The Oakland Athletics (6-6) lost their second consecutive game to the Houston Astros on Saturday as they were shutout by a combination of five Houston pitchers. The managed to pick up six hits off the Astros pitching, but only one of those hits was for extra bases.
Oakland went 0-for-5 with RISP and left a total of nine men on base. They struck out seven times and picked up four walks. It was a classic night where strong pitching dominated professional hitting.
Houston Hurlers
Wade Miley on the mound Photo: @Astros
Wade Miley made the start for the Astros and worked 5.2-innings. Miley gave up no runs on four hits. He struck out four A’s batters and walked two hitters. Miley threw 95 pitches (56 strikes). He was credited with the win, which was his first for the season.
Will Harris, Josh James, Chris Devenski, and Framber Valdez combined to work 3.1-innings of scoreless relief for the Astros. The four relievers gave up just two hits and walked no Oakland hitters. The relief corps combined for three strikeouts.
Houston Offense (4-5)
Free-agent addition Michael Brantley led the Astros attack with the bat by going 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored and two RBI. Brantley hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning which was his second HR of the season.
Yuli Gurriel had a 3-for-4 day with the bat. He added one RBI to his season total.
George Springer went 2-for-4 in the game versus A’s pitching. Springer hit his third home run of the young season off Aaron Brooks in the fifth inning. The round-tripper was a two-run shot.
The Astros scored six runs off 11 hits while leaving six runners on base.
A’s Pitching
Aaron Brooks really struggled in innings four, five and six. Brooks gave up five runs on nine hits. All five runs were earned. Brooks struck out two and walked out one. He also gave up two home runs.
The A’s used three relief pitchers–Yusmeiro Petit, Liam Hendricks, and Ryan Buchter, combined–to work the final three innings. They gave up no runs off just two hits. The relievers walked one and struck out two Astro hitters.
Brooks was charged with the loss – his first of the season. Brooks record is now 1-1 on the year.
Oakland hitting
Stephen Piscotty was the A’s leader with the bat. He went 2-for-3 at the plate and picked up the only Oakland extra-base hit. Piscotty also reached base via a walk.
Khris Davis, Chad Pinder, Kendrys Morales, and Mark Canha each picked up a base hit off Houston pitching.
Unfortunately for A’s fans, the Oakland hitters were unable to put those hits together to produce runs.
BoMel’s Thoughts
Manager Bob Melvin reaction after the game was that his team ran up against some great pitching and that is sometimes just too much to overcome. In other words, tomorrow is another day.
Up Next
The A’s and Astros will wrap up their three-game series on Sunday with a game that is scheduled to begin at 11:10 AM on Sunday morning. RHP Mike Fiers will make his fourth start of the season. His record is 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA.
RHP Brad Peacock will make the start for the Astros. It will be his second start of the season. Peacock is 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA.
Stephen Piscotty singles in the seventh inning Photo: Charlie O. Mallonee
By Charlie O. Mallonee
OAKLAND –The Oakland Athletics (2-3) recorded their second win of the 2019 season as they defeated the Los Angeles Angels 4-2 on Saturday night. The keys to the win were the strong starting pitching of Brett Anderson and the timely hitting of the A’s batters.
Brett Anderson did not pitch perfect in his first three innings of work. He walked the Angels leadoff batter in the top of the first, but escaped without that man scoring. Anderson issued another walk and gave up a single in the second inning without it costing him a run. In the third inning, the lefty gave up a double to Mike Trout without it producing a run. Things were going Anderson’s way.
The A’s started slow The Angels starter — Felix Pena — no-hit the A’s through the first 2.2-innings. It appeared that the A’s hitters were going to be in for a very long night.
In the bottom of the third inning with two out and the bases empty, A’s catcher Josh Phegley singled to left-center field. Robbie Grossman then singled through the hole between first and second moving Phegley up to second base. Pena then hit Matt Chapman with a pitch to load the bases.
Stephen Piscotty stepped into the batter’s box and hit a 3-1 pitch up the middle that brought Phegley and Grossman home to score. The A’s took a 2-0 lead into the top of the fourth inning.
There is power in the East Bay It did not take the A’s long to pad their lead. The newest member of the team — Kendrys Morales — walked to leadoff the home half of the fourth inning. With two out and Morales still at first, Mark Canha hit a 2-1 pitch from Pena over the wall into the left field seats for a two-run home run which he punctuated with “controlled” bat flip to celebrate the big hit as he exited the batter’s box. It was his first home of the season and his RBI’s of the campaign.
The home run was the end of Felix Pena’s night as he was replaced by Noe Ramirez. It would not be the end of Pena’s pain as he would be tagged with the loss.
Piscotty at first with Khris Davis at bat Photo: Charlie O. Mallonee
The Angles mounted a rally The A’s brought J.B. Wendelken in to relieve Anderson in the seventh inning. He continued pitching in the eighth, and things got tough quickly.
