Tag: Kansas City Royals

Preview Oakland A’s vs. Boston Red Sox: A’s hope to improve win record at Fenway Park as series starts Tuesday

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Oakland A’s starter Jared Koenig who lost his first game in his Major League debut on Wed Jun 8, 2022 at Truist Field in Cobb County against the Atlanta Braves will face the Boston Red Sox on Tue Jun 13, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s arrived in Boston Sunday night after finishing a four-game series with the Cleveland Guardians. The A’s managed to beat the Guardians on Saturday 10-5. The A’s have lost fourteen of their last 16 games.

They find themselves in the cellar in the AL West. Their record is a woeful 21-41. However, their bats showed signs of life as they bashed four home runs in the 10-5 win on Saturday. Their hitters slugger three solo dingers in the 6-3 loss to the Guardians on Sunday.

A’s first baseman, Christian Bethancourt, has started to hit. He raised his batting average to .269. His on-base percentage is a respectable .310. He has hit four homers and driven in 15.

In fourth place in the very tough AL East, the Red Sox went 8-2 on the completed 10-game road trip. The Sox are now 32-29 for the season. Injuries, however, are starting to affect the pitching.

Starters Nathan Eovaldi and Garrett Whitlock are on the 15-day IL. Chris Sale is still not available. The Red Sox still have a very potent lineup. Their All-Star candidates include third baseman Rafael Devers, shortstop Xander Bogaerts, second baseman Trevor Story, and DH J.D. Martinez.

The Red Sox cannot afford to take the A’s lightly. The A’s play better on the road. They are 14-18 away from the Oakland Coliseum. They are a woeful 7-23 at home.

The A’s showed they have some pop in their bats as they sent seven balls into the seats in the last two games of the Cleveland series. They hope to continue pounding the ball in the hitter-friendly confines of Boston’s Fenway Park.

The A’s will send lefty Jared Koenig to the hill Tuesday night. Koenig will be making his second start in his brief Major League career. In his first outing, he made it into the fourth inning. He absorbed the loss, and his ERA is 9.00. Nick Pivetta (5-5, 3.78 ERA) goes for Boston.

On Wednesday, James Kaprielian will handle the pitching chores for the A’s. James is 0-3, and his ERA is 5.73. He pitched better in his last outing but did not get the decision. The A’s feel James is rounding back into the form he showed last season.

The Red Sox have not announced their starting pitchers for Wednesday or Thursday. The A’s starter on Thursday will be Paul Blackburn. Blackburn is 5-2 with a very tidy era of 2.31. Blackburn went eight innings in his last outing against Cleveland.

He was ahead 2-0 when he left the game. The Guardians rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth as the A’s bullpen melted down again.

As baseball fans know, anything can happen in games played at Fenway Park. Fenway has been a hitter’s paradise for over 100 years.

The A’s would love to get back into the win column and take at least two out of three from the Sox in a series that starts on Friday night. Boston would love to sweep the A’s again. As always, it should be a fun series.

On Friday night the A’s return to the Oakland Coliseum to host the Kansas City Royals for a three game series.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Giants open three game series with Royals tonight at Oracle Park; SF comes off 3 game sweep over LA

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San Francisco Giant slugger Mike Yastrzemski takes a trot around the bases after hitting a first inning home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sun Jun 12, 2022 (AP News photo)

On the Giants podcast with Marko:

#1 San Francisco Giants (33-26) pitcher Carlos Rodon who pitched six innings of shutout ball helped lead the Giants and the bullpen to a a 2-0 win for a sweep over the Los Angeles Dodgers (37-23).

#2 The Dodgers have lost four of the last five games and were swept by the Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco. This comes as a surprise as the Dodgers first in the NL West and have dominate in the regular season.

#3 The Giants Austin Slater and Mike Yastrzemski both homered off Dodgers starter Julio Urias which handed the Dodgers their sixth loss in eight games.

#4 Giants manager Gabe Kapler wisely said that although the Giants are in a solid position divisions aren’t won in June.

#5 The Kansas City Royals (20-39) open a three game series at Oracle Park in San Francisco starting Monday night at 6:45 pm PDT Royals starter Brady Singer (3-1, 4.33) for the Giants Alex Wood (3-5, 4.23).

Marko Ukalovic is filling in for Morris Phillips who does the Giant podcasts Mondays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s Take Game Three In Kansas City 7-2

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The Oakland A’s Mark Canha slide in safely in the third inning after scoring on a Chad Pinder single against the Kansas City Royals at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City (AP News photo)

A’s Take Game Three In Kansas City 7-2

By Barbara Mason

Wednesday afternoon the Oakland A’s took on the Kansas City Royals in game three of their series.

