Tag: Oakland A's

Photo courtesy of Oakland A’s.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

OAKLAND- The A’s after winning the first game of the series looked to have repeat success against one of the best teams in the league the Dodgers.

Mitch Spence got the start for A’s who heading into this game had a 7-6 record. On the other side of the things the Dodgers started Jack Flaherty who after being acquired from the Tigers was making his first start for the blue-and-white.

It would be a quite game until Gavin Lux broke the ice with a two-run single in the third inning that put the Dodgers up.

After those runs both teams couldn’t get much offense going as both Spence and Flaherty pitched solid games.

The next runs didn’t come until the eighth inning when Enrique Hernández doubled on a line drive to left field that got one run home. Andy Pages followed that up in the eight with a single that also got a run home making it a 4-0 game.

Down in the game the A’s would need to keep the Dodgers off the board to have any hope of coming back. Unfortunately for Oakland the opposite ended up happening.

With Kyle Muller on the mound Muller struggled greatly, giving up six earned runs and effectively ending the game.

Amed Roasrio was the first Dodger to put up runs in the ninth on a fielder’s choice followed up by a single from Will Smith.

Jason Hayward and Hernández racked up RBI’s of their own with singles making it now an 8-0 ballgame. The ninth would come on a wild pitch that got Heyward across home plate. With the final run in the game coming from former Giant Nick Ahmed who singled to get Hernández home.

Spence ended up with the loss in this one despite only giving up two of the ten runs. Flaherty on the other hand in his first start as a Dodger looked great pitching six innings and giving up no runs with seven strikeouts.

The loss knocks the A’s down to 46-66 and the win brings the Dodgers up to 64-47.

The A’s will look to bounce back tomorrow in the final game of this home series at 1:07 p.m. The announced started for tomorrow’s game are for the Dodgers River Ryan and for the A’s Osvaldo Bido.

Photo courtesy of Oakland A’s.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

OAKLAND- The A’s hit the field to take on the Blue Jays in the second of a three-game home series on Saturday evening.

Making only his third start of the season was Luis Medina who in 10.1 innings pitched had given up six earned runs and 1.35 WHIP.

For the Blue Jays it was veteran right-hander Kevin Gausman who heading into this one had a 4-4 record with a 4.60 ERA.

Medina found himself in trouble early in this one as the Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out. Thankfully for Oakland Medina got out of it only giving up one run on a sacrifice fly from Danny Jansen.

After the first though it was smooth sailing for both Medina and Guasman up until the fifth inning.

In the fifth the wheels fell off for Medina who would give up three runs before being replaced by Jack O’Loughlin. The scoring in the fifth was kicked off by Kevin Kiermaier launching one over the right center field wall getting his second homer of the season. Then Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette hit back-to-back doubles increasing their lead to 3-0. The final nail in the coffin for Medina would be another double this time from Danny Jansen getting Bichette home.

Things didn’t get much better with O’Loughlin as he loaded the bases on a walk and Isiah Kiner-Falefa knocked home a run on a single. The final run came on a wild pitch as Daniel Vogelbach got home as Shea Langeliers scrambled to get the ball.

With the damage done the A’s were not able to get any sort of rally going as Gausman had a fantastic outing pitching a complete game. In those nine innings he would only give up five hits and strikeout ten.

Toronto would tack on one more run in the ninth with Vinny Nittoli now on the mound as the culprit this time was Justin Turner as he singled to get Bichette home.

Medina would take the loss getting his first loss of the season while Gausman improves his record to 5-4 with the win.

The most productive hitter for the Blue Jays today was Jansen as he finished with two RBI’s and two hits in the game.

With the loss the A’s fall to 26-40 and 10 games back while the Blue Jays improve to 31-33 and now move to 13.5 games back of first.

The final game of this series will be played Sunday at 1:07 p.m. where Oakland will look to get the series victory. Getting in the start Sunday for the A’s will be Mitch Spence who comes in to the game with a 4-3 record and a 3.86 ERA. While the Blue Jays have yet to announce a starter for Sunday’s game.

