That’s Amaury News and Commentary podcast: Successes of Rangers starts with Bochy; Angels hope to add to the line up with Grichuk and Cron; plus more

Former Colorado Rockies’ C.J. Cron is congratulated by teammates after he hit a home run scoring Jurickson Profar, during the first inning against the Miami Marlins at LoanDepot Park in Miami on Fri Jul 21, 2023. Cron and Randal Grichuk have joined the Los Angeles Angels in a deal with the Colorado Rockies (AP News photo)

On That’s Amaury News and Commentary podcast:

#1 Amaury, talk about how the Texas Rangers were able to sign pitcher Max Scherzer, Jordan Montgomery and Chris Stratton in their attempt to keep up with the Houston Astros.

#2 The Rangers have maintained first place since Apr 9 and have been competitive with the Houston Astros in the AL West. The Rangers season has been so successful that at the All Star game the Rangers had five players starting. How much of the Rangers success is Bruce Bochy’s.

#3 The Los Angeles Angels improved their chances in their post season bid by obtaining from the Colorado Rockies right fielder Randal Grichuk and pitcher CJ Cron. The Rockies received first baseman Jake Madden and Mason Albright. The Angels moves were to help Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani and the Angels get to post season.

#4 Once former Mets pitcher David Robertson was traded to the Miami Marlins his old teammate Max Scherzer called for a meeting with Mets management and apparently it didn’t end with an agreement over sending Robertson to the Marlins and Scherzer ended up waving his no trade clause and being dealt to the Texas Rangers it will be Scherzer’s second time in the American League his first was with the Detroit Tigers.

#5 Amaury, the Oakland A’s open up a three game series in Los Angeles on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. The A’s have lost four of their last ten games. The A’s are coming off a two out of three series victory against the Colorado Rockies while the A’s can stir it up sometimes the Dodgers might be a tall order.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s lead play by play voice on the A’s Spanish radio network on 1010 KIQI San Francisco and 1010 KATD Pittsburg and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s Hold on to Beat the Rockies 8-5

Photo credit: @Athletics

By: Mary Anne

The Oakland Athletics kicked off the weekend by visiting the Colorado Rockies Friday. The A’s held on to beat the Rockies 8-5 in their series opener at Coors Field. Oakland improved to 29-76, while Colorado fell to 40-63.

The A’s starting lineup featured Tony Kemp, Zack Gelof, Brent Rooker, Jordan Diaz, Ramón Laureano, JJ Bleday, Aledmys Díaz, Shea Langaliers, Nick Allen, and JP Sears. Sears (2-7, 4.09 ERA) got the win after pitching five innings and giving up four hits, one earned run, one walk, five strikeouts, and one home run.

The A’s got on the board first in the top of the first inning. Ramón Laureano singled on a ground ball to Randal Grichuk. Brent Rooker scored for a 1-0 lead. Jordan Diaz went to second base.

The A’s scored thrice in the top of the second inning. Shea Langaliers tripled on a fly ball to Brenton Doyle. Aledsmy Díaz scored for a 2-0 lead. Tony Kemp hit a sacrifice bunt. Langaliers scored for a 3-0 lead. Nick Allen went to second base, while Kemp went to first base on a Kyle Freeland committed a throwing error. Jordan Diaz reached on a ground ball to Alex Trejo, a call that stood after an official scorer’s ruling. Nick Allen scored for a 4-0 lead. Kemp went to third base, while Brent Rooker went to second base.

The A’s scored once in the top of the third inning. Nick Allen tripled on a sharp line drive to Jurickson Profar. Shea Langaliers scored for a 5-0 lead.

The Rockies finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning. Randal Grichuk homered on a fly ball to left-center field to reduce the A’s lead to 5-1.

The A’s extended their lead in the top of the fifth inning. Zack Gelof homered on a fly ball to left-center field for a 7-1 lead.