Paul Blackburn was on the mound for Oakland and the Royals started Daniel Lynch. It was a bumpy start for Blackburn but he settled down nicely. After giving up a two run home run by Perez in the first inning, he sailed through the mid-sixth inning.

He was relieved by Deolis Guerra who pitched through the seventh inning. Chafin got through the eighth inning and Sergio Romo took it home for Oakland with a three up three down in the the ninth inning.

After leading 2-0 in the first inning there would be nothing more for the Royals. The A’s tied up the game in the third inning. They went on in that same inning to tack on two more runs to lead 4-2.

There was not a lot of offense until the ninth inning. The A’s added some insurance in the ninth inning when Royals pitcher Brentz threw three wild pitches. Elvis Andrus scored on one of those pitches and Tony Kemp scored when Harrison doubled. The A’s added two more runs for the final score of 7-2.

This was a great win for the team and more importantly huge for the bullpen who has struggled for awhile now.

In the series the offense was certainly firing on all cylinders with 26 runs and 35 hits.

Oakland will now head back to California playing a three game series against the Angels. The latest news out of Los Angeles is that Shohei Otani will not pitch against the A’s tomorrow. There is a very good chance that he will not pitch again this season with right arm soreness. He will probably still serve as a designated hitter.

First pitch in Los Angeles is scheduled for 6:38. Cole Irvin will be on the mound for Oakland. If Ohtani does not pitch which seems unlikely the Angels starter is still TBD at the time of this story.

A’s Hang On To Win A Cliffhanger 12-10

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Oakland A’s hitter Mark Canha connects for an RBI single in the third inning at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City against the Kansas City Royals on Wed Sep 15, 2021 (AP News photo)

A’s Hang On To Win In A Cliffhanger 12-10

By Barbara Mason

Wednesday night the Oakland A’s took on the Kansas City Royals in game two of their series. Sean Manea was on the mound for Oakland and for Kansas City Carlos Hernandez got the nod. The ERA for Hernandez is currently 3.29 while Manea has a 3.79 ERA.

Last night’s game was a tough one for the A’s as they squandered another healthy lead. After five innings they led 7-4 but were unable to score again for the remainder of the game. The Royals scored four times in the sixth inning taking the lead and winning the game by a score of 10-7.

The team is desperate for a win as chances for a Wild Card are dwindling with each loss. Although the Rangers got on the board first taking an early 1-0 lead in this game, the A’s had a productive second, third and fourth inning which included a home run from Matt Olson, his 35th of the season. They scored five times taking a 5-1 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning.

It felt a bit like deja vu in this fourth inning. The Royals would score four times with Perez, Benintendi, and Mondesi all scoring. They had drastically cut the A’s lead to 5-4. Oakland badly needed some offense in the second half of this game. We all saw what happened in yesterday’s game. We knew going in that the Royals could be problematic

The A’s offense answered in the fifth inning scoring three runs, now leading 8-4. Kemp and Harrison both had singles. The Royals Perez had a solo home run in the fifth but that was it for Kansas City.

The seventh inning was huge for Oakland. By the end of the top of the inning the A’s were leading 12-5. They unleashed an offensive run and now the team had 17 hits in the game. The offense was on fire and the bullpen needed to protect the lead.

Sean Manea pitched five innings before Lou Trivino came in to relieve in the sixth inning. Trivino pitched the sixth and seventh innings giving up a single run.

Jake Diekman would take over on the mound in the eighth inning as the A’s closed in on their first win in this series. Just when it looked all so promising , Diekman loaded the bases and a familiar scenario came into play. Kansas City doubled and the Royals had scored three times in the inning. Oakland now clung onto a 12-9 lead as Andrew Chafin came in to try and close out the inning. Prior to the ninth inning Oakland had had 24 base runners in this game.

After Chafin got the team out of the eighth inning, Oakland was three outs away from a win. It would be up to Chafin to close this one out. Another nightmare for the green and gold as Chafin loaded the bases with no outs. He loaded the bases for a second time in the inning with two out.

Miraculously the A’s hung on to get the final out and the win 12-10. This was a wild game that went down to the wire.

The A’s will try to take the series tomorrow in game three. First pitch is scheduled for 11:10.


