Tag: Josh Donaldson

A’s end regular season versus Texas with sweep

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September 15, 2013

By Pearl Allison Lo

With their biggest win margin of the series, Oakland engineered their first season sweep at Arlington in four years with a 4-1 finale.

The A’s magic number to clinch the American League West is now at seven games.

In this game, it was the big bats were the difference, producing four of the five runs. Josh Donaldson’s home run in the top of the first proved to be the game-
winner.

Oakland wasted no time getting runners on base as Coco Crisp and Chris Young got on
base before Jed Lowrie brought in the game’s first run with a double play. Donaldson followed suit with a home run to double the A’s lead and extend his
hitting streak to 11 games, a career-high.

Texas scored in the first inning as well, when A.J. Pierzynski hit a two-out single to bring in Elvis Andrus and slice the lead back down to one.

Chris Young re-doubled Oakland’s lead when he hit a two-out home run in the top of the third.

The Rangers’ best chance came in the bottom of the sixth with runners at the corner and one out. Texas used three pinch hitters in the inning, but only Jurickson Profar was successful.

The game stayed 3-1 from the third inning until Oakland tacked on two more runs
in the top of the ninth. Brandon Moss came in to pinch-hit and was walked and
Josh Reddick brought them both to home plate with a home run. Reddick went 2-
for-4.

Tommy Milone, who filled in after the A’s hot-pitching Jarrod Parker was scratched
from the game due to illness, pitched 5 innings, while Ranger’s starter Martin
Perez pitched 6.1 innings.

Game notes: Oakland’s Yoenis Cespedes was also scratched from the game due to a sore shoulder. He would have been the designated hitter. It was a franchise first for Texas to go winless in their six-game homestand. The A’s will continue
Monday with a three-game series versus the Los Angeles Angels, who they face six times in the next 10 games.

A’s outlast Rangers, 9-8

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PhotoBy George Devine, Sr

If the A’s – now 4.5 games ahead in the AL West – go on to win the division, this night will probably be remembered as a key to their success. Ahead 9-3, Oakland came into the final frame with only a one-run lead, and prevailed 9-8 over the Texas Rangers at Arlington.

Yoenis Cespedes seemed to set the tone for the evening with a three-run homer to left center in the first. But the Rangers answered with two in the bottom of the inning, Dan Straily walked two, and a single by Adrian Beltre followed by A.J. Pierzynski’s sac fly made it a one-run game.

In the third, Josh Donaldson hit his 22nd homer of the year, to left. In the fourth, he doubled to center, after Derek Norris and Kurt Suzuki had singled to the same location. The fifth inning saw Alberto Callaspo walk, then advance to second as Chris Young singled to left, and to third when Norris singled to right. Callaspo scored when Suzuki walked, bringing Norris to second and Young to third. Young came home when Coco Crisp sacrificed to center. Brandon Moss homered to right center in the sixth.

In the home eight, the Rangers’ bats came to life. Beltre walked on Brett Anderson, as did Pierzynski. Anderson then left the game due to what were described as back spasms, to be replaced by Jesse Chavez. Jim Adduci’s base hit to left loaded the bases. Leonys Martin subsequently reached on an infield base hit. Ryan Cook walked Ian Kinsler and that forced in a run. Elvis Andrus single to right, and the margin was trimmed to 9-6. The runners on base moved ahead on a passed ball. Alex Rios’ base hit then posted two more runs.

Sean Doolittle held the 9-8 lead through the ninth, as the game’s elapsed time passed the four-hour mark. He picked up his second save of the season. The winner is Straily (10-7; 5.2 ip, 2 h, 2 er, 4 w, 4 k) and the loser Derek Holland (9-8; 3 ip, 8 h, 6 er, 1 w, 2 k, 2 hr).

The two teams atop the AL West meet again at 10:05 a.m. PDT on Saturday, September 14 with Bartolo Colon (15-6) facing Yu Darvish (12-8).

A’s survive Astros’ assault, 7-5

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By George Devine, Sr.

Despite Oakland’s being in contention all season, and Houston’s doing the opposite, an A’s-Astros game is frequently hard-fought, and tonight’s was no exception. An announced attendance of just over 15,000 went to enjoy a balmy (80 degree) evening at O.co Coliseum and saw a competitive game that had the fourth inning beginning well after the hour-and-a-quarter mark.