The Rockies scored once in the bottom of the seventh inning. Colorado began the inning by challenging a play at first base, but their call was overturned after further review. Ryan McMahon grounded into a forceout, while Nick Allen went to Zack Gelof. Jurickson Profar, a former Oakland Athletic, scored to reduce the A’s lead to 7-2. Ezequiel Tovar was out at second base, while McMahon went to first base.

The Rockies made it a two-run game in the bottom of the eighth inning, but they didn’t inch closer to the A’s to take the lead or at least tie the ballgame. Michael Toglia singled on a ground ball to JJ Bleday. Elehuris Montero scored to reduce the A’s lead to 7-3. Nolan Jones went to third base. Jurickson Profar doubled on a sharp line drive to Bleday. Jones and Toglia scored to cut the A’s lead to 7-5.

The A’s expanded their lead in the top of the ninth inning. Ramón Laureano homered on a line drive to center field for a 8-5 lead.

Notes
The late A’s pitcher Vida Blue would’ve turned 74 today.

The A’s will honor the five members — Carney Lansford, Gene Tenace, Bob Johnson, Roy Steele, and Jason Giambi — of the 2023 Class of the Athletics Hall of Fame during the annual Bay Bridge series on August 6, 2023.

Up Next
The A’s and the Rockies will continue their series on Saturday at 5:10 pm Pacific. Paul Blackburn (1-2, 5.06 ERA) will start for the A’s, while Chris Flexen (0-4, 7.71 ERA) will start for the Rockies.

The A’s want out of Canada as the Blue Jays win again on Saturday 7-1

Tor 4-27
Graphic: @BlueJays

by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland Athletics have played five games against the Toronto Blue Jays over the past nine days. The Blue Jays have defeated the A’s in all five of those games. They did it again on Saturday afternoon in Toronto by downing Oakland 7-1.

This is just the complete flipside of what happened between the teams in 2018. Last season the A’s won all seven games they played with the Blue Jays.

One of the biggest problems for the A’s on Saturday was Blue Jays starting pitcher Aaron Sanchez who is a right-hander. The Oakland lineup is loaded with right-handed batters, and they have struggled versus right-handed pitching. The Athletics are 6-12 versus right-handed starting pitchers so far this season. They are 8-3 when facing left-handed starters.

Tor Sanchez TSN
Aaron Sanchez Photo: @TSN

Aaron Sanchez made the start for Toronto and worked 5.0 innings in recording his third win of the year. He gave up one run (unearned) on just two hits. Sanchez walked four and struck out four. With his strong performance against the A’s, Sanchez lowered his ERA to 2.32.

Toronto Focus

  • Former Oakland Athletic Eric Sogard scored the first run of the game after he doubled to lead off the game. Sogard has hit safely in all nine of the games he has played for the Blue Jays this season. He is currently batting .400 with three doubles, two home runs, and eight RBI.
  • Brandon Drury went 3-for-3 on Saturday just as he did last Saturday in Oakland. He hit two singles, a double, walked, and scored a run.
  • Randal Grichuk hit two singles, doubled, and drove in two runs as he went 3-for-5 on Saturday afternoon.
  • Catcher Danny Jansen doubled and added an RBI on a Sacrifice Fly.

Athletics Spotlight

Tor Anderson
Brett Anderson Photo: @Athletics

  • Starting pitcher Brett Anderson allowed six runs (all earned) on 10 hits in his 4.1 innings of work. He walked two and struck out two Blue Jays.
  • Ramon Laureano had his sixth multi-hit game of the season. He singled and doubled against Toronto on Saturday.
  • Matt Chapman hit a double in the eighth inning of the game. Chapman entered the game tied for 10th in the American League with 13 extra-base hits.

Up Next

The Oakland A’s will try to keep the Blue Jays from completing the season sweep on Sunday by sending RHP Chris Bassitt (1-0, 0.00) to the mound to face RHP Trent Thornton (0-3, 5.79). First pitch is scheduled for 10:07 PDT.