Tag: Oakland A’s

Photo credit: @Athletics

Kansas City: 0 | 4 | 1

Oakland: 1 | 5 | 0

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND — Last night’s thrilling come-from-behind win over Kansas City, starting with Olson’s astounding home run blast in the seventh and culminating in Hendrik’s electrifying revindication of Mondaly’s debacle in the ninth, nudged the A’s an inch or two further towards a play off berth. They entered this afternoon contest against the pesky Kansas City Royals two full games ahead of Tampa Bay, who lost last night to the Dodgers, for the home field advantage and two and a half games in front of Cleveland, whose elimination number from wild card competition stands at 11 with just that many games left to play. At game time Oakland had 10 to go. Any combination of Oakland wins and Cleveland losses of 11 or more in those 21 contests would put the A’s in the postseason, if only for a single encounter. After the game was over, they’d picked up a half a game on Cleveland, who now have an elimination number of 10 with 11 games remaining on their schedule.

Danny Duffy, the Royals’ starting pitcher is a reminder that Kansas City’s most recent glory days are not that far back in the team’s past; he pitched a half a dozen innings in the 2014 and 2015 World Series for them. So far this year, his record had been a mediocre 6-6, 4.55 ERA, and he had yet to throw a pitch against the A’s. The Oakland hitter with the best record against him was Robbie Grossman at six for 17 (.353). The A’s switch-hitter outfielder was not in the A’s opening lineup, probably owing to his .180 batting average against lefties this year.

Oakland’s starting pitcher, Homer Bailey, has ties to a less glorious time in Kansas City baseball history. He had gone 7-6, 4.80 ERA for the Royals this season when they dealt him to the A’s on July 14. Between then and the time the A’s took the verdant, recently rained upon field after a 28-minute delay caused by same light rain that had refreshed the playing surface, the veteran right hander had gone 6-2 with an ERA of 4.70, sometimes pitching very well, other times, not.

Looking at the starters’ records, you wouldn’t have anticipated how well they would perform. The once and future Royal hurlers traded shutout innings until they both had left the game. Their successors did the same until there were two men down in the bottom of the 11th inning.

Oakland threatened in their half of the fourth when Semien opened the frame with a two bagger to right center, but the A’s fell victim to the curse of the lead off double when Duffy struck out Chapman and Canha, with Olson’s fly out to deep right sandwiched between the two Ks.

It was Kansas City’s chance to threaten in the top of the seventh. With one out, Jorge Soler smacked a double to left for the Royals’ third hit. A strikeout and an intentional walk later, Ryan O’Hearn hit a sinking fly to left. Chad Pinder made a spectacular diving grab of the ball to preserve the tie.

Bailey finally left the game after the A’s went down in the seventh. He had pitched seven complete innings and yielded only three hits and an intentional walk. His strike out total was a personal season-high 11. 66 of his 95 pitches were strikes. His replacement was Yusmeiro Petit, making his league leading 76th appearance.

When Scott Barlow took over for Duffy to pitch the Oakland eighth, the Royals’ starter had gotten through seven innings, allowing just two hits and a walk on 103 pitches, 67 of which were strikes. He struck out six Oakland batters.

Barlow lasted until he yielded a two out walk to Chapman in the bottom of the ninth. Those two outs had come about on strikeouts of a pinch hitting Jurickson Profar, followed by another against Semien. It took left-handed sidearmer Tim Hill one pitch to retire Olson on a pop to short.

Jake Diekman, another ex-Royal, replaced Petit to pitch the 10th.

He stuck out the two men he faced. Then Cheslor Cuthbert was announced as a pinch hitter for Ryan O’Hearn, which brought in JB Wendelken to strike Cuthbert out on five pitches. Ah, the intricacies of lefty-righty match ups!

Monday night’s winning pitcher, Kevin McCarthy gave up two quick singles to Canha and Laureano but bounced back to fan Khris Davis and get Sean Murphy to get Laureano out at on a bounder up the middle that second base man Merrifield made a good catch of and flipped to short stop Mondesí for the force. It was cold comfort that Canha advanced to third because he died there when Grossman, facing the latest Royal reliever, grounded out short to first.

Wendelkin survived a hairy top of the 10th. Bubba Starling began it with a single to right. Meibris Viloria sacrificed him to second. Brian Phillips was out on a hard line drive to Canha in center. Mondesí walked to load the bases with two out. Then Wendelkin got Jorge Soler to swing and miss on a 1-2 slider.