A’s Drop Game One to Royals 10-7; Oakland also drops 3.5 games back in AL Wild Card race

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Oakland A’s Seth Brown dives back into first base after a pick off move as Kansas City Royals first baseman Carlos Santa waits for the thrown ball at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City on Tue Sep 14, 2021 (AP News photo)

A’s Drop Game One to the Royals 10-7

By Barbara Mason

Tuesday afternoon the Oakland A’s took on the Royals in Kansas City in game one of their series. Frankie Montas was on the mound for Oakland and Jackson Kowar started for Kansas City.

The A’s got on the scoreboard early scoring two runs in the first inning. Josh Harrison walked and Starling Marte had a double in the inning. Matt Olson and Jed Lowrie both had a sacrifice that drove Harrison and Marte in for the 2-0 score.

The A’s kept their foot on the gas in the second inning scoring three times for a 5-0 lead. Harrison and Andrus both had singles. Kowar had walked three in two innings and it was at this point that Ervin Santana took over in the second inning for Kansas City.

Oakland continued to roll and added another run in the third inning when Mark Canha doubled and scored when Santana threw two wild pitches. Now leading 6-0 the A’s had scored in the first three innings of this game.

Kansas City got going in the third inning scoring three runs and cutting Oakland’s lead in half 6-3.

The Royals would add another run in the fourth inning, a homerun by Hunter Dozier and Kansas City was chipping away at the A’s lead. Frankie Montas would leave the game with Deolis Guerra taking over on the mound.

The A’s would add a badly needed run in the fifth inning. Seth Brown and Elvis Andrus both had doubles with Brown scoring. It was a three up, three down for the Royals in the fifth.

The sixth inning proved to be a disaster for Oakland as Salvador Perez hit a three run homer for his 43rd of the year. Kyle Isbel had scored earlier in the inning. The Royals had taken the lead 8-7.

The Royals continued to storm back extending their lead to a 10-7 score. Another homerun from the team that is at the bottom for homers in the American League. Kyle Isbel homered with a runner on base. This was the first homer of his career and this was the Royals third home run of the game.

Oakland couldn’t get a thing going after the fifth inning. After the great start; leading 6-0 after three innings, there wasn’t much for the A’s. Just another of many disappointing late season showings. So the struggles continue within the Bullpen and now the starters as well.

First pitch in game two is scheduled for another 5:10 start.

A’s Down To The Wire In Their Next Series

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Oakland A’s pitcher Frankie Montas will start against the Kansas City Royals Tue Sep 14, 2021 at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City for game 1 of the three game series. (file photo San Francisco Chronicle)

A’s Down To The Wire In Their Next series

By Barbara Mason

It’s been a long baseball season but it has seemed especially long for the Oakland A’s. They have had more ups and downs than a boardwalk roller coaster. If it’s not the starting pitchers, it’s the at bats or some crazy defensive play and for awhile now it has been the bullpen with a capital B.

There are six more series left in the season. Oakland will be facing the Kansas Royals, the Los Angeles Angels, the Seattle Mariners and the Houston Astros. So let’s not get ahead of ourselves and take a look at what is next up for the A’s

Tuesday night they will be taking on the Kansas City Royals in a three game series. The Royals are not a factor in the playoff picture but would like nothing more than to play spoiler. That’s just what teams do when there is no post season in their future.

On Tuesday the A’s probable starting pitcher will be Frankie Montas who with an 3.57 ERA and has been very good on the mound. Montas has had some of his best stuff lately and has been impressive. If he can go deep and into the game, even as far as eight innings there will be less pressure on the bullpen.

It’s no secret that the Oakland bullpen has been less than stellar for while for now so taking pressure off them to perform is a good thing. It’s a shame that it has come down to this but its is what it is.

For the Kansas City Royals they will more than likely send Jackson Kowar to the mound with a 9.53 ERA. The A’s will need the bats to come alive early in the game coupled with their usual solid defensive play. They should have a lot of success in this series. The A’s will need some cooperation from the bullpen and that’s a given.

The bottom line is that this team has the tools to make a run this year. Tuesday night will hopefully begin the journey on that run.

Oakland A’s podcast with Barbara Mason: Bullpen issues for A’s as relievers can’t shut the door late

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Oakland A’s reliever Sergio Romo got rocked on Sat Sep 11, 2021 by the Texas Rangers allowing four runs in the eighth inning in another A’s blown save at the Oakland Ring Central Coliseum (file photo mercurynews.com)

On the A’s podcast with Barbara:

#1 Barbara you’ve seen a number of late inning melt downs from the Oakland A’s bullpen where the starters go deep but the relievers just can’t hold the lead.

