Tag: Oakland A’s

A’s Wrap up Homestand With 3-1 Win Over Tigers

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Ana Kieu

Sean Manaea reminded A’s fans of his dominance in his return on Sunday at RingCentral Coliseum. Manaea allowed just one run in seven innings of work.

The A’s (84-59) defeated the Tigers (42-100) by a final of 3-1 and boarded a flight to Houston to open a four-game series against the Astros at Minute Maid Field on Monday at 5:10 p.m. PST.

The A’s got on the board first. Marcus Semien scored on a Mark Canha ground out for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.

The A’s plated two runs for a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Khris Davis doubled on a fly ball, which enabled Canha and Chad Pinder to score, respectively.

The Tigers ended the A’s chances of a potential shutout with a lone run in the top of the fifth inning. Cristin Stewart homered on a fly ball to center field for his ninth home run of the season.

With the win, Oakland went 5-1 on the six-game homestand and also managed to pick up a road win against the Tigers in the middle of it.

The A’s also celebrated Pride in Oakland in their front office and in The Town itself. This was a perfect time for the LGBTQ folks and their allies to celebrate who they are and what they stand for.

MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum: Pineda gets caught with PEDs, out for 60 games; A’s could win series over Tigers today; plus more

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from yahoo.sports.com photo: Minnesota Twins pitcher Michael Pineda throws to a Cleveland Indians batter during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept 6, 2019, in Minneapolis

MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum:

1 Twins pitcher Michael Pineda suspended 60 games for PED violation, will miss the playoffs

2 Swingin’ A’s go for series win over Tigers, continue Wild Card chase

3 Surging Diamondbacks closing in on National League Wild Card berth

4 Cubs All-Star shortstop sidelined with thumb fracture

5 Nationals’ pitcher makes emotional comeback

Catch Daniel each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

MLB The Show podcast with Matt Harrington: A’s split two from the Tigers and continue to carry in the AL Wild Card

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Photo credit: @Athletics

On the MLB podcast with Matt:

#1 The Oakland A’s made easy work of the Detroit Tigers on Friday night at the Oakland Coliseum in a make game from a rain out from May 29th the A’s played visiting team in Oakland and picked up the game from where it was left off in the seventh inning Chad Pinder in the top of the ninth hit a two run home to help the A’s cap a 7-3 winner.

#2 In the regular game, the A’s got four runs on the board against the Tigers starting pitcher Spencer Turnbull in the bottom of the second inning and there was no looking back from that point as the A’s carried the win improving their wild card record to just a 1/2 game back of the Tampa Bay Rays.

#3 Speaking of the Rays Tampa Bay got a 5-0 shutout over the struggling Toronto Blue Jays. The win helps the Rays hold a 1/2 lead over the A’s in the AL wild card. The Rays have won seven of their last 10 games and are in second in the AL East.

#4 Former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer and current Orioles TV analyst was diagnosed with shingles in his spinal column. Palmer did not work Friday night’s game. Palmer said that team doctors have told him to get an MRI, which he plans to do. Palmer is the only surviving starter from the 1971 Baltimore Orioles starting staff, of Dave McNally, Pat Dobson, and Mike Cuellar.

#5 The Boston Red Sox got a win over the New York Yankees 6-1 on Friday night at Fenway Park. It doesn’t lessen the Yankees’ position in the standings, but it was an important win for the Sox anytime they could beat their rival and show a fighting spirit in what’s left in the final weeks of the season. The Sox will take it.

Matt Harrington does the MLB The Show podcast each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.

 

Tigers down the A’s 5-4 in 11 innings

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Photo credit: @tigers

By Lewis Rubman

Detroit: 5 | 11 | 0

Oakland: 4 | 6 | 0

OAKLAND — This is when I usually say who’s pitching and how he’s doing. Instead, I’ll just mention that when the two-part serial that began in Detroit on May 19 and wound up in Oakland this afternoon, Mike Fiers was the winning pitcher and is now 14-3. Zac Reininger was saddled with the loss and stands at 0-2. There was no save.

For the record, Detroit’s starting pitcher in the scheduled game, Spencer Turnbull, started the evening at 3-14, 4.45. The right-hander is tied for sixth place among rookie hurlers at 116. His 125 1/3 innings pitched makes him ninth among freshmen in that category, but makes his punch out total a little less impressive.