Photo courtesy of Oakland A’s Twitter.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

OAKLAND- The A’s opened a home series against the Padres with a rough outing against the Padres by a final of 8-3.

Attendance: 17,828

Before the game Tony Kemp was awarded a nomination for the Roberto Clemente award whose number he wore along with a few other players.

Photo courtesy of Oakland A’s Twitter. Tony Kemp is handed the Roberto Clemente award by manager of the A’s Mark Kotsay on Sept. 15th 2023.

This would also be former A’s manager Bob Melvin’s first visit back to the Coliseum after going to the Padres.

Starting for the Athletics was Sean Newcomb who coming in had a 1-0 record with a 3.21 era. While the Padres had Seth Lugo start who had a 6-7 record with a 3.82 era.

The offense was working early for the Padres as Fernando Tatis Jr. showed his power by crushing a 2-0 pitch to center field. Then after back-to-back walks Newcomb threw a wild pitch getting Juan Soto home.

Quickly down 2-0 Newcomb wasn’t able to establish much more confidence in the second inning as he gave a lead-off double to Garrett Cooper. After a single and a hit by pitch the bases were then loaded for Tatis who singled getting two runs home making it 4-0. Newcomb was able to minimize the damage to just two runs but now the A’s needed some runs.

There would be some help in the bottom of the second as Shea Langeliers launched a solo shot to center field getting his 20th homer of the season.

The fourth saw the first pitching change of the game as Adrián Martínez came in to replace Newcomb.

Martínez would end up having quite the opposite of and outing as he only gave up one earned run in 4.2 innings pitched. It was exactly the kind of bounce back Martínez needed after his rough outing against Texas on the 10th when he gave up four runs.

Following up the second Ryan Noda hit a ground-rule double bringing home Esteury Ruiz making things a little closer at 4-2.

The one run given up by Martínez was a double by Luis Campusano in the fifth that made it 5-2.

There would be another solo home run by an A’s player in the sixth inning with Brent Rooker this time homering getting his 25th of the season.

Scoring stayed relatively quiet until the top of the ninth inning when with Devin Sweeney on the mound the Padres got two on base. Jose Azocar then stepped up and pretty much put the dagger in this game by getting a three run homer. That home run was Azocar’s first home run of his career as he didn’t have any in his rookie campaign.

The A’s could not form any sort of response in the ninth ending this one at 8-3.

“I think the walks killed us tonight,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said after the game.

Oakland will look to bounce back tomorrow against the Padres at 1:07 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Oakland Athletics Twitter. Ruiz, Butler, and Rooker celebrate in center field their victory over the Angels.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

OAKLAND- The A’s started their three-game home series against the Angels on a great note with a 9-2 win.

Tonight for the A’s was Glen Burke pride night at the coliseum and the attendance was 12,073.

Getting the start for the A’s was J.P. Sears who heading into this game had a 2-11 record and 4.73 era. While the Angels had Patrick Sandoval get the start who coming had a 7-10 record with a 3.89 era.

Making his major league debut tonight for the Angels at shortstop was 21 year-old Kyren Paris. He was drafted in 2019 and was picked in the second round at 55th overall.

The first went by smoothly for Sandoval while Sears had some troubles as he gave up a double and walked one but was able to get out of the inning allowing no runs.

Quickly though Sandoval found his pitch count getting high as by the end of the third inning he had already thrown 63 pitches. That pitch count was indicative of a lot of early at bats that consistently went to full counts and occasionally resulted in walks given up.

The defense for the A’s was clicking early as they turned two double plays before the fifth inning had even occurred.

The fourth saw Oaklands offense come alive as Brent Rooker lead things off with a double. Jordan Diaz followed that up with a single putting runners on the corners with only one out. The other DÍaz got a double bringing home Rooker and getting the A’s on the board. The momentum didn’t stop there as Nick Allen got another run in on a sac fly and Esteury Ruiz singled putting runners on the corners once again.