David Fletcher reached base for the Angels on a throwing error. Zack Cozart then doubled to left moving Fletcher up to third. Mike Trout then hit a fly ball to deep right field that was caught by Piscotty, but Fletcher was able to score from third while Cozart went from second to third.
Andrelton Simmons then singled through the hole on the left side of the infield that sent Cozart across the plate for the second Angels run of the inning. That would signal the end of the night for Wendelken. Blake Treinen was summoned from the bullpen.
A passed ball allowed Simmons to move up 90-feet to second base. Albert Pujols then singled to left sending Simmons to third base with just one out. A pinch runner was placed on first for Puljos. Treinen then struck out Justin Bour on a called third strike (Bour did not agree with the call) and Jonathon Lucroy ended the inning by popping out the second baseman.
As the game moved to the bottom of the eighth, the A’s still had a 4-2 lead, which would ultimately become the final score.
Key facts and figures For Oakland, they scored four runs off seven hits and committed one error. The A’s left six men on base and went 1-for-3 with RISP.
The win goes to Brett Anderson (1-0) his first of the season. Blake Treinen gets credit for his first save of 2019.
The Angels (1-2) put up two runs off six hits and did not commit any errors. The Halos left seven runners on base and went 2-for-11 with Runners In Scoring Position (ouch).
Felix Pena (0-1) is the losing pitcher.
Davis is thrown out at first base Photo: Charlie O. Mallonee
Post Game Notes A’s
Brett Anderson made it three consecutive starting pitchers for Oakland to work six or more scoreless innings. That is the first time that has happened since August 24-26, 2005 when was done by Saarloos, Zito, and Blanton.
Brett Anderson now has a 34.1-inning scoreless streak at home in the Coliseum. That is the longest scoreless streak by an A’s pitcher since the team moved to Oakland in 1968.
After going 0-for-7 to start the season, Josh Phegley picked up his first hit of the season in this game.
Marcus Semien extended his hitting streak to five games after hitting a single in the sixth inning.
Angels
Felix Pena does not like pitching in Oakland. In four career games, he is now 0-2 with an 8.97 ERA.
Mike Trout had a 1-for-3 game on Saturday night. He hit a double and a sacrifice fly. For his career, Trout is now batting .312 (149-for-477) with 30 home runs and 75 RBIs versus the A’s.
Albert Puljos recorded two hits in the game and now needs just five hits to tie Ichiro Suzuki for 22nd on the all-time hits list.
Up Next The A’s and Angels wrap up their four-game series on Sunday at 1:07 PM. Los Angeles will send LHP Tyler Skaggs to the hill to make his first start of the season. Making his first start of the year for Oakland, it will be RHP Frankie Montas.
OAKLAND — It’s worth noting–now 21 Stephen Piscotty home runs into his Athletics career–that the talented outfielder on the verge of a career-best season fell into the A’s lap in the off-season.
The 25-year old Piscotty established himself as a big league standout in 2016 by smashing 60 extra-base hits for the Cardinals. But he slumped horribly in 2017, as the St. Louis brass noticed that Gretchen Piscotty’s rapidly failing health was affecting her son, Stephen, on and off the field.
In the off-season, as a favor to Piscotty, the Cardinals agreed to trade the outfielder to Oakland, as a way for the son to care for his mom, based in Pleasanton. And for the first month plus of the season, Piscotty drove his mom home after games and took on the arduous task of putting her to bed on a nightly basis.
That routine so poignantly captured by ESPN’s E:60 ended when Gretchen lost her battle with ALS in May.
Soon thereafter, Piscotty–with the weight of having to see his mother suffer on daily basis lifted–took off. And so did the A’s.
Fast forward to Sunday, and the A’s leaned heavily on Piscotty on the occasion of the final home game of 2018 against the rival Mariners. Needing a split to maintain a five-game lead over wild card hopeful Seattle, Piscotty came up with two home runs to power the A’s to a 8-2 win.
Edwin Jackson more than did his part–pitching six innings–allowing three hits and a run to Seattle, playing arguably their most important regular season game in more than a decade in attempting to end their postseason drought that dates to 2001.
We’ve been taxing that bullpen a lot,” Piscotty said of Jackson. “To have him go out and have a strong outing, and let our offense kind of wake up and take the pressure of him, that’s a great game, exactly what we needed.”
A close game hinged on Felix Hernandez, the unquestioned A’s killer, getting through the sixth inning, and preserving a 1-1 tie, after allowing a leadoff single to Chad Pinder.
But the King doesn’t go unchallenged these days, having lost 12 games, and was briefly demoted from the starting rotation. But if anyone has earned the right to pitch in a big spot for the Mariners, it’s Felix, and manager Scott Servais elected to stick with his starter.
That strategy backfired immediately as Hernandez uncorked a wild pitch, then walked pinch hitter Matt Joyce, threw a second wild pitch, and allowed the go-ahead base hit to Marcus Semien.