Homer Bailey started for the A’s. The question was, which Homer Bailey would answer the bell? It was the pretty good Homer Bailey who pitched the top of the first, walking Miguel Cabrera but getting his three other adversaries out on grounders to second and short. As the game progressed, Bailey got better and better, holding the Tigers scoreless over the next five and a third innings before yielding to Joakim Soria. Bailey gave a good account of himself but got no decision.

Oakland got men on base early and often. Chapman walked with one out in the first but was cut down at third by Victor Reyes’s bullet to Lugo when he tried to advance an extra base on Olson’s single to right. They didn’t waste their opportunities in the second, though. Phegley’s double, singles by Brown and Profar, Laureano getting hit by a pitcher on his first plate appearance since coming off the IL, and walks to Semien and Chapman combined to give Oakland four runs and drive Turnbull to the showers. He had thrown 56 pitches, 31 for strikes in one and 2/3 of an inning pitched, giving up four runs (all earned) on four hits, three walks, and a hit batter. He struck out two. In spite of this terrible performance, Turnbull escaped with a no decision.

Turnbull’s replacement, Nick Ramírez, applied the tourniquet that stopped the hemorrhage of scoring against the Bengals, doing an excellent job over 2 1/3 innings and allowing only one walk while punching out three. He gave way to another southpaw, Tyler Alexander, at the start of the fifth. The two relievers held the A’s at bay and gave the Tiger batsmen a chance to get the team back in the game.

They did that in the top of the seventh, when Bailey seemed to run out of steam. He issued a lead off walk to Cabrera on five pitches and then surrendered a home run to Christin Stewart on an 83 mph split fingered fast ball that landed in the left field seats. With the score now 4-2 in favor of the A’s, Bailey got a ground out to second from Candelario before yielding a single to Dawel Lugo. That ended Bailey’s outing. His line was 6 1/3 innings pitched, two runs (both earned and coming on Candelario’s bomb) on five hits, one walk, and three strike outs. Joakim Soria, following Bailey to the mound, manged to quell the Tigers’ uprising in spite of giving up hits to two of the three batters he faced. The inning ended on Willi Castro’s fly out to Laureano at the warning track in left center field.

Soria had done his job, not elegantly but effectively. His replacement, Jake Diekman, started off the eighth in high fashion with two quick groundouts by Reyes and Castro. But then the A’s lefty began to unravel. Carbrera singled. Stewart did damage for the second straight inning, this time lining a double to left that sent Tim Beckham, running for Cabrera, to third. Diekman hit Candelario with his last pitch of the day to load the bases. His replacement, Lou Trivino, gave up a single to Lugo, which brought in Beckham and Brandon Dixon, running for Steward, to tie the game. The runs were charged to Diekman.

When Oakland came to bat in the bottom of the eighth, they faced Buck Farmer, whom Davis and Profar hit hard, but the KD’s fly landed in Reyes’s glove at the warning track, and Profar lined out to the same outfielder.

The A’s sent their closer Hendriks, who had pitched the seventh frame of the afternoon’s continuation game, to face the now dangerous Tigers in the ninth. He retired the Tigers’ 8, 9, and 10 hitters, 1-2-3.

Wlth the exception of Hendriks and Wendelken, who worked the 10th, the A’s bullpen once more disappointed. Paul Blackburn, another September call up, gave up a leadoff double to Lugo in the 11th. Travis Demeritte sacrificed him to second. It looked as if Blackburn might wiggle out of trouble when Pinder, now playing left field, caught Grayson Greiner’s fly ball on the warning track, but weak hitting shortstop Willi Castro lined a double to right that plated the leading, and eventually winning run in the 11th frame. Blackburn was charged with the loss, but it was a collective failure.

The Tigers’ bullpen, in contrast, was excellent. Between Ramírez, Alexander, Farmer, José Cisnero, Daniel Stumpf, John Schreiber, who got the win, and Joe Jiménez, who earned the save, they hurled 9 1/3 innings without allowing a run, and they gave up only two hits and four walks. They struck out 10 Oakland batters.

Oakland lost a full game today to Houston in the division race, but that’s academic now. The A’s still are the second wild card leader, trailing Tampa Bay by 1 game but a 1/2 ahead of the Indians.

Tomorrow’s game is scheduled to start at 6:07 p.m. with Chris Bassitt (9-3, 3.67 ERA) facing Jordan Zimmermann (1-9, 6.03 ERA). The numbers are disparate, but, as tonight’s action showed us, on any given day…

A’s defeat the Tigers 7-3 in makeup game

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Lewis Rubman

Oakland: 7 | 12 | 1

Detroit: 3 | 5 | 0

A line drive double to left center off the bat of Stephen Piscotty broke a 3-3 tie between the A’s and the Tigers in Detroit with two outs in the top of the seventh back on May 19. Matt Olson received a declared walk, and Jurickson Profar lined out to deep right field, at the foul line. (I got these facts from Baseball Reference’s invaluable website).

