Tag: Cleveland Guardians

Cleveland Guardians’ Steven Kwan scores past Oakland Athletics’ Sean Murphy on a single by Oscar Gonzalez during the sixth inning at Progressive Field in Cleveland on Thu Jun 9, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s woes continued as they lost for the ninth straight time. The A’s fell to the Cleveland Guardians by a score of 8-4. The A’s lost for the 12th time in the last 13th game. A’s reliever Lou Trivino continued to struggle.

Trivino had another bad outing as he was tagged for four runs and four hits. There was some good news, however. The A’s scored four times. Their starter James Kaprielian went five innings and allowed five hits and two runs.

Kaprielian gave up back-to-back solo home runs to Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor in the fourth. It was Ramirez’s 15th of the year. For Naylor, it was his seventh. The A’s offense showed signs of life. A’s DH Christian Bethancourt had a two-run homer, a single, and a double. Three straight doubles in the sixth produced two more runs for Oakland.

The A’s jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. A’s catcher Sean Murphy was hit by a pitch to start the second. Christian Bethancourt hit his second homer of the year to put the A’s in the lead. Cleveland tied the game in the fourth with two solo home runs.

The A’s regained the lead in the top of the sixth. Three straight hits produced two runs to give the A’s the Advantage 4-2. A’s reliever A.J.Puk gave up a run in the bottom of the sixth. Cleveland tied the game in the seventh when they put another run on the board. Zack Jackson was on the hill for Oakland.

Cleveland put four runs on the board in the bottom of the eighth. They sent nine men to the plate with struggling Lou Trivino on the hill. They put together four hits, a walk, and an error by Trivino to tally four runs. All A’s manager could do was watch as the A’s lost again. The final score was 8-4.

Game Notes- With the loss, the A’s drop to 20-39. Cleveland improved to 27-26. Trivino was the losing pitcher. He is 1-5 for the year.
The line score for Oakland was four runs, eight hits, and one error. Cleveland’s line was eight runs, fourteen hits, and no errors.

The A’s now have two nine-game losing streaks this year and are under .500 for the first time since 2017.

Cleveland’s manager Terry Francona hasn’t forgotten the day the when the Red Sox released outfielder Mark Kotsay. Francona was Boston’s skipper at the time. Francona said,” I remember literally shedding tears when we did it. It was hard.” Kotsay said he and Francona bonded during his time with the Red Sox.

The A’s Paul Blackburn (5-2, 2.62 ERA) will go for Oakland Friday night. Blackburn has lost his last two starts. The Guardians will counter with Tristen McKenzie (3-5-3.10 ERA). McKenzie allowed just three hits over seven innings in his last start. All three hits were home runs.

The game will start at 4:10 pm PT.

The Oakland A’s Jared Koenig moves his cap around after being lifted in the bottom of the fifth inning against the Atlanta Braves on Wed Jun 9, 2022 at Truist Field in Atlanta (AP News photo)

On the A’s podcast with Jerry F:

#1 Jerry, the Atlanta Braves (30-27) just clobbered the Oakland A’s (20-38) on Wednesday night at Truist Field 13-2 for the A’s the pitching just melts down again.

#2 The Braves Michael Harris hit a two run triple against the A’s in the bottom of the fifth inning off A’s starter Jared Koenig in a five run inning for Atlanta.

#3 Things even got worse for the A’s in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Braves scored seven runs taking a 13-1 lead.

#4 For Koenig his Major League debut going four plus innings giving up four hits and five runs it was not quite the outing that he was expecting.

#5 The A’s will try it all over again as they open a four game series at Progressive Field in Cleveland starting for the A’s James Kaprielian (0-3, 6.06) and for the Cleveland Guardians Konnor Pilkington (1-0, 2.65) a 4:10 PM PDT first pitch.

Join Jerry for the Oakland A’s podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Cleveland Guardians’ Owen Miller, left, scores ahead of the ball as Oakland Athletics catcher Austin Allen, right, waits for the throw after a double hit by Richie Palacios in the top of the ninth inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Sat Apr 30, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Jeremiah Salmonson

The Oakland A’s (10-7) were back in action on Saturday afternoon against the Cleveland Guardians (9-12). On Friday, the A’s took a loss in the closest of margins by the final of 9-8. On Sunday, they hopes to turn the tide. The A’s were unable to make enough adjustments on Saturday and fell again to the Guardians 3-1 in Oakland.

Unlike the game on Friday, Saturday’s game saw much less offense on display and much more solid pitching. Cleveland scored their first run in the fourth inning on a Andres Gimenez single to center that scored Oscar Mercado.

The A’s scored their first run in the fifth inning. One of the best players from Friday night, Sheldon Neuse, was also the first to get the A’s on the board Saturday. Neuse, hit a long drive to center field off starter Shane Bieber to tie the ball game. It was the second home run of the year for Neuse and his 13th RBI.

The starters in the ball game each pitched really well. For the A’s Cole Irvin threw six innings of one run baseball allowing six hits with two walks and four strikeouts. On the Guardians side, Shane Bieber threw seven innings of seven hit one run baseball striking out seven and walking only one.

The rest of the runs for the Guardians both came in the ninth inning as Richie Palacios doubled home Owen Miller and Andres Gimenez to make the score 3-1. The A’s got a double from Elvis Andrus in the ninth inning but nothing more and lost the game by the final of 3-1. Emmanuel Clase got the save which was his fourth of the year.