That sequence opened the flood gates as the A’s would score three more times in the inning, then get a three-run shot from Piscotty in the eighth.
Piscotty’s homer was his 21st–he also homered in the fifth–just one off his career high established in 2016. Afterwards, Melvin referenced the slugger’s ascendance, which of course, dates back to May.
“I’ve said many times that he has an angel on his shoulders,” Melvin said.
GAME NOTES: The A’s have three games (days) remaining in their grueling stretch of 20 games without a day off. Melvin said he’s well aware of how the schedule eases after Wednesday saying that the time off his far more critical for his everyday starters as opposed to his underrated rotation guys or stacked bullpen.
Blake Treinen earned his 35th save, getting the last four outs of the ballgame, including ending the eighth on one pitch. Treinen dropped his ERA ever so slightly to 0.92, the continuation of his season rivaled only by Dennis Eckersley’s 1990 campaign in which he earned the American League MVP.
Hernandez failed to win in a seventh, consecutive appearance, a career-worst drought that dates back to June 30.
UP NEXT: The A’s host the Yankees for a three-game series starting Monday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT on ESPN, NSCA and YES.
OAKLAND — The Oakland Athletics scored five runs off five hits in the bottom of the first inning to take a 5-0 lead on the Seattle Mariners. Matt Chapman hit his 22nd home run of the season off of M’s starter Mike Leake. Stephen Piscotty hit a two-run home run (19) off Leake. Matt Olson and Marcus Semien each hit an RBI double. Everyone in the Coliseum knew that this game was going into the “W” column for the A’s.
Everybody in the Coliseum knew that the game belonged to the A’s except the 25 guys in blue uniforms from Seattle. The M’s put up a run in the top of the second inning and then came back for more in the top of the fourth inning. Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz hit back-to-back home runs off A’s starter Mike Fiers who did have his best stuff on Friday night. Then, Ryon Healy–the former Athletic–hit a two-run home run to tie the game at 5-5. Everything changed.
The A’s bullpen took over for Fiers and gave their team a chance to get it together.
Chapman rounds third after hitting his 22nd HR of the year Photo: @Athletics
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Oakland retook the lead when rookie outfielder Ramon Laureano delivered a sacrifice fly that allowed Matt Olson to score the go-ahead run. The A’s then added some cushion when Jed Lowrie hit a one-out double and then scored on a Khris Davis RBI single.
The bullpen held on to that 7-5 lead to get the A’s (81-55) the win.
This critical four-game AL West series is now tied at one game apiece.
The win was awarded to Yusmeiro Petit (6-3) who relieved Fiers and was the pitcher of record when Olson scored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning. Blake Treinen picked up his 34th save of the season. Treinen now sports a 0.94 ERA.
Mike Leake (8-9) was hung with the loss for Seattle (75-60).
This is how the A’s pitching line is going to look the rest of the season Mike Fiers only lasted 3.2 innings in his start on Friday night. A’s manager Bob Melvin certainly wants his starting pitchers to go at least five innings per start, but five innings are all that may be required from the starters for the A’s to be successful. The 2018 A’s are all about the bullpen.
In the win 7-5 win over Seattle on Friday night, Oakland used 5 relief pitchers. It was a parade of fresh arms stepping up on the rubber to deliver a devastating variety of pitches designed to stop opposing hitters in their tracks.
Yusmeiro Petit, Lou Trivino, Fernando Rodney, Jeurys Familia and Blake Treinen combined to pitch 5.1 innings of shutout baseball. They allowed the M’s just two hits while walking just two batters and striking out seven. They slammed the door on the Seattle offense to give their A’s the chance to win the game, which they did 7-5.
Every game will not feature five relievers, but you can expect to see games that feature three men out of the bullpen on a regular basis. The help that is coming with the expanded September rosters is going to be most welcome.
The standings are shaken up again This A’s win really changed the standings in the AL West. The Astros lost, the A’s won and the M’s lost. Oakland is now just 1.5 games behind Houston for first place in the West. Seattle falls 5.5 games back of the A’s in the West and 7.0 games behind Houston.
By losing, the M’s also are now 5.5 games down to the A’s in the Wild Card race. These head-to-head division matchups are critical to a team’s standing when fighting for a post-season slot.
Food for your brain
Matt Chapman hit a home run and a double to give him a major league leading 22 extra-base hits in August. Those 22 extra-base hits also tied a franchise record.
Stephen Piscotty’s home run was just his fourth round-tripper hit in Oakland this season. He has hit 19.
Mike Fiers worked only 3.2 innings which was his shortest outing for the A’s.
Khris Davis ended a 0-for-19 streak with his RBI-single in the sixth inning.
The A’s are 57-0 when leading after seven innings.
The M’s Mike Leake has not won a game since June 23rd in Boston.
Nelson Cruz hit his 16th career home run at the Coliseum on Friday night which is the most among active players.