Liam Hendriks, who hadn’t yet become Oakland’s closer, came in to relieve Mike Fiers in the bottom of the frame. He threw four pitches (two balls, a swinging strike, and a foul) to Josh Harrison concerns about the weather caused umpire Tim Timmons to halt play. A hard rain began to fall, and what began as a rain delay became a suspended games before the Tigers had a chance could further reply to the A’s recent offensive. Since the teams’ schedules prevented resuming play in Detroit, the remainder of the game was played this afternoon, with the Tigers the home team in Ring Central Coliseum, as a prelude to this evening’s scheduled contest. The inherited line up for Oakland was Semien (SS), Chapman (3B), Pinder (LF), Davis (DH), Piscotty (RF), Olson (1B), Profar (2B), Laureano (CF), and Grossman (pinch hitting for Phegley).

The alignment Detroit brought west with them consisted of Niko Goodrum (1B), Dawel Lugo (3B), Nicolás Castellano (RF), Miguel Cabrera (DH), Ronny Rodríguez (SS), Christin Stewart (1B), Josh Harrison (2B), Grayson Greiner (C), and JaCoby Jones (CF). Gregory Soto had started, followed by Buck Farmer, Daniel Stumpf, Zach Reininger, and Victor Alcántara.

These changes were made when play resumed:

For Oakland: Pinder moved to right, Sheldon Neuse at second base replaced Piscotty, Profar moved from second to left, Canha moved from left to center; and Sean Murphy replaced Phegley as catcher.

For Detroit: Victor Reyes at first base replaced Goodllrum, Harold Castro in right replaced, Jordy Mercer at second replaced Harrison, Jeimer Candelario in center replaced Jones, and, finally, David McKay relieved Alcántara on the mound.

Play resumed at 5:18 p.m., and Hendrix set the Tigers down in order on two strike outs, interspersed by Greiner’s fly to the warning track in center field. McKay, in turn, got the A’s down 1,2,3, but the only fair ball hit against him was a grounder to short.

Detroit mounted a mini threat on Lugo’s one-out double to left center against Jake Diekman, who had pitched for Kansas City on May 19 and replaced Hendriks to start the home, i.e. Detroit, eighth. In the day by day chronicles, Diekman now has pitched for two teams in one day.

Matt Chapman led off the top of the ninth with a single to left and, two pitches later, trotted home in front of Pinder, who had blasted a 94 mph slider into the seats beyond right field.

J.B. Wendelken, freshly called up from Las Vegas, closed out the game for the A’s. He received help from a stellar play by Semien on Rodríguez’s grounder to the left of second base. He got the last two outs on his own, striking out Stewart and Mercer on curve balls.

The scheduled game will start at 7:07 p.m. The sword of Damocles has been lifted from above the A’s head.

Puk gets first MLB win, A’s defeat Angels 10-6

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Lewis Rubman

Los Angeles (AL): 6 | 11 | 0
Oakland: 10 | 10 | 0

OAKLAND — Once again, it was youth versus experience when the Angels sent 21 year old rookie José Suárez (2-5, 6.71 ERA), their number one pitching prospect according to Baseball America, to follow opener Luke Bard (1-2, 5.09 ERA) at just under 20, no grey beard himself, in this afternoon’s game. The A’s lefty Brett Anderson (11-9, 4.04 ERA), whose major league tenure dates back to 2009, provided the experience. The A’s were looking for a sweep in this third and concluding episode of the last series in the Coliseum for this year between the two teams.

The Angels already had a run lead when Bard first toed the rubber. With one out in the top of the opening frame, Marcus Semien threw Mike Trout out at first. Minor league call-up umpire Alex Tosi ruled him safe. Although replay seemed to show that the throw had beaten Trout to the bag, the A’s decided not to challenge the call. Albert Pujols followed with a double play ball to Matt Chapman, which the usually sure handed third base man bobbled. It went as a hit. Brian Goodwin also hit a double play ball, but after Olson’s throw to Semien got Goodwin out at second, Anderson didn’t get his foot on the base in time for Semien’s relay to consummate the twin killing at first. Justin Upton then banged a double off the State Farm sign in right center field to score the two remaining baserunners. Finally, Anderson struck out Kole Calhoun to stop the ugliness.

