Tag: Toronto Blue Jays

Splish Splash Oakland A’s slugger JJ Bleday gets the Gatorade can treatment after belting a walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Oakland Coliseum on Fri Jun 7, 2024 (Oakland A’s X photo)

Toronto (30-33). 000 000 100. 1. 5. 0

Athletics (26-39). 000 001 001. 2 5. 0

Time: 2:07

Attendance: 16,046

Friday, June 7, 2024

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–The A’s, like Hogan Harris, their starting pitcher in Friday night’s 2-1 stunning walk off triumph over the Toronto Blue Jays, have had their ups and downs this season. After laboriously climbing the to the pinnacle of mediocrity at 17-17 on May 4, the green and gold steadily dropped in the standings and had lost six of their previous eight games. With Friday night’s win, they’ve risen to 26-39.

Harris, the third round choice of the then Oakland Athletics in the 2018, reached the big leagues last year, when he went 3-6, 7.14 for the. A’s in six starts and eight relief appearances. He has been up and down between Oakland and Las Vegas this season.

When he was recalled from the Aviators on May 30, it was the third time in ’24 that he was with the big club. He was an unimpressive, even by PCL standards 1-2, 7.67 while in AAA. This evening, he wasn’t just up in the majors; he was up to major league standards and then some.

When Austin Adams relieved him to start the top of the seventh, Harris had yielded exactly three hits and two walks while logging three strikeouts. He threw 91 pitches, XX(55) for strikes. Although the A’s were leading 1-0 at Harris’s departure, he had to settle for a no decision that left his w0n-lost record unchanged but lowered his ERA to 2.21.

The Blue Jays, who had just salvaged a split in their four game series at Baltimore and going 11-7 in their last 18 encounters, still were only 30-32 at game time. Unlike Harris, who is notorious for not getting through a lot of innings, Chris Bassitt, Toronto’s starting pitcher Friday evening, frequently piles up the IPs, of which he compiled an even 200 last year, when he went 16-8 in 33 starts racked up 186 strikeouts.

The veteran of seven big league seasons was an uncharacteristic 6-6, 4.13 when he toed the mound in the bottom of the first. He pitched a beautiful eight frames, holding the Athletics to one run, which was earned, on four hits and two walks. He did, however, unleash a wild pitch. 71 of his 102 offerings either were called strikes or made contact with an Athletic’s bat. Like Harris, he wasn’t involved in the decision. His ERA dropped considerably, to 3.80.

Neither team came close to scoring over the initial 5-1/2 frames. Then Max Schuemann led off the A’s sixth with a single to left, only their third hit, and advanced to third on Abraham Toro’s single to center. After Miguel Andújar took a called third strike, Schuemann scored on a wild pitch to JJ Bleday. Toro took third, where he was stranded.

Austin Adams, who relieved Harris, couldn’t hold onto his lead. The Blue Jays overcame The Curse of the Leadoff Double. Vladimir Guerrero’s fly to deep right field landed just inside the foul line, and Bo Bichette followed with a game tying single to right. A passed ball and hit batter made for a threat, but Adams wiggled out of it.

Scott Alexander hurled a 1,2,3 eighth, and Mason Miller set down the heart of the Toronto order, Guerrero, Bichette, and George Springer down on two strikeouts and a grounder to third in the ninth.

Chad Green, who relieved Bassitt for the ninth, worked pretty quickly, too. His first pitch to Bleday, leading off, was an 86 mph slider. It went over the right field fence and landed 369 feet from home plate to give the A’s a walk off triumph.

It was Mason Miller’s first big league win. Bleday, interviewed on the field after his blast, was asked how he felt, having given the Oakland fans something to cheer about. His answer was drowned out by chants of “SELL THE TEAM.”

Credit for the win, his first as a major leaguer went to Miller. Green, 1-1, 2.25, took the loss.

Saturday, righty Luis Medina will make his first start of the season for the A’s. Fellow right hander Kevin Gausman (4-4, 4.60 will be his opposite number for Toronto. First pitch 1:05pm PT at the Oakland Coliseum.

Seattle Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo pitches to the Oakland A’s in the top of the first inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Thu Jun 6, 2024 (AP News photo)

Thursday, June 6, 2024

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Oakland, California

Seattle Mariners 3 (36-28)

Oakland Athletics 0 (25-39)

Win: Bryan Woo (3-0)

Loss: JP Sears (4-5)

Save: Ryne Stanek (4)

Time: 2:35

Attendance: 6,571

By Stephen Ruderman

OAKLAND–The A’s ran into a buzz saw in Bryan Woo, who shut down the A’s, and the Mariners shutout the A’s 3-0 on a hazy Wednesday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum to take the series.

The A’s were looking to win just their second series since they took two of three from the Miami Marlins from May 3-5. They were also looking to win consecutive games for the first time since that same series against the Marlins.