The A’s will be back at it trying to salvage the final game of the three game series on Sunday at 1:07 PM PST in Oakland. Triston McKenzie goes for Cleveland (0-2 ERA 3.71) for Oakland James Kaprielian (0-0 ERA 0.00).

Oakland A’s team president David Kaval has recently found himelf and the local media tied up in a nasty bunch. Kaval has been criticized over his tweets last Tuesday saying the local media should get to the bottom of the San Francisco Giants poor attendance where the Giants drew over 32,000 in both games against the A’s on Tuesday and Wednesday (file photo from the Mercury News)

On the A’s podcast with Jerry:

#1 David Kaval the A’s team president had some interesting tweets last Tuesday night during the A’s and Giants first game at Oracle Park along the lines of writing where are all the Giants fans who drew around 32,898 at Oracle Park tweeting, “It is sad how few fans are at the game. Maybe the local media can look into the @SFGiants marketing? Ask some questions. Get to the bottom of what is going on.” Kaval caught some heat for the tweet including one from Oracle Park Seagull who tweeted, “You are literally the president of a baseball team. You’re acting like a petulant child who got told no TV on school nights. Show a little decorum dude. Act like a grownup.” Kaval wrote back saying “you are literally a seagull.”

#2 Jerry, you might think that Kaval needs all the allies he could muster in the push for the next vote that essentially decide the future of the Howard Terminal project as the vote will be held on Jun 2 by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) as a two thirds vote is needed to keep hope alive for the A’s to have a shot at staying in Oakland.

#3 After Tuesday’s tweet the local media has soured on Kaval after criticizing the Giants for having few fans in the stands 35 minutes before the first pitch took a picture on twitter saying the local media should check with the Giants marketing department to see why so few fans? The A’s are asking for a huge amount of money $12 billion to support the project could a fight between Kaval and the media could turn that effort on a dime.

#4 Back on the field the A’s are coming off a two game split with the Giants at Oracle Park and starting pitching and hitting were in questions after taking some tough loses against the Rangers and the first game from the Giants two of those games where pitching gave up eight runs in each game.

#5 A’s will open a three game homestand starting tonight at the Oakland Coliseum with Cleveland starting pitcher Aaron Civale will go for Cleveland. Civale is 0-2 with an ERA of 9.58 and for Oakland the A’s are sending their ace, Frankie Montas, to the mound. Montas is 2-2 for the year with an ERA of 3.28.  A 6:40 pm PDT first pitch.

Jerry is filling in for Jeremiah Salmonson who does the A’s podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s second baseman Tony Kemp (5) completes a double play after retiring the sliding San Francisco Giant Brandon Crawford (35) at second base in the bottom of the second inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco Wed Apr 27, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–The Oakland A’s return home to face the Cleveland Guardians for three games. The A’s split the two-game set with the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. Chad Pinder’s leadoff home run was the only run scored in the game. The A’s hope their offense wakes up as the team has had a hard time putting runs on the board in their last five games.

The Guardians, managed by Terry Francona, got off to a good start starting the season at 7-5. However, the team has lost six in a row and are playing the Los Angeles Angels Thursday afternoon in Anaheim. With a record of 7-11, the Guardians are in fourth place in the A.L. Central Division. Francona is hoping to get a win over the Angels before heading to Oakland this weekend.

The pitching probables for the series will see the A’s sending their ace, Frankie Montas, to the mound. Montas is 2-2 for the year with an ERA of 3.28. Montas pitched well against the Texas Rangers last week, but the A’s offense failed to give him any support.

Aaron Civale will go for Cleveland. Civale is 0-2 with an ERA of 9.58. For his career, Civale is 19-17 and has a career ERA of 3.99. On Saturday, Lefty Cole Irvin will be seeking his third win of the season. Irvin is 2-1 with a 3.52 ERA.

Irvin has pitched well in his last two starts. 2020’s Cy Young award winner, Shane Bieber, will go for Cleveland. Bieber is 1-1 with an ERA of 3.27. Bieber is 42-19 lifetime and has a career ERA of 3.27. Neither team has announced their starting pitcher for Sunday’s game.

Key players on Cleveland’s roster are first baseman Owen Miller, second baseman Andres Gimenez, third baseman Jose Ramirez, left fielder Steven Kwan, center fielder Myles Straw, right fielder Josh Naylor, and designated hitter Franmill Reyes. Miller, Gimenez, Ramirez, Kwan, and Naylor are all hitting over .300.

The A’s offense has gone south in the last five games. The A’s have scored just six runs in these five games. Cole Irvin beat the Rangers 2-0 last Sunday, and Paul Blackburn and the A’s bullpen shut out the Giants 1-0 on Wednesday.

A’s manager Mark Kotsay has to be pleased with the bullpen’s work. Dany Jimenz has recorded four saves. Domingo Aceveda, A.J.Puk, Kirby Snead, Sam Moll, Zach Jackson, and Justin Grimm performed well.

The series will see two teams that do not have a lot of familiar names. It will be an opportunity for the fans to see how the new A’s roster performs against many new Cleveland players.

The A’s would like to win at least two of the three games before meeting the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday. On Saturday, the A’s will have their work cut out for them as they face Shane Bieber. It should be a fun series.