In the bottom half of the inning, Tosi made another controversial call. With Semien on base after having been hit by a pitch and one out, due to Chapman having struck out, Matt Olson hit a hard drive wide of first. Pujols made a good play on it and threw to Bard, covering. Olson made the mistake of sliding head first into the bag, and the young ump called him out, with Semien moving up to third on the play. Oakland challenged, but New York confirmed, the call. Mark Canha drove him in with a single to center on the next pitch. And that’s how Los Angeles was leading when Súarez entered the game as scheduled in the bottom of the second.

The Halos combined little ball and big ball to pad their lead in the third. David Fletcher led off with a bunt single to third. On the next pitch, Trout blasted a 90 mph sinker 455 feet into the upper deck in center field for this 45th homer run and 103rd and 104th RBI of the season.

After five innings of work, Anderson had surrendered five runs, all of them earned, although those he gave up in the first were undeserved. He allowed nine hits, including Trout’s homer in the third, and didn’t walk anyone. For a long while, it looked like he’d take the loss, but things turned out differently.

While Anderson was shaky, allowing a fifth Los Angeles tally in fifth and escaping only by a pick off-caught stealling of Upton, who had driven in the run, Súarez was in command. He set down 11 of the first 14 Athletics he faced before he allowed his first extra base hit, a rule book double to Semien with two down in the sixth.

Until then he had surrendered only two walks and a single.

After Chapman went down swinging to strand Semien at second, ending the fifth, A.J. Puk relieved Anderson, and the game that had been a youthful challenge to baseball middle age became a show case of young talent. Puk looked good. He got the side down in order in the sixth, striking out Calhoun and Rengifo and getting Simmons out on a good play by Chapman. Best of all, given his tendency towards wildness, the A’s rookie threw only two balls in that 11 pitch inning.

Súarez appeared to weaken in the A’s sixth. Olson opened it with a double to right. He moved on to third after Calhoun made an outstanding diving grab on Canha’s drlve to right and stayed there out of respect for Trout’s arm when Profar flied out to medium deep center. Trout’s throw home was off-line, but it was the right decision. Then Davis lined out to short.

Puk’s beautiful sixth was offset in the next inning by Kevan Smith’s lead off homer to left on an 0-2, 90 mph slider. It was his third round tripper of the year and his first hit after an 0 for 30 drought and allowed the Angels to go into the seventh inning break with a 6-1 lead.

The one-two punch of a Sheldon Neuse single and a 390 foot dinger to left by Josh Phegley broke the spell and ended Súarez’s day. He had thrown 5 1/3 innings of five-hit ball, giving up two runs, both earned, on five five hits, and two walks, while striking out two. He ceded his mound duties to Ty Buttrey, who loaded the bases on a single to Semien and walks to the Matts Brother, Chapman and Olson. He walked Canha, too. The score now was 6-4, and Buttrey was in the locker room, having yielded to Miguel del Pozo, who walked Profar on a full count, bringing the A’s to within a run of the Angels.

Luis García took over for del Pozo and got to a full count on Khris Davis, who sent a weak ground to short for the second out of the inning, but, more important, the sixth and tying run of the game for Oakland. This brought Adalaberto Mejía to the mound, while Robbie Grossman waited in the on deck circle to pinch-hit for Pinder. Batting from his strong side, the left, Grossman drove Mejia’s first pitch off the center field fence for a bases clearing two run triple, which gave Oakland its first lead of the afternoon, 8-6.

Ryan Buchter came on for the A’s to start the Angel’s eight. After fanning Goodwin and Upton, he allowed a single to Calhoun and gave way to Lou Trivino, who got Simmons to ground out on highway 523, Chapman to Olson.

Noé Ramírez was brought in to pitch the eighth and keep the Angels in reach of the A’s. He got his first man, Phegley, on a grounder in the shift to Rengifo. But Semien’s hard shot down the third base line got past Fletcher for a double. Ramírez retired Chapman on a pop foul to first and then elected to walk Olson. He followed that with an 88 mph fastball that hit Canha in the arm. Profar then lifted a fly to center field that Trout lost in the sun. The Texas League double plated Semien and gave Profar his third RBI of the day and gave Oakland a 10-6 lead.

Jake Diekman pitched the Angels ninth and set them down in order.

Puk got the win, his first major league decision. The loss went to Butry, which dropped his record to 6-7-2, 4.12 ERA.

