Tag: Colby Lewis

The Rangers’ Colby Lewis baffles the A’s as he tosses a two-hitter.

Published on by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

AP photo: The Texas Rangers outfielder Nomar Mazara tries chasing down a double hit by the A’s Max Muncy to break up a no hitter by Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis at the Oakland Coliseum on Thursday

OAKLAND–The Texas Rangers defeated the A’s Thursday afternoon at the Coliseum by a score of 5-1. The Rangers’ starter Colby Lewis had won the last four consecutive games he started against the A’s before the start of play Thursday. Lewis dominated the A’s as he was perfect for seven and two-thirds innings. He walked Yonder Alonso in the eighth but was still working on a no -hitter in the ninth. A’s right Fielder Max Muncy broke up the no-no with a double off the right field wall. Nomar Mazara made a valiant effort to catch the ball but he hit the wall, and the ball dropped safely to the ground. Coco Crisp ruined the shutout when he doubled to drive in Muncy with the A’s lone run.

The Rangers scored two in the seventh. Mengden had retired fifteen in a row before Ranger center fielder Ian Desmond hit an opposite field home run. The Rangers scored another run and Mengden was done for the day. He left the game trailing 2-0. He went six and two-thirds innings and allowed just two runs and four hits. The Rangers sent eight men to the plate in the seventh and in the eighth, they sent eight more men to the plate and scored three times to take a 5-0 lead.

Game Notes – The A’s have lost three straight games and ten of the last twelve. Their record drops to 27-39 and are twelve games under .500 and will continue to reside in last place in the AL West.

Daniel Mengden made his first career start at home and, although he pitched well, his record is 0-2. Skipper Bob Melvin said he should be 2-0. “It was unfortunate that he pitched that well and did not get a win. ”

Melvin commented that he was pleased with Aaron Dull’s performance as he came into the game and struck out two to end the Ranger threat. He has not allowed any of the twenty-eight inherited runners to score this season.

Melvin then commented this about Colby Lewis, ” Lewis always pitches well against us.” He is “tough to handle and that he is a serious thorn in our side.”

The Los Angeles Angels will play the A’s three times over the weekend. Kendall Graveman will pitch for Oakland, and he will be opposed by Matt Shoemaker. Game time is at 6:30 PM and there will be a fireworks show after the game.

Time of game was two hours and thirty-five minutes, and 14,236 watched the terrific pitching duel between Lewis and Mengden.

The following is a Media Release from the A’s.

OAKLAND ATHLETICS

Media Release

Oakland Athletics Baseball Company  7000 Coliseum Way  Oakland, CA 94621 510-638-4900  http://www.athletics.com  A’s PR on Twitter @AsMediaAlerts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 15, 2016, A’s Agree to Terms with Four from First-Year Player Draft

OAKLAND, Calif. – The Oakland A’s agreed to terms with four players from the 2016 First-Year Player Draft today, including their third round selection, catcher Sean Murphy from Wright State. The A’s also agreed to terms with third baseman JaVon Shelby (5th, Kentucky), center fielder Tyler Ramirez (7th, North Carolina) and right-handed pitcher Nolan Blackwood (14th, Memphis).

Murphy hit .287 with six home runs, 34 RBI and 38 runs scored in 39 games with Wright State this year to earn Second Team All-Horizon League honors. He also walked 25 times for a .408 on-base percentage. Wright earned first-team All-League honors in 2015 and was named to the All-Freshman Team in 2014.

Shelby hit .212 with 12 home runs and 35 RBI in 54 games for Kentucky and finished third in the SEC in home runs. He was a First-Team All-SEC selection in 2015 and was named to 2014 All-SEC Freshman team in 2014. Shelby is the son of John Shelby, who played 1036 games in 11 seasons in the majors with Baltimore (1981-87), the Dodgers (1987-90) and Detroit (1990-91).

Ramirez hit .333 with eight home runs and 47 RBI in 54 games with North Carolina. He led the Tar Heels in home runs, walked (50), slugging percentage (.540) and on-base percentage (.482) and was a second-team All-ACC selection.

Blackwood was 3-4 with seven saves and a 3.76 ERA in 27 relief appearances for Memphis. He set Memphis career records for saves (24) and games pitched (83), while compiling a 2.32 ERA.

The A’s have now signed or agreed to terms with 28 of their 41 selections from the draft, including 12 of the first 15.

 

Rangers Derail A’s Comeback, Rout Athletics 14-8

Published on by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

By Matthew Harrington

OAKLAND, Calif. — When the Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers last met at O.Co Coliseum for a three-game set April 21-23, the visitors scored 12 runs total en route to a sweep. The series marked a tightly-pitched affair after Rangers hurlers stifled the potent A’s offense to just seven runs and three-straight losses. The A’s welcomed Texas back to Alameda County Monday night in a game no one would confuse for a pitchers’ duel. Texas tallied 14 runs while the A’s scored eight runs, both surpassing the team totals from the April set at the Coliseum.