Jesse Hahn was on the mound when the A’s came to bat in the bottom of the eleventh. Profar worked him for a walk. Semien went down swinging, but Profar swiped second on the strike out pitch, so the play was a functional sacrifice. Chapman took a called third strike. Now, with Olson at the plate, it was time for Kansas City to grant an intentional walk. Mark Canha, whose Hometown Hero t-shirt was the afternoon’s give away, sent a 1-2 offering from Hahn down the right field line for a walk off double.

The hard earned win went to Wendelken, bringing his season’s totals to 3-1, 3.66 ERA for his 1 1/3 innings of work. Hahn was saddled with the loss.

11 innings of excitement, played in three hours and seven minutes, under clear skies in warm weather. This is how a play off chase should be conducted.

The A’s have a day of rest tomorrow. I won’t; I’ll be writing a discussion of the state of the race for the postseason. The team returns to the Coliseum on Friday, where Mike Fiers (14-4, 4.09 ERA) will face Mike Minor (13-9, 3.33 ERA) and the Texas Rangers at 7:07 p.m.

Photo credit: @NBCSAthletics

By Lewis Rubman

Kansas City: 6 | 11 | 0

Oakland: 5 | 10 | 1

OAKLAND–The A’s sent right-hander Tanner Roark to the fifty yard line—excuse me, the pitcher’s mound—to face the Kansas City Royals at the Coliseum this evening. Roark had pitched against them most recently on August 28, four weeks after Oakland obtained his services from Cincinnati in a trade deadline deal. In that game, he gave up four runs (all earned) in six innings of work in Kaufman Stadium. The A’s went on to lose the contest 6-4, but Roark wound up with a no-decision. He had gone 6-7, 4.24 ERA for the Reds and entered tonight 4-1, 3.40 ERA in his seven starts for the green and gold.

The Royals lost no time in jumping all over the A’s starter. Whit Merrifield led off with a single to left. The next batter, Adalberto Mondesí (AKA Raúl Mondesí, Jr.) brought him home with a ringing triple to left center. Mondesí would have come home on Jorge Soler’s fly to right if anyone other than Ramón Laureano had been playing that position. With one out, the Royals shortstop started to advance when Laureano caught Hunter Dozier’s fly, but stopped and turned back as soon as he saw the laser that Laser Ramón unleashed to Sean Murphy at the plate. Roark then struck out Alex Gordon to end the inning.

Roark’s counterpart, Glenn Sparkman, entered the game with a record of 4-11, 5.94 ERA (0-1, with four earned runs in 4 1/3 innings pitched) also had a shaky start. Marcus Semien led off with a single to center. With number two hitter Laureano at the plate, Sparkman unleashed a wild pitch that allowed Semien to advance to second. A blink of the eye later, a balk sent Semien to third. There was a brief pause in the action when Chapman popped out to second, but Olson soon ended that by slicing a double to left, driving in both runners. In spite of another wild pitch, which allowed Olson to advance to third while Canha was at bat, and a walk to Canha, the A’s had to settle for a pair of runs after Seth Brown popped out to third and Khris Davis flew out to medium deep right field.

Jefferson Profar, batting lefty (his low average, high power side) opened the home second by sending a 1-2, 94 mph four seam fastball over the left field fence only to have Alex Gordon leap over the Ring Central sign to capture the flying pellet. Sean Murphy, followed Profar’s shot with a two bagger off the left field fence. His stay at second was a brief one. Semien got the green light on an 3-0 count. He also got the same pitch that had been served to Profar, but the A’s shortstop sent this one over the fence in center, and no one in uniform caught it. Oakland now was up, 4-1 DH Jorge Soler’s 45th home run of the season, leading off the fourth, landed in the center field seats, 451 feet from home, and narrowed the A’s advantage to 4-2. Dozier followed that with a double to left, and after Roark hit Gordon with a pitch, the potential tying run was at the plate in the person of Bubba Starling. He walked on a 3-2 count, and now the tying runs were on the three bases with nobody out. And Yusmeiro Petit was warming up in the A’s bullpen. Ryan O’Hearn worked the count to 3-2 before striking out on a 92 mph two-seamer. Meibrys Viloria also went down swinging on a 3-2 offering, another two-seam, 92 mph fast ball.

The count also was 3-2 on Brett Phillips when he went to down on strikes, but Phillips didn’t swing on his 92 mph two-seam fast ball. (Roark had struck out all the three of those batters in their previous plate appearances of the night).