The win puts Oakland 8 1/2 games behind Houston in the AL West. More realistically, it puts them ahead of Tampa Bay and Cleveland in the wild card race. The lead over the Rays is a mere percentage point, but it’s nine points and a full game over Cleveland. Tampa Bay has four games left to play against Boston and two against the Yankees. Cleveland still has to play three games on the road against both Minnesota and Washington. Oakland will have to take on the Astros four more times before the season ends. None of the three wild card contenders has it easy, but it’s my guess that the schedule slightly favors the A’s, who have won their season series against both the Rays and the Indians, meaning a tie goes in favor the A’s.

Tomorrow’s night’s game against the Tigers will be proceeded by the completion of the May 19th contest at Detroit, which was suspended because of rain in the middle of the seventh inning. Detroit will take the field as the home team, trailing Oakland, 5-3. After that, it will be Spencer Turnbull (3-14, 4.45 ERA) on the mound for Detroit and Homer Bailey (7-6, 4.80 ERA with Kansas City; 5-2, 5.26 ERA with Oakland; 12-8, 4.96 ERA overall) for the A’s.

Headline Sports podcast with Tony Renteria: Raiders’ Brown threatens to punch GM Mayock over fine; Kaval meets with the media at Jack London Square to share dreams; plus more

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Photo credit sfgate.com: Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown shown in photo during his signing with the team during happier times threatened Raiders general manager Mike Mayock at practice on Thursday over his recent fines from the team.

On Headline Sports with Tony:

#1 Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown threatened Raiders general manager Mike Mayock after he was fined $53,000 for leaving camp twice. Don’t be surprised if Brown is cut. Brown also has not gotten his $30 million from his current contract and may not get it.

#2 The Oakland A’s held a presser last Tuesday afternoon at Jack London Square with team president David Kaval, who stood in front of a number of white cranes that help lift cargo shipments. Kaval said rather than remove them they would be part of the new stadium landscape kind of a conversation piece.

#3 It’s just simply a deal that has to get done. Kaval acknowledged that the environmental report which includes topic on toxic clean up, mass transportation, traffic conditions, and the railroads that circle the prized area where the A’s new ballpark is supposed to be built on.

#4 The New Orleans Pelicans’ Lonzo Ball said that his father Lavar’s brand sneakers The Big Baller ZO2 brand fell apart after each quarter “If you literally have those shoes from those games, they’re exploded,” Ball said. Not the ringing endorsement from the off spring of the founder.

#5 The Sacramento Kings owe Harrison Barnes $2.1 million. Barnes, who played for the Kings two different times, is owed the money after the Kings who originally signed him for $12 million and sent him to the New Orleans Pelicans with DeMarcus Cousins in 2016. After Barnes returned to Sacramento in 2018-19, he was paid but with $2.1 million left. Bottom line — how much will Barnes be missed in Sacramento?

#6 The Oakland Raiders kick off on Monday Night Football at the Oakland Coliseum to start Week 1 against the Denver Broncos. How do you see Raiders quarterback Derek Carr matching up against Broncos starter Joe Flacco in this one?

Tony does Headline Sports each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

A’s fire 4-0 shutout vs. Angels

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Photo credit: @NBCSAthletics

By Lewis Rubman

Los Angeles (AL): 0 | 5 | 0

Oakland: 4 | 5 | 1

OAKLAND — It was an example of generational conflict when the Los Angeles Angels sent Patrick Sandoval to the mound tonight to do battle against the Oakland Athletics and Tanner Roark. Sandoval is a left handed rookie who will turn 23 next month. He has good command and throws fastballs in the low to mid nineties with movement, a good change up, as well as a curve ball and slider. Going into tonight’s fray, he had five games, four as a starter, and a total of 22 1/3 innings of major league experience. He brought a won-lost record of 0-1 and an earned run average of 5.24 with him to the mound.

Roark is 10 years older than his young opponent. The A’s right-hander has toiled for in the show for seven years, and the A’s are his third team in the big leagues, his second of the season. He went a so-so 6-7, 4.24 ERA for Cincinnati but was 2-1, 3.30 ERA since joining the green and gold. He features a sinker, slider, curve, and change up.