The A’s scored first in the second inning when Yoenis Cespedes singled to center, reached second on Nate Freiman’s base hit past shortstop Jonathan Villar, and third on a fielder’s choice, scoring on Chris Young’s bunt back towards Houston pitcher Dallas Keuchel. In the third, the Astros’ first three batters – Villar, Jose Altuve and Trevor Crowe – all hit Oakland starter A.J. Griffin (with a double for Villar) and all scored, the latter two on Matt Dominguez’ single. That made it 3-1 for the visitors. But in the bottom of the frame, The Athletics’ first two batters – Josh Donaldson and Jed Lowrie – followed a similar pattern. both hitting doubles, to tie it at 3. In the next inning Villar bunted for a single and brought Brett Wallace home from third. Advantage Houston, 4-3. But the Oaks scored two runs in the bottom of the inning, on a hit by Lowrie and a groundout by Cespedes. Donaldson’s two-run homer to left in the sixth broke the game open.

Houston added a run in the ninth when Villar singled to short and Altuve to right, with Crowe reaching on a force attempt with an error by second baseman Eric Sogard; Villar scored.

Keuchel took the loss (5-9; 3.1 ip, 10 h, 5 er, 2 w, 3 k) and Oakland starter A.J. Griffin is the winner (13-9; 7 ip, 4 er, 1 w, 9 k). Grant Balfour got his 37th save.

The A’s are once again in the lead for the AL West. The two teams meet again at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday, September 7 with RHP Dan Straily (8-7, 4.38 ERA) opposing LHP Brett Oberholtzer (4-4, 5.91).

Barton’s big blow opens floodgates against the Rangers

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By Morris Phillips

Unlikely, and typical at the same time, the signature moment in the A’s 11-4 win over the Rangers Wednesday, of course, involved Daric Barton.

The Coliseum crowd’s reaction said it all as disbelieving cheers pervaded as Barton’s lofty drive approached the right center field wall.

Could the journeyman turn powerful, against Yu Darvish, one of baseball’s best pitchers? Barton’s major league career since 2010 had slowed to a crawl, much due to his inability to integrate extra-base pop into his otherwise solid, overall game. And the odds of Barton changing his portfolio against a top pitcher in one of the biggest moments of the season would have to be astronomical.

Given that backdrop, the home crowd chose to reserve judgment as Barton’s drive took flight. The A’s led 3-2 in a tense, series finale that would decide who would lead the AL West with 23 games remaining. Darvish had struggled to that point, allowing Brandon Moss’ two-run shot in the first inning and walking Albert Callaspo to lead off the sixth. The tall right hander had fussed with catcher A.J. Pierzynski earlier when his pitches started to miss their targets. Darvish’s 2-2 pitch to Barton offered an opening but surely not one that Barton would take advantage of.

“When we face a good pitcher, what were we going to do?” Brandon Moss would say after the game. “Were we going to be shut down, or were we going to do be able to score some runs? That’s been a question mark for us the last couple of years.”

But in recent weeks, the A’s have responded, beating Anibel Sanchez, Justin Verlander and David Price while taking wins leader Max Scherzer to the wire. Barton’s back and forth travels between Oakland and Sacramento removed him from much of the A’s transformation, but in a big spot against Darvish, he got his chance to impact his team’s fortunes in the biggest way.

Barton’s ball did clear the fence. And the A’s enjoyed a six-run sixth inning that blew the game open and tilted the tight divisional race towards Oakland. After winning 24 of 34—the best record in the majors over that span—Texas hasn’t been able to escape the A’s. What’s worse for the Rangers is the A’s have a kinder schedule down the stretch, with three games at Arlington standing as their only remaining games against a winning club.

Barton’s two-run shot gave the A’s 28 homers over the most previous 17 games further proof that Oakland has become the majors’ best at big swinging in the biggest moments. Rangers’ pitching allowed four homers on Wednesday showing that it wasn’t their day. But the A’s hit those Rangers’ pitches coming up big like Barton did in the sixth.

“It shows that we have a pretty good lineup on any given day,” Josh Donaldson said. “No matter who’s on the mound, we can put up some runs. This is a great time right now for our offense to get it going.”

Barton was with the A’s for just 67 games in 2011 and 46 games in 2012. During last season’s playoff push, Barton was relegated to the River Cats. After hitting .143 in May of this season, Barton was designated for assignment. In his seven-year career, Barton’s hit just 28 home runs and he seemed like the last guy manager Bob Melvin would feel comfortable with in a hot playoff race.

But since Josh Reddick went down, Barton has started at first base in seven of 10 games. His defense has been outstanding as always, but also his bat, hitting .320 in 25 at-bats.

On Thursday, the A’s welcome the Astros with a pitching matchup of Sonny Gray and Houston right hander Brad Peacock at 7:05pm.