Left-hander JP Sears made the start for Oakland. Sears was coming off a start in Atlanta where he gave up four runs over seven innings against a powerful Braves team at Truist Park, one of the most live ballparks in Baseball.

Sears was back at the Coliseum for his team-leading 13th start of the season to go up against a Mariners team, who despite their record, has struggled offensively all season. Sears promptly got off to a nice start with a 1-2-3 top of the first inning.

The Mariners went with right-hander Bryan Woo, who has pitched quite well since being called up from Triple-A Tacoma on May 10. Woo has gone 2-0 with a minuscule 1.30 ERA in his first five starts of the season.

The A’s put Woo in trouble right away in the bottom of the first. Abraham Toro hooked a double down the right field line to start the inning, but he never got to third, as Woo was able to settle down to retire the side.

Sears walked Cal Raleigh with one out in the top of the second, but he induced a double play off the bat of Mitch Haniger to end the inning. Seth Brown reached second to lead off the bottom of the second when Mariners’ left-fielder Victor Robles tried to make a leaping catch on a routine fly ball to left field but ended up dropping the ball. Fortunately for Robles, Woo retired the side, and Brown never got past third.

The A’s had wasted opportunities in the first two innings, and they would need Sears to keep cruising, but Sears immediately got himself in trouble in the top of the third. Sears walked Mitch Garver, and then he hit Robles right afterwards to put runners at first and second with nobody out. Ryan Bliss then reached on a bunt single, the Mariners’ first hit of the game, to load the bases.

Sears struck J.P. Crawford out swinging for the first out, but Dylan Moore knocked in Garver with a sacrifice fly to left. The Mariners had a 1-0 lead, and Woo followed that up with his first 1-2-3 inning of the afternoon in the bottom of the third.

Sears hit Raleigh with a pitch with one out in the top of the fourth, and Raleigh followed that up by stealing second base. Sears struck Haniger out for the second out, but Garver hit a single to left to score Raleigh and make it 2-0.

As for Woo, he pitched another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fourth. Both pitchers pitched scoreless innings in the fifth.

Sears went back out for the top of the sixth, but with activity in the A’s bullpen, he would most likely have to pitch a 1-2-3 inning to go a full six innings. Sears did indeed pitch that 1-2-3 inning to end a very strong day for him, in which he gave up just two runs and three hits over his six innings, while striking out eight.

Woo pitched another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the sixth, and he was in complete control. That made it a bit surprising that his day would be done afterwards.

Woo had yet to go more than six innings this year, and he had his highest pitch count of the year with 85 pitches, but with how he was pitching Wednesday, it could have been assumed that Mariners Manager Scott Servais would have given him one more inning.

Still, it was quite an impressive outing. Woo allowed just two hits and three base-runners over his six shutout innings, and the A’s simply could not catch up to his fastball.

“We just couldn’t hit the heater,” said Manager Mark Kotsay. “I don’t know what it is about his fastball that gives us trouble…..We just could not hit the fastball.”

Dany Jimenez was the new pitcher for Oakland in the top of the seventh, and he worked through a pair of walks for a scoreless inning. Austin Voth came in for Seattle, and he pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh.

Jimenez was back out for the top of the eighth, He struck Julio Rodriguez out swinging to start the inning. Jimenez then walked Ty France, but he bounced back to strike Raleigh out swinging for the second out.

Then, Kotsay brought in the left-hander, T.J. McFarland, to face the right-handed-hitting Mitch Haniger. It seemed like a weird move from afar, but Haniger has struggled against left-handers this season. The move paid off, and Haniger grounded out weakly to third to end the inning.

Mike Baumann pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth for Seattle, and when McFarland went back out for the top of the ninth, Mitch Garver led off the inning with a home run to left-center to extend the Mariners’ lead to 3-0.

It was quite an afternoon for Garver, who reached base all four times he came to the plate, going 2-for-2 with a single, the home run and a pair of walks. He also scored two of the Mariners’ three runs.

Ryne Stanek then came out and pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth for his fourth save.

Bryan Woo got the win; JP Sears suffered a very hard-luck loss; and Ryan Stanek picked up the save.

“We have definitely pitched [well], and offensively, we haven’t taken advantage of that,” said Kotsay. “It’s been a tough stretch. Generally, [if] you have good pitching, you win games. We’ve had good starting pitching, I think, for the last 10 or so outings, and we haven’t really capitalized on it.”

The A’s fall to 25-39, and they will hope for better luck when they welcome in the Toronto Blue Jays for three at the Coliseum starting Friday night. The Jays will be going with RHP Chris Bassitt (6-6, ERA 4.13) the A’s will counter with Left-hander Hogan Harris (0-0, ERA 3.14) who will be on the hill, first pitch will be at 6:40 p.m.

