Tag: mlb

Oakland A’s starter Alex Wood had one his best outings of the season pitching five plus innings giving up eight hits and one run against the first place New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Thu Apr 25, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Jessica Kwong

NEW YORK.—The Oakland Athletics’ Mason Miller retired Aaron Judge with his first four-out save and the visitors defeated the New York Yankees 3-1 on Thursday night, splitting the four-game series in the Bronx.

Winning the final game of the series at Yankee Stadium was a big confidence booster for the A’s, who were swept by the Cleveland Guardians to start their 10-game road trip and fell in the last two contests against the Yankees.

“It’s a great bounceback series for us. We knew going into this road trip, Cleveland, New York and now going now to Baltimore, that we had a challenge in front of us with some good baseball teams,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay. “After getting swept by Cleveland and coming here, to split a series with the AL East division leaders right now, it’s a good sign.”

In the second inning, Jose Trevino hit a home run on a fly ball to right field to put the Yankees up 1-0.

The A’s answered back in the third inning, as Nick Allen hit a homer on a fly ball to left field and tied the game. Then Tyler Nevin hit a home run on a fly ball to right field and Darnell Hernaiz scored, giving Oakland a 3-1 lead.

A’s starting pitcher Alex Wood earned his first win of the season after allowing one earned run in a season-high 5.2 innings pitched. He triumphed in bases loaded situations in the first and fourth innings.

“This game could’ve gotten out of hand in the first inning, especially against a lineup like that… so it just felt good,” said Wood.

In the eighth inning, A’s right-handed pitcher Mason Miller relieved TJ McFarland with a runner on first base and struck out Jose Trevino on a fastball. In the ninth, Miller got Oswaldo Cabrera out on a third strike, allowed a single to Anthony Volpe, and struck out Juan Soto. Judge flied to right on a slider and Miller notched his sixth save of the season.

“The kid is impressive. He’s a power pitcher but he’s got a good slider to go with it and he showed that tonight a couple times,” Kotsay said of Miller. “He’s really embraced this role, he loves it, and you can see just the energy when he comes into the game. This is the first time we’ve kind of used him in that four-out situation and for him to respond the way he did is a good sign.”

Miller, who averaged 100.8 mph with eight fastballs, affirmed that the fastball and slider combination is his go-to.

“Yeah that’s my mix,” he said. “Those are the pitches I’m going to come to the guys with.”

The A’s (10-16) continue their road trip with a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles starting on Friday at Camden Yards. First pitch is at 4:05 p.m. PT. Starting pitchers for the Oakland A’s RHP Ross Stripling (0-5 ERA 5.34) for the Orioles RHP Corbin Burnes (3-0 ERA 2.76).

“We’ve got a task in front of us with going to Baltimore now,” Kotsay said.

New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge rounds the bases after hitting a two run home run in the bottom of the first inning at Yankee Stadium against the Oakland A’s on Wed Apr 24, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Jessica Kwong

NEW YORK.—The Oakland Athletics allowed Aaron Judge to hit a two-run homer to start the third of the four-game series in the Bronx and fell to the New York Yankees 7-3 on Wednesday night.

The A’s dropped to 2-1 in the series and 1-5 in their current 10-game road trip.

In the first inning, Judge hit a home run on a fly ball to right field and Juan Soto scored, putting the Yankees up 2-0. With that, he surpassed former captain Derek Jeter to earn the ninth spot in the Yankees all-time home run list.

Judge seemed to take a third strike call and was walking back to the dugout when A’s starting pitcher Joe Boyle was charged with a balk. Judge proceeded to hit a fastball. A’s manager Mark Kotsay said it was an “umpire judgement call, it was close”.

“You don’t see that call that often and in that moment, it gives Judge another pitch and he capitalized on it,” said Kotsay. “So it’s definitely umpire discretion and you can’t argue box, so you have to kind of have to stick with that.”

Boyle laughed when asked what exactly happened.

“They called a balk,” he said. “So what I was doing, the clock was running down, probably should have stepped off but tried to squeeze a pitch in and I felt like I stopped, but obviously they saw it differently and I haven’t watched the video or anything yet so I don’t really know what it looks like.”