Rangers first baseman Donnie Murphy picked up three RBIs on a pair of home runs, his fourth career multi-homer game while Yoenis Cespedes went 1 for 3 with four runs batted in for the A’s. Brandon Moss also homered for Oakland, but four Texas long balls lifted the Rangers (35-35) passed the Green and Gold 14-8. The loss matches the second-largest margin of defeat the A’s (42-28) have suffered all season, with only last Friday’s 7-0 shutout at the hands of the Yankees marking a worse run differential.

Neither starting pitcher hurled a memorable game but Rangers righty Colby Lewis (5-4, 5.97 ERA) threw well enough to pick up the win. He went 5 1/3 innings allowing fives runs. Pomeranz (5-4, 2.91) struggled to complete 3 2/3 innings, serving up eight Texas runs (seven earned) on eight hits on start removed from a seven inning, one-run performance against the Los Angeles Angels.

“I wasn’t as sharp in the beginning,” said Pomeranz. “I actually felt really good up there. They were patient at the plate. I didn’t make some pitches, they just waited for some mistakes.”
The A’s bullpen yielded six runs, with Ryan Cook , Jeff Francis and Fernando Abad all guilty of surrendering two runs apiece. The A’s committed three errors.

After Pomeranz held the Rangers in check to open the first inning, Coco Crisp had the A’s running right out of the gate. Crisp ripped a 2-2 pitch to left-center for a double, then came around to score on John Jaso’s flare to shallow center. Jaso, one of three catchers in A’s manager Bob Melvin’s line-up, advanced to second base on the throw to the plate. Lewis gifted Jaso third base after bouncing a wild pitch to backstop Robinson Chirinos. The free base allowed Jaso to score easily after Cespedes lofted the 2-1 delivery to left fielder Michael Choice for the sacrifice fly.

“We had some opportunities early,” said Melvin. “We went ahead 2-0. We had some opportunities in the next inning and we didn’t come through. We didn’t play a great game after that. Even though in the later innings we came back and made a game of it, it was just not far enough.”

Adrian Beltre and Alex Rios reached base to open the second, then advanced into scoring position on a Donnie Murphy sacrifice bunt. Chirinos then wrapped a two-run base hit to tie the ballgame after battling Pomeranz in a full count.

Former A’s utility man Donnie Murphy provided the tie-shattering blast in the fourth inning, depositing a no-out, two-run home run over the wall in deep left center. The first basemen entered play amidst a 0-for-14 cold snap at the plate before emphatically turning around his fortunes. The Rangers tacked on four more runs in the inning, highlighted by a two-out, two-run double off the bat of former American League All-star Beltre for a comfortable 8-2 advantage.

Michael Choice, the Rangers haul for shipping Craig Gentry to Oakland in the offseason, burned his former parent club with a two-run shot of his own. The dinger snapped 16 at-bats without a hit for the right-hander, placing Choice amongst Chirinos (3), Beltre (3) and Murphy (3) for Rangers with two RBIs or more Monday night. Chirinos and Murphy would later hit back-to-back homers off Fernando Abad in the ninth inning, the first two extra-base hits the southpaw has allowed this season.

A’s clean-up hitter Brandon Moss lifted his 17th home run of the season to bring Oakland within seven runs. Moss now has 31 big flys since the 2013 All-Star Break, tied with Edwin Encarnacion for the second most in the Major Leagues during that time. The Lone Star sluggers answered back, scoring on a rare sacrifice fly to third base for their 11th run.

Oakland scratched out a run of its own in the bottom half of the inning after back-to-back doubles from Alberto Callaspo and Coco Crisp to chase Lewis after four runs. Callaspo, returning from paternity leave Monday night, went 4 for 5 while sporting a new uniform number. The A’s second basemen donned a “7” between his shoulder blades Monday night.

Cespedes added three runs on a towering shot later in the inning, his 13th homer of the season, to cut the deficit to 11-7. Callaspo chipped in a run-scoring base hit in the eighth.

Kyle Blanks, who entered the game as a pinch hitter for John Jaso in the sixth, came up to the plate in the eighth representing the tying run with Callaspo at second and Vogt at first. He worked a full count off Neal Cotts but froze on a fastball right at the knees for strike three. In total, the A’s stranded 12 runners.
The Rangers added three more runs over the final two innings while holding the A’s in check despite a two-hit ninth inning rally.

“We scored some runs tonight,” said Melvin. “We’re a club that leads the league in pitching. We’re used to holding teams under four runs. The last couple games we haven’t been able to do that.”

Submariner Ben Rowen finished off the win, coaxing a ground ball out from Blanks to wrap up game one of the series. Tuesday’s match-up won’t be any easier for the A’s, with Texas sending Yu Darvish and his 2.11 ERA to the mound to face Tommy Milone.