It’s not as though the Angels’ lineup were made up of no one but callow youths and the A’s fielded a team of candidates for Altenheim to face the kids from Anaheim. Just one example from each team should be enough. When Albert Pujols came to bat in the top of the first inning, it was his 12,145th plate appearance in a 19 year major league career. Squatting behind him in back of the plate was the A’s Sean Murphy, in his first big league game. The result of the at bat was Pujols’ 658th career double. He was stranded on second, as Brian Goodwin, who had preceeded Pujols’ AB with a single, was on third, when Roark struck out Shohei Ohtani.

With two out in the bottom of the second, Jurickson Profar, batting from his strong (right) side, got a hold of one of Sandoval’s four seam fast balls, this one thrown at 94 mph, and launched it over the State Farm-Kaiser Permanente-DeWalt sign in right center field for his 19th round tripper of the year and a 1-0 Oakland lead.

Although Roark continually flirted with danger, the score remained 1-0 until Sandoval, with his 52nd pitch of the night, got Matt Olson, leading off the bottom of the fourth, to fly out to left center field. At that point, Brad Asmus removed his starter and called on Jake Jewell to replace him on the mound.

Sandoval’s line was 3 1/3 innings, in which he gave up one run earned, on one hit, Profar’s home run, and one walk. He struck out three and threw 52 pitches, 30 of which were strikes. He eventually was charged with the loss, a tough one.

Sandoval’s 6’3” right-handed replaceman proceeded to fan Khris Davis and Chad Pinder to close out the frame.

As if inspired by Jewell’s feat, Roark set down Trout, Goodwin, and Pujols in the top of the fifth, his first 1-2-3 inning of the game. He hit his stride after that.

In the bottom of the inning, Murphy gave his battery mate a little breathing room by sending an 0-1, 95 mph four seam fast ball over the same fence that Profar’s blast had cleared in the second. Murphy’s first major league homer was followed by a single by rookie Sheldon Neuse and Semien’s 26th round tripper of the year, a blast to left. Just like that, the A’s were up, 4-0.

After the resurgent Roark retired the Angels to a conga beat (1-2-3) in the top the sixth, the ex-Athletic Trevor Cahill came in to face his erstwhile teammates in the bottom of the sixth. With the help of a spectacular catch by Trout of pinch-hitting Robbie Grossman’s sinking fly to short center, Cahill also had a 1–2-3 inning. He went the rest of the game, pitching 2 2/3 innings in all and allowing only two baserunners, both on walks. He struck out two and threw a total of 48 pitches, 26 strikes.

Roark came out to pitch the Angels’ seventh and gave up a two-out single to Fletcher. That was enough for the night, and he left after having thrown 6 2/3 innings and allowing five hits and two walks. He struck out six and threw one wild pitch. Of his other 112, 74 were strikes.

His replacement, Yusmeiro Petit, ended the inning with two pitches to Trout, the second of which resulted in a fly to Grosssman, who now was playing right field. That ended the inning and Petit’s day’s work.

Joakim Soria assumed the role of set up man, and he played it very well, thanks in part to a nifty catch by Profar on a falling liner to short left field. Soria, too, got his men, 1-2-3.

Oakland remains in second place in the AL West, nine games behind Houston. The A’s are a half a game behind Tampa Bay in the race for the number one wild card spot They are in a virtual tie with Cleveland for the second slot, but, at 58, lead the Indians by one game in the lost column and are one point ahead of the Tribe in winning percentages.

Tomorrow’s 12:37 p.m. game will be a duel of lefties, with Anaheim’s José Suarez (2-5, 6.71 ERA) going against Oakland’s Brett Anderson (11-9, 4.04 ERA).

A’s edge the Angels 7-5; Fiers wasn’t dominate but Oakland is in the win column

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By Lewis Rubman

Los Angeles (AL): 5 | 8 | 2

Oakland: 7 | 6 | 0

The A’s recent 4-3 whirlwind trip to Kansas City and New York was successful, but only if you define success as the avoidance of a major disaster. The team is by no means out of the running for the postseason, but the outlook is, if not bleak, cloudy. Fangraphs estimates the A’s chances of reaching the wild card play-in game at 44.5%, and the same source gives them the same chance of winning that game.

That’s encouraging, but it doesn’t solve Oakland’s problems, the most glaring of which is their unreliable bullpen. Joakim Soria frequently can be counted on to yield a run an inning, which should disqualify him as candidate to enter close games in late innings. Yusmeiro Petit is having a pretty good season, but when he doesn’t have it, he’s subject to melt downs. Blake Treinen has done more than just revert to the norm after last year’s magnificent run of saves; he seems—I take no pleasure in saying this—a liability. Meanwhile, Lou Trivino keeps tantalizing A’s fans with the hope that he’s finally turned the corner and is escaping his dream turned nightmare.