After the hit by Ruiz that ended the night for Sandoval who was replaced by Jimmy Herget. The stat-line for Sandoval is probably one he’ll want to forget as he only went 3.2 innings giving up five hits, five earned runs, and three walks.

Herget wasn’t able to stop the bleeding as Zack Gelof kept the lineup moving with a two-run double making it 5-0. Trying to keep adding on Ryan Noda came in to pinch hit for Carlos Pérez but he ended up lining out to end the fourth. Noda would stay in taking Pérez’s spot at first base.

The Angels in the sixth made another pitching change as Gerardo Reyes came in to replace Herget who was only making his sixth appearance of the season.

In the following inning the A’s made a change on the mound as well as Lucas Erceg came in making his 41st appearance. Unlike Sandoval, Sears had a stellar outing pitching six innings, giving up no earned runs, and striking out three. Erceg also got some help from the defense as they turned another double play their third of the game.

Looking for insurance the A’s got another run from Jordan Diaz who made it 6-0 with a double. The run came in the seventh with Jamie Barria pitching now for the Halos.

The eighth would see another new pitcher as Sean Newcomb came in to pitch for the A’s who was making only his fourth appearance of the season.

Newcomb would run into some trouble as Shohei Ohtani reached on a pitch-clock violation and then Brandon Drury got a double making it 6-1.

With Barria still on the mound for the Angels Allen got a single and then Ruiz absolutely crushed a 2-0 pitch to left field making it 8-1. It was Ruiz’s third home run of the season and exited the field at 104.1 mph. A Gelof double kept things going and Noda followed it up with a double of his own extending their lead to 9-1.

To close things out the A’s called on Spencer Patton and the first batter he faced took him deep to left field as Tyler O’Hoppe got his sixth home run of the season. Patton was able to fight through the early mistake and closed the inning out giving up only the one run.

Of note tonight was Jordan Diaz who went 3-4 with an rbi and Ruiz who went 3-5 with two rbis and a home run. Getting the win was J.P. Sears which improves his record to 3-11 and Sandoval took the loss bringing his record to 7-11.

The second game of this home series against the Angels happens tomorrow at 1:07 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Oakland A’s.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

OAKLAND- The A’s closed out their home series against the Twins on a sour note as they lost by a 5-4 final.

Getting the start for the A’s was J.P. Sears while for the Twins Joe Ryan was on the mound to start.

The first inning went by with no runs scored until the bottom of the second when Jordan Diaz launched a pitch over the left field wall getting his sixth home run and making it a 1-0 game.

The first four innings for Sears couldn’t have gone much better as Sears struck out five hitters.

In the fourth Oakland tacked on another run as with Zack Gelof on third Diaz got him home with a sacrifice fly. Adding to their lead Aledmys Diaz doubled on a line drive to left field that brought home JJ Bleday making it 3-0.

The next inning saw Minnesota start a rally as Christian Vazquez homered to left center field making it 3-1. Not to be outdone Alex Kirilloff followed that up with a home run of his own to a similar spot on the field bringing the A’s lead down to one.

In that same inning Ryan was relieved as the Twins brought in Jorge López in relief. Ryan finished with 5.1 innings pitched, three earned runs, and seven K’s.

The seventh saw the A’s go to the bullpen as Sears was finally relieved by Lucas Erceg. Sears finished with a fantastic line as he pitched 6.1 innings, gave up three earned runs, walked no one and struck out seven.

Erceg would have a less than favorable outing as he gave up a double to Kirilloff that knocked in three runs making it 5-3. He was yanked after giving up the runs and replaced by Shintaro Fujinami who finished out the inning.

The A’s were quick to respond as Gelof doubled in the seventh bringing home one run and making it 5-4.

That was all the runs Oakland could muster as the score finished at 5-4 bringing the Twins record to 48-46 and the A’s record to 25-70.

The A’s next game will be tomorrow where they’ll kick off a three game home series against Boston at 6:40 p.m.