Dee Gordon now leads the American League with 30 stolen bases.
Laureano scores in the 1st inning vs Seattle Photo: @Athletics
Up Next The A’s and Mariners will play game three of this crucial four-game series on Saturday night at 6:05 PM PDT.
The M’s will send LHP James Paxton to the mound. Paxton is 10-5 on the season and will be making his 25th start of the year. He has a 3.68 ERA.
The A’s will counter with RHP Daniel Mengden, who was recalled from Triple-A Nashville last Monday. This is Mengden’s second tour of duty with the big club. Mengden has a 6-6 record on the year with a 4.28 ERA.
OAKLAND — The Oakland Athletics beat the Houston Astros 7-1 at the Oakland Coliseum on Saturday afternoon and are now tied for first place in the American League West. Fans were in disbelief that the A’s (74-49) were in contention for the Wild Card in the AL, but now, the Green and Gold are fighting to win their division. Virtually none of those fans thought that was a possibility before the season began.
Strong starting pitching and power hitting was the key to the A’s win on Saturday.
Trevor Cahill (5-2) started the game for Oakland. He has been pitching the lights out in the Coliseum with an ERA under one at home. Cahill continued his mastery of opponents in his home stadium as pitched seven innings of shutout baseball, allowing the Astros just one hit. The right-hander struck out seven batters and walked just one. Cahill threw 100 (62 strikes).
The A’s also went on another power surge on Saturday as they hit eight doubles which tied an Oakland single-game record, but you were not allowed to hit just one double – you had to hit two. All of the extra base hits were recorded by four A’s hitters. Khris Davis (24), Stephen Piscotty (33), Matt Olson (26) and Josh Phegley (6) hit all of the “two-baggers” for Oakland versus Houston. The A’s posted a total of 11 hits in the contest.
The A’s were trailing the Astros by 12 games back on June 18. Today they are tied for first place.
Oakland’s 74-69 (.602) record is tied for third best in the majors. It is tied for fourth place in A’s history after 123 games.
Khris Davis’ double in the first inning snapped a 0-13 hitless streak.
Matt Olson’s two doubles extended his hitting streak to six games.
Matt Chapman’s 14 game hitting streak and 30 game on-base streak came to an end on Saturday when he went 0-for-4 in the game.
Add on Trevor Cahill: he retired 20 of the 22 batters he faced in the game. The A’s have won Cahill’s last seven starts.
Astros’ notes
The A’s scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning which means the Astros opponents have now outscored them 56-55 in the first inning.
Alex Bregman’s road on-base streak continues as he picked up a base-on-balls on Saturday. His streak currently stands at 38 games.
The ‘Stros recorded just two hits in their loss on Saturday. It was just the third time this season they posted two or fewer hits in a game.
Dallas Keuchel (9-10)–who was charged with the loss–saw his four-game road winning streak come to an end.
Up Next
The A’s and Astros wrap up the three game series on Sunday at 1:05 pm PDT on Sunday.
The Astros will send RHP Justin Verlander (11-8, 2.52) to the mound in an attempt to salvage one win in the series. The A’s will go with their ace LHP Sean Manaea (11-8, 3.44). Manaea won his last start on Monday in Oakland over the Mariners 7-6. He is 1-1 in three starts versus the Astros this season.
The Oakland Athletics jumped back into the win column on Saturday night with a 7-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium. The A’s scored their seven runs in the first four innings and the Angels were never able to respond.
Marcus Semien may have had his best game of the season at the plate on Saturday. The A’s shortstop went 3-for-5, hitting two home runs (8, 9), driving in four runs (43) and scoring three runs. Semien’s third hit was his 26th double of the year.
Semien’s second home run was the 8000th in Oakland history Photo: @Athletics
Khris Davis also joined the power show on Saturday night in Anaheim. “KD” smashed his 34th round-tripper of the season in the third inning off Angels starter Tyler Skaggs. Davis also hit an RBI-single in the fourth inning. Davis now has 92 RBIs for the year to date.
Matt Chapman had a 2-for-5 game with the bat. Chapman hit a single up the middle in the top of the first to drive Semien home from second to score the A’s first run of the game. It was Chapman’s 40th RBI of the season. Chapman scored a run in the fourth inning on Davis’ RBI single.
Stephen Piscotty went 3-for-5 with the bat and scored a run for Oakland. A’s catcher Jonathan Lucroy had a 2-for-4 game at the plate and also scored a run.
The A’s scored seven runs on 14 hits while leaving nine men on base. They went 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position. And while they picked up 14 hits, their batters struck out just seven times. More hits than strikeouts–is that allowed in an MLB game this year?
Photo/Graphic: @Athletics
Strong starting pitching for Oakland Edwin Jackson–who almost did not make the Major League roster–picked up his fourth win of the season in this game. He worked 7.1 innings of shutout baseball, allowing the Halos just three hits and three walks while striking out six batters. The 7.1 innings represents the deepest into a game Jackson has worked since joining the A’s. He had worked into the sixth inning six times. Jackson threw 110 pitches (65 strikes).