#2 A’s pitcher Cole Irvin took the game on Saturday into the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers with 6-2 lead and had all his pitches working for him did he look good enough to complete the game although that wouldn’t happen today with the pitch count.

#3 Irvin has been supportive and relievers Andrew Chafin and Sergio Romo were touched up by the Rangers who scored five runs in the eighth inning. Irvin said that they put in a great effect but the Rangers just saw the ball well and hit them were they ain’t.

#4 Going into a home stretch of the season like this where every game counts as the A’s make their best bet bid for a wild card birth they’re really going to need to lean on their bullpen to make over the hump.

#5 Barbara, the A’s open a three game series in Kansas City Tuesday night the bullpen has blown eight saves in their last 19 games those eight games are critical if you look at how close the wild card race is.

Join Barbara for the A’s podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s get six run sixth sweep Angels 8-4 at Coliseum

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Oakland A’s Ramon Laureano fist bumps with third base coach Mark Kotsay in the fourth inning after hitting a home run at the Oakland Ring Central Coliseum on Wed Jun 16, 2021 (AP News photo)

Los Angeles 4 – 9 – 0

Oakland 8 -10 -0

By Lewis Rubman

Wednesday June16, 2021

OAKLAND–Five days ago, Cole Irvin pitched six beautiful innings at the Coliseum, shutting out the Kansas City Royals on two singles . Then, with Oakland leading 3-0, Salvador Pérez homered off the Oakland southpaw, followed by singles by Andrew Benintendi and Jorge Soler.

Yusmeiro Petit rode to Irvin’s rescue and retired the next two batters, but an error by Elvis Andrus, whose walk off single ended up winning the game for the A’s two innings later, opened the door for Benintendi to score KC’s second run of the inning.

In the next episode, Pérez blasted an encore home run off of Jake Diekman to tie the score, robbing Irvin of credit for what would have been his fifth win of 2021. His record had stalled at 4-7, 3.70.

Today, bolstered by the Oakland A’s (43-27) Ramón Laureano’s return to the line up, Irvin went for that fifth victory, facing the LA Angels (33-35), who sent Griffin Canning (5-4,5.22) to the mound.

Canning last saw action a week ago, when he held Kansas City to one run on five hits and two walks over 6-2/3 innings in a 6-1 victory over the Royals at Angel Stadium. Before today, he had a career record of 1-3, 4.88 against the green and gold. Last year, it was 0-2, 6.75.

There would be no win number five for the A’s lefty today. He left the game, trailing 4-2 with two men on and two down in the sixth. He had thrown 81 pitches, 55 for strikes, and surrender four runs, all earned on nine hits, including one homer.

He walked two and struck out two, and was on the hook for the loss. That went to Los Angeles’ Tony Watson after Oakland came back to defeat the fallen Angels 8-4..

The Angels gave Irvin a rude greeting. Justin Upton slammed his first pitch of the game up against the Kaiser Permanente sign between the 388 and 362 foot markers in right center field for a two base hit. He advanced to third on Shohei.

Ohtani’s ground out to Elvis Andrus, playing in the shift, and scored on Max Stassi’s single to left through a drawn in infield. Stassi went to second on another single to left, this one byo José Iglesias. Taylor Ward followed with yet another single to, you guessed it, left that brought Stassi home.

Jared Ward broke the monotony by sending a blast to deep left field, where Mark Canha made a spectacular leaping grab at the wall. Phil Gosselin drove in another run, scored by Iglesias with one more single, this one to center.

It looks as if the A’s might mount the start of a come back when Taylor Ward mishandled Matt Olson’s two out single to right and the A’s first baseman hustled to second, where umpire Mel Lentz called him safe. The umpires reviewing the play in New York called him out, Taylor to Stassi, covering.

The Angels padded their early lead with Ohtani’s 19th home run, a first pitch shot over the right field wall.

Laureano made two noteworthy catches in the top of the fourth. He made a long distance running catch of a liner off Lagares’s bat to open the inning and an excellent leap to pull Upton’s drive back from over the right center field fence to end the frame, the first one in which Irvin didn’t allow a runner to reach base.

In the A’s half of the inning, Laureano extended his stellar perormance, puting the Athletics on the board with a 404 foot blast on an 88 mph that left his bat at 107 mph before landing in the left field seats. It gave him an even dozen round trippers in his injury shortened season.

Irvin hung in there, benefiting from the Lefty Gomez method of successful pitching (clean living and a fast outfield) as the A’s slowly changed what looked like would be a rout into a ball glame.