This leads to the paradox that the role of the A’s starter is both more and less significant than it normally would be. He needs to pitch deep in the game, but, however well he does, it could all be wiped out if he doesn’t get the offensive and relief support he needs. The A’s lineup frequently provides the former, and, until this past weekend, Liam Hendriks was a regular source of the latter, as were the middle relievers and set up men when they were on their A or even B+ game.

Sean Manea’s return—and it was an unqualified success—enabled Oakland to push Mike Fiers’ next start back a game, thereby giving their ace, tonight’starter at the Coliseum, a day’s rest more than his regular turn and the day off after New York would otherwise have provided. Rhythms being as important as they are to the pitchers’ craft, added rest doesn’t always help them when they get back to business, but those respites usually pay off over time, especially when the race to make the playoffs becomes pressing.

Fiers was by no means dominating in tonight’s contest. He left after five innings of work, in which he gave up four runs, all of them earned, on seven hits, two of which were home runs, and two walks. He struck out two and threw 83 pitches, 51 of which were strikes.

The A’s have taken other steps to bolster their chances of success. Seth Brown already has contributed both offensively and defensively, and the injury-prone Sean Murphy is a fairly sure bet to do so as well, especially if he can stay healthy. Right-handed starter Paul Blackburn is up from Vegas, where he went 11-3, 4.34 ERA (.327 in his last 11 games) in what decidedly is not a pitcher friendly league or home ball park. Susan Slusser has reported that he’s expected to be used in long relief. We’re still waiting for the return of Ramón Laureano and Jesús Luzardo, not to mention the homecoming (on the road) of suspended Frankie Montás for the six last games of the regular season. He could give the team one start, several relief innings, or a combination both activities.

But enough about the A’s. The Angels sent Jaime Barría, who at 4-7, 6.10 ERA, had gotten into the sixth inning only once in his 11 starts for the Halos this season, to the mound. The right hander had a horrendous ERA of 9.68 over 48 1/3 innings in Salt Lake this season, but managed to strike out 44 batters while with the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate. Tonight, he lasted four frames, in which he surrendered five runs, four of the earned, on five hits and two walks. He struck out five, and 44 of his 74  pitches were strikes.

Mike Trout greeted Fiers rudely with a one out home run to left on the fifth pitch of the game. It came off an 87 mph fast ball. The pitch’s velocity put to rest the suspicion that Fiers might be over rested. But he settled down to strike out two-way Shohei Ohtani and soon to be Cooperstown bound Albert Pujols to fly out to medium deep center.

The Angels scored again against Fiers in the top of the second. Justin Upton followed a four pitch walk to Kole Calhoun with a single to left. Andrelton Simmons also singled to left, scoring Calhoun. Upton tried to advance to third on Simmons’ single, but Seth Brown cut him down with a bullet of a throw to Matt Chapman. In spite of a steal of second by Simmons, Fiers escaped further damage by fanning Luis Rengifo and retiring ex A’s farmhand Max Stassi, who hit a soft liner to Profar at second. Oakland was down, 2-0 after one and a half innings of play.

Matt Olson doubled to center to lead off the Oakland second. He held his base when Mark Canha grounded out to short but scored on Brown’s ringing triple to right. Khris Davis hit a bouncer to Simmons at short, and it looked like he might try to throw Brown out at home. But he changed his mind at the last moment and threw to first, giving KD an RBI and the A’s a temporary tie.

In their half of the third, the A’s got two men in scoring position and Simmons two errors when, with Semien on first with a single, the Angels’ shortstop couldn’t handle Robbie Grossman’s hard grounder behind second and then made an uncontrolled backhand flip towards Fletcher, but over his head. Chapman then sent an 84 mph slider over the head of the leaping Trout in center and over the fence behind him.

The A’s three-run advantage was, however, short lived. One pitch into the fourth and Pujols launched his 21st round tripper of 2019, sending an 89 mph two-seamer into the left field bleachers, and the lead had shrunk to two.

The Angels’ half of the fifth started off well for the A’s. But after Stassi’s fly to center sent Canha to the warning track for the second out, Fletcher singled, and Trout walked, setting the stage for Ohtani’s slicing double to left, whcih drove in Fletcher and advanced Trout to to third. Pujol’s grounder to Semien stopped the bleeding and left Oakland ahead 5-4 at the half-way point.