Jackson’s strong starting pitching effort meant that Trivino, Familia, and Treinen were able to take the night off.
Ryan Buchter worked 0.2 innings of relief in the eighth inning, striking out two batters. Emilio Pagan worked the bottom of the ninth, which got a little more exciting than the A’s would have liked. Pagan loaded up the bases with no outs but worked his way out of trouble without allowing a run to score.
The win affects the West, but not the Wild Card The Mariners beat the Astros again on Saturday, so the A’s gained ground on Houston, but did not create any additional separation between themselves and Seattle.
Oakland has cut the Houston lead in the American League West to 3.5 games. The Astros have lost three straight games. The Astros and A’s play a three-game series next weekend in Oakland.
The A’s lead over the M’s in the Wild Card race stays steady at 1.5 games. The A’s and M’s play a three-game series Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in Oakland.
Up Next The three-game series will wrap up on Sunday with a 1:07 pm PDT game. The A’s will send RHP Trevor Cahill to the mound (4-2, 3.12) to face the Angels’ Taylor Cole, who will start what will be a bullpen game for LAA.
Jonathan Lucroy rounds the bases in triumph Photo @Athletics
By Charlie O. Mallonee
OAKLAND — Game five of the 2018 Bay Bridge Series – the second of three to be played in Oakland – was played before the largest crowd to witness a Major League Baseball this season. The A’s (56-43) decided to take the tarps off the seats in the upper deck known as “Mount Davis” for the first time since 2006. The result was 56,310 Bay Area baseball fans were treated to a “wild and woolly” affair.
The top the ninth arrived at the Oakland Coliseum, and as usual, it was Treinen time. The A’s held a slim 3-2 lead over the Giants, but the A’s have been the masters of winning one-run games (15-8) in 2018. Treinen retired the first two batters — Posey and Sandoval on groundouts. The third hitter of the inning – Alen Hanson – struck out, but the strike three pitch was wild, got by the catcher and Hanson wound up safe at first (this is now the first paragraph of a Stephen King novel).
Hunter Pence then hit a pitch into right field that rolled into foul territory and into the Giants bullpen for a double, and Alen Hanson scored on the play. As right fielder Stephen Piscotty charged the ball, a member of the Giants bullpen picked up a chair and made contact with the outfielder. The Athletics contended that it should have been a “dead ball” at that point which would have kept the run from scoring. There is no rule that umpires could invoke, so the A’s challenged the play on a boundary call. A video review of the play upheld the call on the field. When the top of the ninth inning was over, the game was tied at 3-3.
The A’s were unable to score in the bottom of the ninth, so it was on to extra innings.
There was no scoring in the 10th inning and the Giants (51-49) failed to produce any runs in the top of the 11th frame.
The A’s are late inning battlers
Chapman at the plate Photo Charlie O. Mallonee
Teams are learning that they cannot let the A’s hang around late in games and continue to have chances to score – because they will. That is exactly what happened on Saturday night.
In the bottom of the 11th inning, the Giants put LHP Will Smith on the mound. Piscotty grounded out to lead off the inning for Oakland. Dustin Fowler was then robbed of a hit when he lifted a “flare” to shallow right-center and shortstop Brandon Crawford made an outstanding sliding catch beyond the bag at second.
With two out, Matt Chapman picked up his third hit of the game with a single up the middle. Chad Pinder followed up with a single to left-center that moved Chapman up to second. Catcher Jonathan Lucroy – who did not enter the game until the 10th inning – singled to right-center field and Chapman never had any thoughts of doing anything but crossing home plate to score the winning run which he did.
The A’s won the game 4-3 to even the series in Oakland at 1-1 and to take a 3-2 lead in the six-game series after five games.
The walk off single was Lucroy’s second of the season. The Athletics are now 7-4 in extra inning games for the season and improved to 14-6 in games decided in the last at bat.
On the Hill
At meeting at the mound on Saturday night Photo Charlie O. Mallonee
The Giants started their one-time superstar – LHP Madison Bumgarner – who has struggled since coming back from a broken finger on his pitching hand. “MadBum” looked strong in the opening four innings, but the A’s hitters got patient and things went south for Bumgarner in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Bumgarner loaded the bases and walked two runs in to give the A’s the lead 2-1 which ended his night. Sam Dyson came in to relieve Bumgarner and induced Mark Canha to hit into a double play but Chad Pinder scored the A’s third run on the play.
Bumgarner worked 4.0-plus innings giving up three runs (earned). He walked six and struck out five.
Will Smith (0-1) took the loss.
Trevor Cahill started the game for Oakland. It was his second start since coming off the disabled list. He worked 5.2-innings and gave up one run (earned) on a home run to Brandon Belt. Cahill struck out five and walked three.