Kemp walked with one down in the fifth and reached third on Aramis García’s seeing eye single to right and then scored when Canha beat out the relay from second on what would have been a double play for som without his hustle and speed. The scoreboard now read 4-2.

In the top of the sixth, Burch Smith took charge of Oakland´s pitching. He hurled 1-1/3 innings of perfect relief, earning himself his first win against no loses before turning the ball over to Sergio Romo, who pitched a 1,2, 3 top of the eigthth.

Canning was out of the game when the A’s next came to bat. He had worked five innings, in which he had yielded two earned runs on three hits, one of which went yard, two walks, and a hit batter. 45 of his 69 pitches were counted as strikes.

Canning’s replacement, Tony Watson, blew LA’s lead. He gave up back to back to back to back singles to Olson, Jed Lowry (batting for Moreland), Chapman, and Chad Pinder (recovered from his recent beaning and batting for Brown) that tied the game at four.

A conceded walk to Andrus, followed by Kemp’s single to center and the A’s were ahead 5-4, the bases were loaded, Watson was in the shower, and Steve Cishek was on the mound. His first pitch to García was a wild pitch, making the score 6-4.

Canha jrounded into a fielder’s choice that plated Andrus, and Laureano’s fly out to center moved Kemp to third, which ended Cishek’s failedattempt to stop the hemorage. José Suárez came in and struck out Lowrie to staunch the flow.

After Smith’s effective outing, Sergio Romo pitched a perfect eighth, giving way to Lou Trivino, who joined Smith and Romo in not having allowed anyone to reach base safely.

The A’s will resume play in the Bay Area on June 25 when they’ll take on the Giants in the first of a three game week end series at Oracle Park. After a day off, they’ll wrestle with the Rangers in another three game series and battle with Boston before taking off for Houston.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Will $12 billion price tag make City Council balk on A’s stadium? plus more A’s news

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Artist rendering of the Oakland A’s Howard Terminal ballpark. Oakland City Council will have meetings regarding approving the new ballpark on July 7th and a vote July 20th (photo from NBC Sports)

On That’s Amaury’s podcast:

#1 A $1 billion term sheet that showed the Oakland A’s price tag for the new Howard Terminal Ball Park was the initial figure but after infrastructure needs for development of the Howard Terminal and Jack London Square the price tag inflated for total developments to $12 billion.

#2 Amaury, how safe is the Howard Terminal footprint where the A’s ballpark? They have rail that surrounds the port area and it was reported to you first hand that it’s well known by the workers and contractors that have worked there that the ground is toxic radio active.

#3 Amaury, turning to the big series in Oakland with the Los Angeles Angels Shohei Ohtani brings with him the second highest home run total in the American League with 17 and he is just behind the Toronto Blue Jays Vladmir Guerrero who has 21.

#4 The A’s Matt Olson has been swinging the bats of late on Sunday he belted two home runs off of Kansas City Royals pitching and is leading the A’s with a .289 average.

#5 Tonight’s pitchers for game 2 of the series at the Coliseum the Angels will start Andrew Heaney (4-3 ERA 4.37) and for the A’s Frankie Montas (6-6 ERA 4.37) a 6:40pm first pitch.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the lead play by play announcer for the A’s Spanish flagship radio station 1010 KIQI LaGrande San Francisco and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Barbara Mason: A’s show resilience take three of four from Royals

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Oakland A’s starter Chris Bassitt is having himself quite a season picking up his seventh straight win on Sun Jun 13, 2021 with a win over the Kansas City Royals at the Oakland Coliseum (AP News photo)

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Barbara:

#1 The Oakland A’s (40-27) showed no signs of giving up in this series the A’s have won nine of their last 11 games and took three of four from the Kansas Royals (30-34) for a 6-3 victory at the Oakland Coliseum on Sunday.

#2 Once again the A’s proved attacking early putting up runs early and getting good pitching in the later innings wins in Sunday’s game as they scored once in the first, twice in the second and once again in the third.

#3 In the series guys that have been having some good at bats , Mark Canha, Matt Olson, Matt Chapman and like you said Ramon Laureano is coming soon..

#4 Tony Kemp has been on base and was walked three times on Sunday he’s also helped out in the series with some solid base running.

#5 Barbara, Shohei Otani and the Los Angeles Angels (33-32) are back at the Oakland Coliseum to open up a series with the A’s on Monday night. starting pitcher for the Angels Dylan Bundy (1-6 ERA 6.16) and for the A’s Sean Manaea (5-2 ERA 3.09).

Join Barbara for the A’s podcasts Mondays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com