In the fourth inning, Anthony Volpe tripled on a sharp line drive to center fielder JJ Bleday that was deflected by right fielder Lawrence Butler and Austin Wells scored, expanding New York’s lead to 3-0. Then Soto went out on a sacrifice fly to center field and Volpe scored, boosting the Yankees up 4-0.

In the fifth inning, Anthony Rizzo homered on a fly ball to right center field and gave the Yankees a 5-0 lead.

The A’s would not go out without putting up a fight and in the sixth inning, Brent Rooker hit a home run on a line drive to left field and Ryan Noda and Tyler Nevin scored, cutting the Yankees’ lead to 5-3. In the same inning, Soto responded with a home run on a fly ball to center field and put the Yankees up 6-3.

In the seventh inning, Alex Verdugo went out on a sacrifice fly to left fielder Seth Brown and Giancarlo Stanton scored, giving New York a 7-3 lead.

Boyle allowed two runs and three hits, struck out six and walked four in three innings pitched. It was his fifth start in the season and his fourth loss – to right-handed pitcher Clarked Schmidt on Wednesday.

A’s second baseman Zack Gelof was a late scratch due to left abdominal soreness.

“Zack came in a little sore, went through his pregame. After ground ball routine we talked about it, decided to scratch him,” Kotsay said. “He did go for imaging. Zack does have a left oblique strain and most likely will be heading to the IL.”

The finale of the four-game series at Yankee Stadium takes place Thursday with A’s (9-16) left-handed pitcher Alex Wood matching up against Yankees (17-8) left-handed pitcher Nestor Cortes. First pitch is at 4:05 p.m. PT.

The New York Yankees Anthony Rizzo (right) celebrates his home run with the Giancarlo Stanton (48) as Oakland A’s catcher Shea Langeliers stands in the background in the bottom of the first inning at Yankee Stadium on Tue Apr 23, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Jessica Kwong

NEW YORK.—The Oakland Athletics allowed four runs in the first inning by the New York Yankees and were unable to overcome that on Tuesday night, falling 4-3 in the second of the four-game series that is now tied in the Bronx.

Oakland was the first to score – Seth Brown doubled on a line drive to right fielder Juan Soto and Brent Rooker scored, putting them up 1-0.

But the Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton responded by doubling on a sharp line drive to center fielder Esteury Ruiz and Soto and Aaron Judge scored, and New York was up 2-1. Then Anthony Rizzo hit a home run to right center field and Stanton scored, expanding the Yankees’ lead to 4-1.

A’s starting pitcher Paul Blackburn said he felt like he “made two bad pitches all night” and there were “two good hitters that made me pay for it”.

“I feel like we kind of settled in there and we were fighting back, we just kind of ran out of time. It was just one of those outings where you keep your team in it as long as you can,” said Blackburn. “Once you kind of give up four in the first, you’re just trying to go out there and put up as many zeros as you can.”

A’s manager Mark Kotsay felt that Blackburn performed well after the first inning.

“We did have our chances to get a big hit and you know, Paul’s job tonight after the first inning, I mean he put up zeros and gave us a chance to get back in it,” said Kotsay. “And so it was a nice night after that.”

In the second inning, Shea Langeliers answered back with a homer of his own on a fly ball to center field, to cut the Yankees’ lead to 4-2.

Then in the fourth inning, Lawrence Butler hit a home run on a line drive to right center field, putting the A’s within one run of the Yankees. Kotsay called it a “great, great sign”.

“He’s got power to hit it out and swung it the right one that time and it was nice to see a home run from him,” Kotsay said.

Blackburn took his first loss of the season after allowing four earned runs in six innings pitched. After starting their 10-game roadtrip getting swept by the Cleveland Guardians, the series against the Yankees standing at 1-1 is an improvement.

“It’s always nice to obviously win the first game of the series. And then coming in today, just the way that we fought – it was a good pitcher and a good bullpen they have over there – I think It just shows a lot about the guys here,” Blackburn said. “That we’re never going to quit no matter the situation or the score or anything like that.”

The A’s fell to 9-15 this season and are 7-15 in 22 games against the Yankees (16-8) since the beginning of the 2021 season.

Game three of the four-game series at Yankee Stadium continues on Wednesday. A’s right-handed pitcher Joe Boyle will match up against Yankees right-handed pitcher Clarke Schmidt. First pitch is at 4:05 p.m PT.