Blake Treinen was charged with his fourth blown save of the season as he gave up the tying run when Hunter Pence hit the RBI-double into the bullpen along the right field line.
Yusmeiro Petit picks up his fifth win of the year as he was the pitcher of record after working a perfect top of the 11th inning for the A’s.
At the Plate
Matt Chapman went 3-for-5 with two runs scored to lead the A’s with the bat. He is now hitting at a .253 clip.
Stephen Piscotty hit his 26th double of the year off Bumgarner.
Phegley (10), Semien (34) and Lucroy (28) all recorded RBI for the A’s.
Oakland went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base.
Hunter Pence likes being a DH. He went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI as the Giants DH Saturday night.
The Giants also went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left 8 men on base.
Let the buying begin
Jeurys Familia Photo MLB.com
The question has been answered. The A’s are going to be buyers as the non-wavier trade deadline approaches. Oakland has acquired RHP relief pitcher Jeurys Familia from the New York Mets for two minor leaguers and $1-million in international slot money. Familia appeared in 40 games for NYM posting a 2.88 ERA with a 1.230 WHIP. He has struck out 43 in 40.2-innings and walked just 14. Familia has given up just one home run. He will be a free agent at the end of the 2018 season.
Get those suitcases packed
The A’s will head out on the road after the game on Sunday for a seven-game, two-city road trip. They will play four games in hot, humid Arlington, Texas versus the Rangers. All four games are night contests. There is no thought of day baseball this time of year in the Metroplex. After the four games in Texas, Oakland heads to Denver to play three games at Coors Field with the Colorado Rockies. The power hitting Athletics may find batting at a mile-high just to their liking.
Lonnnnng homestand coming
The A’s will return home from their road trip on Monday, July 30 to begin a stretch where 17 of their next 20 games will be played in Oakland. The only break in the homestand is three games in Anaheim with the Angels. Oakland will host the Blue Jays, Tigers, Dodgers, Mariners, Astros and Rangers in those 17 home games.
A belated parade for the 1989 World Champions
The 1989 World Champion Oakland Athletics were honored with long overdue parade to celebrate their 1989 World Series sweep of the San Francisco Giants. The team did not receive the parade because they did not want to show disrespect to those who lost loved ones in the tragic earthquake that disrupted the series. The celebration before the game was very nice. The one sad thing was there are several players that have passed on who could be there to be a part of the pregame honor.
Up next
The sixth and final game of the 2018 Bay Bridge Series will be played on Sunday at the Coliseum at 1:05 PM. The Giants will send RHP Johnny Cueto to the mound for his third start since coming off the disabled list on July 5th. He is 3-1 on the year with a 2.36 ERA. Cueto is 2-0 in Interleague games this season.
The A’s will counter with LHP Sean Manaea who 4-0 with a 3.14 ERA in eight starts since the beginning of June. His overall record this season is 9-6 with a 3.42 ERA. Manaea has an 11-game winning streak when pitching in day games that dates back to May 20, 2017. He is 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA in three career starts versus the Giants.
The Athletics (49-40) won on Saturday afternoon in Cleveland, but they could not do it the easy way. It took them 11 innings and two late scoring barrages to down the Indians 6-3 in game two of the three-game series. The series is now tied at one game apiece as the teams prepare to finish the series on Sunday.
The A’s knew they were going to have an uphill battle on Saturday as they had to face “the ace” of Cleveland staff — Corey Kluber. Kluber — who has won two Cy Young Awards — started the game with a record of 12-4 and an ERA of 2.49. His WHIP was 0.88. None of those stats give an opponent hope of getting healthy versus a starter like Kluber.
The A’s did counter with their own starter who has become quite a headliner in his own right — Edwin Jackson. Jackson who is now pitching in 16th Major League campaign has become the big story for the Athletics. As he started the game, Jackson had not walked a batter in his two previous starts.
Neither Kluber or Jackson figured into the final decision of the game. Kluber left the game after pitching seven innings of shutout baseball. Jackson left the game after 5.2 innings having given up three runs (two earned).
Progressive Field was almost full on Saturday Photo: @Indians
Great starts need great bullpens to keep them intact
Cleveland manager Terry Francona tapped Neil Ramirez to take over the pitching duties in the top the eighth inning for Kluber.
Ramirez started off strong getting Dustin Fowler to strike out for the first out of the inning. Mark Canha came to bat next and singled to left field.
Jed Lowrie was the third hitter of the inning. Ramirez and Lowrie had a seven-pitch battle. Lowrie hit the 2-2 pitch over into the right field seats for a two-run home — his 15th of the season.
With the score now 3-2, Khris Davis was next to face Ramirez. Krush hit a 1-1 fastball 431 feet into the center field seats to tie the game at 3-3. The near-sellout crowd in the “Rock ‘n Roll City” became as quiet as a church. You may have been able to hear the fans in Northern California screaming as their team made their comeback.