Rangers beat the A’s, back in first place

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by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s squared off against the Texas Rangers Tuesday night at the Coliseum in the battle for first place in the AL West division.  Bartolo Colon was on the hill for the A’s but he did not go past the fifth inning again as the A’s lost to the Rangers 5-1. Colon’s record drops to 14-6 and  he has not won since late July. The Rangers’ starter, left-handed pitcher Martin Perez went 7 innings allowed eight hits but just one run in winning his 9th game of the year. The Rangers are now in first place and the A’s are just a game behind.  The game summary follows.

The A’s took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning when Coco Crisp doubled and then scored on a single by Yoenis Cespedes. The Rangers tied the score in the third on a home run off the bat of Mitch Moreland.

The Rangers scored three unearned runs in the fifth to take a 4-1. Bartolo  Colon was charged with an error when he couldn’t handle a ball hit right back to him. The Rangers then put together a double and two singles to put the three runs on the board.

The Rangers’ Alex Rios hit his fourteenth home run of the year  to start the eighth inning. Rangers now lead 5-1.

The A’s could do nothing against the Rangers bullpen and the final score was 5-1 in favor of Texas.

Game notes- Josh Donaldson made the defensive play of the year that will be a web gem for sure.

He made a great backhand catch of a foul ball while falling behind the tarp on the third base side of the diamond.  Bob Melvin said “you won’t see a better play than that.” Melvin also commented that he took Colon out of the game after five inning as “he had thrown 80 plus pitches and took a ball off his hand.” He didn’t think Texas knocked Colon around but Colon hit 92 MPH on the radar game just once or twice. Most of his pitches were 87-89 MPH.

The A’s lost for just the third time in their last eleven games and snapped a four game winning streak.

Yoenis Cespedes was 2 for 4 and it was his third straight two hit game. Michael Choice recorded his first Major League hit.

The A’s play the Rangers again Wednesday at 12:35. Sonny Gray will be pitching for the A’s hoping to get his third win of the season and he will be opposed by the Rangers ace, Yu Darvish who has a record of 12-6.

The A’s recalled left handed pitcher Tommy Milone from Single-A Stockton and right-handed pitcher Evan Scribner from Triple-A Sacramento. The A’s also selected right-handed pitcher Pat Neshek from Sacramento. To make room on the 40 man roster, the A’s designated lefty Hideki Okajima for assignment. Luke Montz , who was designated for assignment on Sunday, was released.

 

Attendance was 16,133

Sonny Gray’s gem spoiled in A’s 7-4 loss to Seattle

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By Emily Zahner & Gabe Schapiro

On the mound for the Oakland Athletics in just his third Major League start, Sonny Gray (1-1, 1.00 ERA) shined bright and glowed with confidence. In the second of this three game series against the Mariners, Gray, facing off against Joe Saunders (10-12, 4.86 ERA), had the look of a veteran as the A’s were defeated by the Seattle Mariners 7-4 on Tuesday evening. The A’s fall to a record of 71-54, 1-½ games back of the first place Texas Rangers who picked up a victory tonight. The Mariners improve to 58-67, and remain in a distant third place.

The 23 year old from Smyrna, Tennessee lead off the game by shutting down the Mariners’ hitters 1-2-3. If run support was something he was worried about, the A’s offense took care of that in their half. Mariners starter Joe Saunders was hit hard early, as the A’s batted around and were a double away from hitting for the cycle against him in a 40-pitch first inning. Jed Lowrie, hitting lead-off for the fourth time this season, started off the game with a triple down the right field line. Homeruns by Josh Donaldson and Nate Frieman gave the A’s an early 4-0 lead in the first, giving Sonny some early run support. Gray cruised through two, then hit some trouble in the third. He started the inning with a four-pitch walk to Michael Saunders, and as lead-off walks so often do, it came back to bite him. Three batters later Nick Franklin got a hold of a change-up that was meant for the outside half and drifted in, sending it into the right field bleachers, making the score 4-2.

The A’s scattered a few hits through seven innings, but neither team was able to get on the board again through seven. Gray finished his night after seven strong innings, holding the Mariners to just two hits, two runs (both earned), and striking out seven on 94 pitches. Of his outing tonight, Manager Bob Melvin was pleased, saying “he was great… he’s got some presence out there, he certainly has the stuff and he continues to give us impressive outings.” In Sonny’s last outing, he fanned nine over eight innings. Gray is establishing himself as a competent and reliable started for the A’s, which with Bartolo Colon going to the DL and Brett Anderson still on rehab assignment, is arguably something Oakland needs the most. The A’s bullpen might be another topic of serious discussion.

