. He was originally drafted by the Dodgers in the 20th round of the 2012 draft and made his Major League debut with Los Angeles in 2014.

The A’s also Bought up Max Muncy and Craig Gentry from Nashville.Also, the A’s announced that manager Bob Melvin has been given a two-year contract extension that will keep him at the helm through the 2018 season.

Scribner was 2-2 with a 4.35 ERA in 54 games with the A’s. He struck out 64 batters in 60.0 innings but also allowed 14 home runs, which were the most among ML relievers.

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Houston Astros avoided a sweep as they beat the A’s 11-5 Wednesday night. It was a big win for Houston as they increased their lead in the AL West to two games over the hard-charging Texas Rangers. The Seattle Mariners beat the Rangers to help them out. The Astros travel to Anaheim and Texas for two big series before returning home. The A’s lost for the eightieth time this year and are twenty games under .500 and have just twenty-two games left to play. Aaron Brooks started for Oakland, and he lost his third straight start. He lasted just four-plus innings and saw his record drop to 1-3, and his earned run average is now an astronomical 7.74. Houston starter Collin McHugh won his sixteenth win of the year. The A’s used six pitchers in the game and five worked for Houston.

The Astros drew first blood in the top of the second when left fielder Colby Rasmus deposited an Aaron Brooks fastball into the second deck in right field with no one aboard. For Rasmus, it was his nineteenth homer of the season. 1-0 after two complete.

The Astros scored three runs in the fourth as they touched Brooks for four hits including two singles and two doubles.  They scored three more in the fifth. Brooks was charged with another run in the fifth after Carlos Gomez doubled leading off the inning. A’s manager Bob Melvin saw enough and brought in switch-pitcher Pat Venditte to handle the pitching. Venditte retired Jed Lowrie on a fly ball to right, but Evan Gattis went yard to put Houston ahead  6-0. Venditte walked Colby Rasmus and gave up a double to Marwin Gonzalez to put men on at second and third with one out. Rasmus scored the seventh run on the night on a sacrifice fly. 7-0 in the middle of the fifth.

The A’s answered with four runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth. Billy Butler led off the inning with an opposite-field home run. Marcus Semien followed with a single. Semien advanced y=to second on a ground out and then scored the second run of the game for Oakland on a single by Billy Burns. Josh Reddick broke a 0-for-10 slump with his sixteenth home run of the year to bring the A’s back into the game. A’s trail 7-4 after five,

The Astros made it 8-4 in the sixth. R.J.Alvarez retired the first two hitters, but Astros center fielder hit his third home run since coming to the Astros in July. Oakland got a run back in their half of the sixth. Brett Lawrie reached on an infield single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Billy Butler singled to drive in Lawrie with the fifth run of the game for the A’s.

The Astros made it a four-run game in the seventh. Fernando Abad struck out the first two hitters he faced. The Astros first baseman, Marwin Gonzalez, batting right-handed, hit a solo homer to left. Fourth home run of the game for Houston. The A’s put two men on in the bottom of the seventh but couldn’t score. Houston leads 9-5 heading into the eighth.

The Astros put another run on the board in the eighth without the benefit of a hit. Dan Otero hit George Springer with a pitch. Springer went to second on a wild pitch and made it to third on a ground out. The A’s brought the infield in to cut off the run at the plate, but Springer was able to beat the strategy. Carlos Correa hit a grounder to Marcus Semien. Semien checked him at third and threw to first for the out. Springer took off, and he beat Canha’s throw home with a head-first slide that enabled him to elude the tag. The Astros were at it again in the ninth. The A’s defense made two errors in the inning and that led to an unearned run. Astros lead 11-5 as the A’s come to bat in the ninth. The A’s went down 1-2-3 to end the game.

Game Notes- The Oakland A’s are now 33-42 at home this season. They have now homered in fifteen consecutive games and are 8-8 against Houston this season. Aaron Brooks is 0-2 with a 9.49 ERA in his last three starts. Billy Burns was 2-for5 and is hitting .348 in his last fifteen games. Billy Butler was 2-for 3 and now has a ten-game hitting streak.

The probable pitchers for the three-game series in Texas are Jesse Chavez against Colby Lewis on Friday. Sean Nolin will face Yovani Gallardo on Saturday, and Felix Doubront pitches Sunday against Cole Hamels.

The A’s announced that that manager Bob Melvin has received a contract extension that will take him through the 2018 season.

The A’s have an off-day Thursday and resume play Friday when they meet the Texas Rangers. They travel to Chicago for four with the White Sox then return to Houston for three more games with the Astros.

Game time was three hours and thirty-eight minutes. There were 13,387 diehard fans in the stands to watch the A’s go down to defeat.