Extra Innings are always interesting if not fun
Graphic @Athletics
Neither team mounted a serious scoring threat in the ninth or 10th innings.
By the top of the 11th inning, everyone was starting to get really nervous. The A’s had already used closer Blake Treinen in the bottom of the 10th inning. The Indians had lost their designated hitter because of moves with pinch hitters. The longer these games go, the more convoluted the managing moves become.
Josh Tomlin took over the pitching duties for Cleveland (49-38) in the top of the 11th. Matt Olson led off with a single to right field.
With no outs and Olson at first, Stephen Piscotty came to the plate to face Tomlin. Piscotty battled Tomlin to a 3-2 count. Piscotty hit the seventh pitch over the left-center field wall for a two-run home run to give the A’s a 5-3 lead.
Matt Chapman was the next to bat and he hit a line drive double to left field. Marcus Semien then grounded out to third. Chapman had to hold at second.
Jonathan Lucroy was the next hitter. While Lucroy was at the plate, Chapman was able to steal third base. Lucroy reached first on a fielding error by Lindor and Chapman was able to score the Athletics third run.
When the top the 11th inning was over, the A’s held a 6-3 lead.
The Indians went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 11th inning and Oakland won the game 6-3.
Pitching
The win went to Blake Treinen who is now 5-1 on the season. He came back and pitched the bottom of the 11th as well for Oakland.
Lou Trivino gets special mention for pitching two strong innings of scoreless baseball as does Ryan Buchter for throwing 1.1 innings without allowing a run.
Josh Tomlin (0-5) was charged with the loss.
Hitting
The long ball was the A’s best friend on Saturday. Lowrie hit his 15th, Davis his 21st and Piscotty launched his eighth homer of the season. Chapman powered up two doubles.
Matt Chapman has a perfect day at the plate going 4-for-4 on Saturday.
The RBI just keep on coming. Jed Lowrie added two more to up his total to 61 for the season. Khris Davis (58), Piscotty 2 (38) and Lucroy (25) all had RBI in the game.
Lindor and Brantley continued to tear it up for the Indians. Lindor is now batting .301 and Brantley is hitting .310 for Cleveland.
Up next
The series concludes Sunday morning at 10:10 AM PDT when Brett Anderson (0-2, 7.63) takes the hill for Oakland to face the Indians Shane Bieber (4-0, 2.97).
Nick Martini recorded his first major-league hit on Saturday Photo: @Athletics
By Charlie O. Mallonee
The Oakland Athletics won their second game of the four-game series with the Chicago White Sox 7-6 at Guaranteed Rate Field on Saturday. However, the win did not come easy.
As the game entered the bottom of the ninth inning, the A’s held a 7-6 lead. Blake Treinen continued on the mound in an attempt to close it out for Oakland. Yoan Moncada led off for the White Sox and wound up safe at first when Treinen could not handle the throw from first baseman Matt Olson. Treinen was charged with an error. Avisail Garcia took a little pressure off Treinen by striking out.
Jose Abreu reached first safely when Marcus Semien made a fielding error and a fielder’s choice turned into back-to-back errors with the tying run at second base and the potential winning at first.
DH Matt Davidson then became Treinen’s best friend when he grounded into a six to four to three (Semien to Barreto to Olson) double play to end the game and give the A’s their second win in the series.
It may have been a costly win
Photo: @WhiteSox
A’s starting pitcher Daniel Mengden had to leave the game after the second inning with a right foot sprain. The team does not know what is next for Mengden. It could be that he will be rested and possibly miss his next scheduled start. The other possibility is a trip to the DL if the injury is more serious in nature and requires extended time off.
Mengden has struggled in his last five starts. He is 1-2 with an 8.98 ERA over those five games. His opponents have batted .295 against him in those games. Mengden pitched 2.0-innings on Saturday giving up five runs (all earned) in the first inning including one home run.
Oakland could call Chris Bassitt back from Triple-A Nashville to take Mengden’s spot on the roster if that becomes necessary.
A’s with the bat Nick Martini, who was called up to give the A’s some fresh legs after the Friday doubleheader, recorded his first major-league hit in the eighth inning when he singled to right-center field to drive home Stephen Piscotty from second base to give Oakland a 7-6 lead. Even though they no longer officially track it as a statistic, Martini’s RBI-single proved to be the game-winning hit.
Matt Olson, who homered in the second game on Friday night, hit his 17th home run of the year in the sixth inning off of White Sox pitcher Chris Volstad. This was the third time Olson has homered in back-to-back games this season. He also extended his hitting streak to five games.
Stephen Piscotty his sixth home run of the year in the second inning off Chicago starter Dylan Covey. He went 2-for-3 in the game to make it his 14th multihit game of the season.
A’s on the mound The bullpen came through for the Athletics again on Saturday. Oakland had to use six relievers in the game. The relievers pitched 7.0-innings allowing just one run off three hits. They struck out 10 and walked just one hitter.