Roark found himself in trouble in the fifth as well. He surrendered a single to to Whit Merrifield, struck out Mondesí, and found himself with the potential tying runs in scoring position when Soler doubled to left center. Roark stayed in the game long enough to retire Dozier on a pop up to Profar and then was lifted so that the left-handed Jake Diekman could face the left handed hitting Alex Gordon. The move backfired; Gordon singled to right, driving in the two Royals baserunners. Bubba Sterling, up next, broke his bat on a grounder to Semien, whose throw to Olson looked on time to first base umpire Ryan Addition, but not to the reviewing umpires in New York, who reversed his call on appeal. The leading run now was on second in the person of Gordon. But Diekman struck out Ryan McBroom, batting for O’Hearn and remaining in the game to play first.

Roark’s final line was 4 1/3 innings pitched, four runs, all earned, on seven hits, one walk, eight strikeouts, one home run, and one hit batter. He threw 110 pitches, 67 strikes. He wouldn’t figure in the decision.

After Laureano had singled and Chapman struck out to start the A’s half of the fifth, lefty Tim Hill came in to face the A’s left-handed slugger, Matt Olson. Hill was successful, getting Olson to fly out to just short of the right field warning track. With the count 2-2 on Canha, Laureano put the possible tie breaking run in scoring position by stealing second, uncontested. But Canha grounded out to third, and the threat was dead.

Sparkman, like Roark, left with a record of 4 1/3 innings pitched, four runs (all earned) and one home run. His other figures were three walks and a strikeout, two wild pitches, and a balk. Of his 78 pitches, 40 were strikes. He, too, would not be credited or charged with a decision.

The score still was knotted at four-all when Yusmeiro Petit relieved Diekman in the top of the sixth with one out and one on to face the top of the KC order. It turned out he needed only one pitch to retire the side on an around the horn DP.

Scott Barlow was on the mound for the Royals when Profar, batting left-handed, bounced a triple off the center field fence in the bottom of the sixth. But there also were two outs, and Murphy’s nubber in front the plate ended the short-lived threat.

Petit would pitch one more frame, a 1-2-3 seventh, before giving way to Joakim Soria, who came in as Oakland’s set up man. He performed that role excellenty, getting the Royals to dance the conga (1, 2, 3, kick) in the eighth.

Olson greeted rookie reliever Gabe Speier with a majestic double off the right field wall. It was “hello, good-bye,” because Kevin McCarthy promptly relieved the reliever. Canha hit a sharp bounder to the mound, and Franklin Barreto, running for Olson, was caught between second and third. Before being put out, he prolonged the rundown long enough to allow Canha to reach second. When the count on Grossman had reached 3-0, the Royals elected to concede the fourth ball to him, putting runners on first and second with one down. Khris Davis came through with an RBI single to center, and once more the A’s were ahead. The run was charged to Speier.

Liam Hendriks came in to pitch the Kansas City ninth. That was no surprise. What were surprises were Meibrys Viloria’s game tying home run with one out, followed by Brett Phillips’ fly to the center field warning track that Laureano, now playing center, dropped for a two-base error. By this time, Merrifileld’s two-base hit, which brought in Phillips with the leading run, was almost expected. Somehow, the unusually vulnerable Hendriks avoided further trouble by closing down Kansas City on a fly to the right field warning track by Mondesí and a pop out to Murphy by Soler.

Ian Kennedy, the Royals closer, who had earned his 29th save on Thursday, came in to try for his 30th. Semien led off with a weak grounder to third that Dozier couldn’t come up with cleanly and which went for a hit. Laureano then flew out to shallow right, and Chapman went down swinging. Because Olson had been removed for a pinch runner, Chad Pinder, who was playing first in Olson’s stead, was all the stood between the A’s and a disappointing loss. He didn’t stand there long. Kennedy struck him out on a 95 mph fast ball.

McCarthy–now 4-2, 5.00 ERA–got the win, and Kennedy earned his 30th save. The usually impermeable Hendriks suffered his third loss and sixth blown safe.

Oakland now is eight games behind Houston, whose magic number to clinch the division title also is eight. The A’s, however, lead Tampa Bay by one game in the race to be home team in play-in game and are a game and a half ahead of Cleveland to reach that game. The Indians’ elimination number is 11. The A’s are one and two games ahead of the Rays and the Tribe, respectively, in the loss column.

Brett Anderson (12-9, 4.07 ERA) will go against Jorge López (4-7, 6.09 ERA) at 7:07 p.m. tomorrow evening.