Southpaw Adalberto Mejía took over for Barría to start the bottom of the fifth and set Grossman, Chapman, and Olson down in order.

The problematic Blake Treinen started the sixth for the A’s. He struck out Kole Calhoun and then reversed course by allowing a game-tying home run to Upton, his 11th, to left. By now, Ryan Buchter was up and throwing in the A’s bullpen for the second time in the game. After Treinen walked Simmons and Rengifo, Buchter came in to try to limit the damage. Brad Ausmus countered by calling on Brian Goodwin to hit for Stassi. Buchter got him on a called third strike, a 92 mph four-seamer, and gave way to Yusmeiro Petit. He got Fletcher to pop out to Olson near the mound. Fiers’ streak of 20 consecutive starts without a loss was preserved and extended. He now is tied with Lefty Grove for the longest in franchise history. But it was not a good performance.

Noé Ramírez, who entered the game to start the A’s sixth, painfully undid the Halos’ comeback. Canha’s line drive off what looked like Ramírez’s buttocks but might have been his hip bounded to short, where Simons couldn’t make a play on it. Then Seth Brown whacked a triple to right to score Canha. It was the rookie’s second of the game, which tied a record last tied by Chapman last year. Khris Davis drove Brown in with a sac fly to the center field wall, his second RBI of the game.

When the 14,031 fans in attendance had finished singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” Keynan Middleton came into the ball game, relieving the unfortunate Ramírez. The latest Angels hurler issued two walks but escaped damage thanks to the pitchers’ best friend, which went Simmons to Rengifo to Pujols.

The nail bite inducing Joakim Soria faced three men in the Angels’ seventh. His best friend took the form of Semien to Profar to Olson.

Luis García toed the rubber for Los Angeles (or Anaheim, to be precise). He started his own DP, 1-4-6-3, and we went into the top of the ninth with Liam Hendriks on the mound, trying to redeem his recent unpleasantness in the Bronx. Three batters and seven pitches later he did, gaining his eighteenth save.

Petit got the win, raising his won-lost record to 5-3 and lowering his ERA to 2.84. The loss went to Ramírez. He’s now 4-3, 3.95 ERA.

The win leaves the A’s in second place in the AL west at 79-58, 9 1/2 games behind Houston. They are in a virtual tie with Cleveland for the second wild card spot, leading the Indians by one percentage point and trailing Tampa Bay by 1 game for the first wild card spot. Oakland has 25 1/3 games left to play. That third of a game will be played Friday night before they face Detroit for a full-scale encounter.

Tomorrow evening, Oakland will send RHP Tanner Roark (2-1, 3.30 ERA with them, 6-7, 4.24 ERA for Cincinnati) against Anaheim’s left handed Patrick Sandoval (0-1, 5.24 ERA).

Headline Sports podcast with Barbara Mason: Cal and Stanford get opening day wins; 49ers open in Tampa Bay and Raiders host Denver on MNF; plus more

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On the Headline Sports podcast with Barbara:

#1 For the Cal Bears, getting a victory on opening day last Saturday was an important way to start the 2019 season with a win over UC Davis at Memorial Stadium and what a way to start with running back Christopher Brown Jr. rushing for 197 yards to help lead the team to a 27-13 win.

#2 The Stanford Cardinal defeated Northwestern, but the Cardinal lost their starting quarterback during the game when KJ Costello took a forearm to the head. The Cardinal hung onto win it 17-7. Costello could muster only one strong drive before the injury. The Cardinal are on the road next week to face the USC Trojans next Saturday.

#3 The San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo took Thursday Night Football off last week and the 49ers went with three quarterbacks: Nick Mullins, CJ Beathard, and Nick Speight. Speight and Beathard both saw the most time in the game with Mullens resting. Is that an indication that Nick Mullens, who saw limited time will be the backup, and head coach Kyle Shanahan wants to see if Beathard or Speight will fill the third-string spot?

#4 The Oakland Raiders look as if they had a very solid preseason winning three of their four games. Raider head coach Jon Gruden said he’s happy with the progress of backup quarterbacks Nathan Peterman (out with elbow injury) and Mike Glennon who he’ll really depend on if starting quarterback Derek Carr ever needs a rest.

#5 The Oakland A’s are hosting the LA Angels and Detroit Tigers this week at the Oakland Coliseum. The A’s are 1/2 game back in the AL wild card behind second place Cleveland. It could go right down to the wire for a chance of a wild card birth.

Join Barbara for Headline Sports each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com