Lou Trivino had a very interesting relief appearance. He entered the game in the sixth inning with one out and the bases loaded. He induced Moncada to ground into a force play, but Anderson was able to score from third to tie the game. Trivino was charged with a blown save (1).
Trivino came back out for the seventh inning and struck out the side in order to keep the A’s in the game. Trivino was the pitcher of record when Martini hit his RBI-single and was awarded the victory to up his record to 5-1 for the year.
Treinen worked 1.2-innings for a five-out save. It was his 17th save of the season.
The A’s love the road The A’s have now won six of their last seven games and are 4-1 on this 10-day road trip. Oakland is 20-17 on the road this season.
The A’s have homered in a franchise-record 24 consecutive road games.
The A’s are 13-7 in one-run games in 2018.
Up next The A’s and White Sox will wrap up this four-game series on Sunday at 11:10 pm PDT. Oakland will send RHP Paul Blackburn (1-1, 8.03) to the mound. The White Sox will start LHP Carlos Rondon (0-2, 4.41).
Chad Pinder’s first career Grand Slam Photo: @OaklandAthletics
by Charlie O. Mallonee
The Oakland Athletics won their third game in a row over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday by beating the home team 5-4. The A’s won for just the third time this season when trailing after the seventh inning. They did improve to 8-2 in one-run games and now own the best winning percentage in one-run games (.800) in the Major Leagues.
The A’s trailed the Jays 4-0 as they came to the plate in the top of the eighth inning. John Axford replaced Seunghwan Oh on the mound for Toronto. Matt Chapman led off the inning with a walk – never a good thing for a relief pitcher. Khris Davis singled to right moving Chapman up to third. Matt Olson went down on strikes for the first out of the inning. Stephen Piscotty then singled to right driving Chapman home and allowing Davis to advance to third. Piscottly was able to advance to second on a throwing error.
That brought a pitching change as Axford was sent to the showers and Tyler Clippard was sent to the hill to stop the A’s rally.
The first hitter Clippard faced was Dustin Fowler and he hit a fly ball for an out. Jed Lowrie then pinch hit for Jonathan Lucroy and drew a base-on-balls to load the bases. Chad Pinder then stepped into the batter’s box and hit a 1-1 pitch over the right-center field wall for a grand slam home run to give the Athletics a 5-4 lead.
That would be the end of the scoring in the contest and the Athletics would win 5-4.
The win means the A’s have won the series and they will be going for the sweep on Sunday. Oakland is now 6-3 on this road trip facing the best of the East and is 13-13 on the road this season.
In the batter’s box
Athletics
Chad Pinder hit his first career grand slam home run that proved to be the game-winning hit versus the Blue Jays on Saturday. This was his fourth home run of the season. Pinder is now hitting .271 with three home runs and nine RBI since coming off the 10-day Disabled List on April 17,
Stephen Piscotty drove in the first run of the day for Oakland and went 2-for-4 in the game making it his eighth multi-hit game of the season. Piscotty is batting .311 in day games and .215 in night contests.
Khris Davis went 2-for-4 in the game and hit his ninth double. 12 of Davis’ last 22 hits have gone for extra bases.
Shortstop Marcus Semien posted his 15th multi-hit game going 2-for-5 with a double on Saturday.
Blue Jays
Justin Smoak tries to lead the Jays past the A’s Photo: @BlueJays
Gio Urshela hit his first home run as a Blue Jay – a two-run shot in the fifth inning. It was also his first career home run to the opposite field.
Yangervis Solarte doubled twice and posted an RBI. This was his third multi-extra base hit game this season. He leads the Jays with 27 RBI.
Justin Smoak went 2-for-3 off Sean Manaea. He is now hitting .333 (19-for-57) versus lefties. Smoak picked up two walks in the game and is now tied for fifth in the American League in walks with 26.
Kevin Pillar recorded his 20th RBI with a Sacrifice Fly in the fifth inning in his 46th game of the season. He did not record his 20th RBI in 2017 until game 80.
On the hill
Oakland
Starter Sean Manaea allowed four runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts in his 5.0-innings of work on Saturday. It matched his shortest outing of the year. Manaea has given up four runs in each of his of last four starts.
Emilio Pagan worked 2.0-innings of relief and earned his first win of the season.
Blake Treinen closed out the game for Oakland and earned his 10th save of the season for A’s.
Toronto
Tyler Clippard had a very, very bad day. He was charged with his first blown save of the year and picked up his first loss of the season as well.
The Jays used five pitchers who gave up five runs on 10 hits while allowing four walks and striking out 10.
Note: The roof at the Rogers Centre was closed.
Up Next
The final game of the series will get underway at 10:07 AM PDT with RHP Daniel Mengden (3-4, 3.75) on the mound for Oakland facing the Blue Jays RHP Joe Biagini (0-2, 7.98).
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