The momentum drastically shifted to the Mariners in the eighth. Sean Doolittle was the first man out of the bullpen, and the Mariners bats, seemingly relieved to no longer be facing Gray, came alive again. Four consecutive hits later and the game was all tied at 4-4. Ryan Cook was summoned to stop the bleeding, but he couldn’t find his control and the runs kept on coming. After two wild pitches, two walks, and a fielders’ choice play at the plate that injured catcher Derek Norris, the Mariners had built up their first lead of the game, 7-4. Jesse Chavez, the third pitcher of the inning, stabilized the chaos and mercifully ended the inning. Bob Melvin later confirmed the Norris had fractured his left big toe.

The disastrous five-run eighth would prove to be too much to come back from, even for a never-say-die club like the Athletics. The back end of the Mariners bullpen kept the comeback kids at bay, closing down the ninth 1-2-3, clinching the 7-4 win. The A’s and Mariners complete their three game series tomorrow at 12:35pm.

The A’s win in a walk off

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By Jerry Feitelberg

August 19, 2013

PhotoThe Oakland A’s Jarrod Parker and the Seattle Mariners Aaron Harang engaged in an old-fashioned pitchers duel Monday evening in Oakland. The A’s won the game in the bottom of the ninth when Brandon Moss hit his nineteenth home run of the year to win it for the A’s by a score of 2-1.Former A’s pitcher, Harang went seven innings allowing just one one and five hits but the pitching star of the night was Parker. Parker pitched his first career complete game allowing just one on eight hits and struck out eight which was a career high for him. The game summary follows below.

The A’s took the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Josh Reddick and Yoenis Cespedes singled to put men on at first an second with no out. Brandon Moss flied out to deep left field. Reddick tagged up and made it to third. Josh Donaldson hit a grounder to the shortstop and reached on a fielder’s choice that allowed Reddick to score.

The Mariners tied the game in the top of the seventh. Mariners’ second baseman, Nick Franklin singled to right and advanced to second when Josh Reddick couldn’t field the ball cleanly. Designated hitter,Kendrys Morales, singled to drive in Franklin with the tying run.

The game ended in the bottom of the ninth when Brandon Moss blasted a Carter Capps pitch over the centerfield wall with one out in the ninth to win the game for the A’s. Final score 2-1.

Notes – With the win, the A’s remain ½ game behind the Texas Rangers in the AL West. The A’s are now 7-4 in their last eleven games. It was the seventh walk-off win of the year for Oakland. Jarrod Parker remains unbeaten in his last 15 starts and his record for the season is now 9-6. Brandon Moss had two hits in the game and it was his second walk-off homer this year and fourth in his career.

Game two will be Tuesday night. Sonny Gray will pitch for Oakland and lefty Joe Saunders will take the mound for Seattle. Time of the game was played in 2 hours and nineteen minutes and Attendance was a sparse 11,112.

Reds edge A’s, 6-5

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By George Devine, Sr.August 7, 2013
 
Corky Miller, Alberto CallaspoThe A’s will be glad to leave Cincinnati. They lost 6-5 to the Reds in a hard-fought game to end their series on the banks of the Ohio and now head to Toronto.

The scoring started in the first as Shin-Soo Choo singled to right, beginning a busy day in the position for Seth Smith, then advanced on Todd Frazier’s walk and reached third on Joey Votto’s base hit to right, scoring when Jay Bruce grounded into a 6-4 force.

Josh Donaldson put Oakland on the board in the second with a homer to right, his 17th of the year. In the bottom of the inning Zack Cosart singled to right and scored as Corky Miller hit a double in Smith’s direction.

In the home third, Votto singled to right, and scored on a homer hit over Smith’s head by Jay Bruce, his 24th of the season. Cozart walked and scored when Miller doubled to left.

In the fourth, Brandon Moss singled to short, then Alberto Callaspo doubled to right, so Moss reached third, scoring on Stephen Vogt’s single to right.

In the fifth, Xavier Paul hit a ground rule double to right and scored when Devin Mesoraco singled to third.

The Athletics’ last scoring drive was in the sixth, when Jed Lowrie doubled to center, reached third when Moss singled to right and scored as Donaldson grounded a base hit to left. Eric Sogard tripled to right, plating Moss and Donaldson.

The winner is Homer Bailey (7-10) and the loser Bartolo Colon (14-4). Araldis Chapman picked up his 27th save of the year.

After a travel day, the A’s first game in the Toronto series is at 4:07 p.m. PDT on Friday, August 9, with Jarrod Parker (7-6) facing Esmil Rogers (3-6).