Schools over Stadiums filed for a petition to get enough signatures on the ballot in four districts in Nevada to stop use of public funds for the A’s Tropicana ballpark in Las Vegas. (image from the Schools over Stadiums twitter account)

On the A’s podcast with Jerry F:

#1 Jerry, Dawn Etcheverry, a music teacher and President of NSEA and Schools Over Stadiums in Nevada is moving on a petition referendum to stop the use of public funding tax dollars that would be used to build a ballpark at the Tropicana hotel and casino that was approved by the Nevada State Legislation in June in a special session.

#2 Etcheverry said the petition is pursuing every path possible to stop the use of public funding to pay for the Tropicana Park for a future Las Vegas A’s relocation. Etcheverry said that the Nevada voters were shutout in the process and didn’t have a say in the use of public funds for paying for the ballpark to the tune of $380 million.

#3 The organization Schools over Stadiums goal is to make sure public funding goes to public schools and not the Tropicana Park and once enough signatures are on the petitions from four the Nevada districts including Clark County which Las Vegas and Tropicana hotel are a part of the measure to stop using public money will be put on the ballot.

#4 If Nevadans vote to stop the use of public funds to build the Tropicana ball park succeeds the funding for the ballpark ceases and the A’s will have to seek private funding if they want to continue pursuing Las Vegas. They possibly could go back to the City of Oakland and negotiate terms about building at Howard Terminal.

#5 If everything goes as planned Schools over Stadiums will have the vote in November 2024, one year and two months from now. The MLB owners are voting on the A’s relocation in December. If the owners vote yes to relocate the A’s, the Schools over Stadiums measure could hold up shovels in the ground at the Tropicana until the voters have their say in Nov 2024.

Jerry Feitelberg does the Oakland A’s podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland Athletics’ Lawrence Butler (22) is congratulated by Nick Allen (2) after hitting a home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during the fifth inning at Oakland Coliseum on Sun Sep 4, 2023 (AP News photo)

Toronto (76-62 ).     000 030 000 3.  –   6.  8. 0

Oakland (42-96).      o00  011 100  2. –   5.   8  0.  10 innings 

Time: 3:00    

Attendance: 9,062

Monday, September 4, 2023

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND —Almost in spite of themselves the A’s yesterday finished up a sweep of their three game series against the Angels, who were, until Shohei Ohtani tore his  ulnar collateral ligament last week, serious contenders for a berth in the post season play offs.

This afternoon, as they opened another three game series, it was against a more imposing  squad, the Toronto Blue Jays, who entered the day in a virtual tie with Houston for third place in the American League wild card standings. 

Oakland, even though they had won eight of their last 13 games, already had been mathematically eliminated from any chance of reaching  ,500. A win today   them from the race to the bottom, but they fell short and dropped a 10 inning thriller to Toronto Blue Jays, 6-5.

The A’s entrusted the starting role to rookie Luis Medina, fresh off the 15 day injured list.his 2-7, 5.92 record.  The Dominican right hander came to the A’s along with Ken Waldichuk, JP Sears, and infielder Cooper Bowman in the deal that sent Frankie Montás and Lou Trivino to the Bronx and came to work today with a big league record of 3-8, 5.44 and a WHIP of  1.53, all of it earned this season. He turned in four innings of splendid work before falling apart in the fifth.

He pitched a total of 4-2/3 frames and yielded three runs, all earned, on three hits and an equal number of walks, not to mention a hit batter. He threw 70 pitches, 41 for strikes.  He ended up with a no decision and a 3-8 5.46 record. The Jays’ starter, right handed José Berríos lost the last game he’d pitched, surrendering five runs, all earned, over six frames against the Nationals.

He brought a season record of 9-10, 3.70 and a lifetime mark of 81-64, 4.17 to the Coliseum when he faced the Athletics this warm and sunny Labor Day, an afternoon that invited home runs. He, like Medina, got a no decision for his efforts.. He threw 84 pitches, 57 for strikes over six innings in and allowed two runs, both of them earned, on four hits, two of which left the park, and a walk and returned to the hotel. with a record of 9-10, 3.68.

The teams traded goose eggs  over four innings, until Medina, who had held Toronto to a one hit, one walk, and one hit batter until then, lost his control and walked  the first two Jays he faced, Alejandro Kirk and Daulton Varsho. Ernie Clement’s single to center loaded the bases, and it looked as if Medina might pull a Houdini when Kevin Kiermaier hit into an Allen to Noda 6-3 double play.

Kirk scored on the play, but now there were two down with only a runner on first. But it was not to be. George Springer  doubled to right to drive  Varsho in with Toronto’s second run and then, with Sean Newcomb on the mound after Springer’s two bagger, came home on Cavin Biggio’s single to left.

The visitors’ three run lead shrank to two with Lawrence Butler’s two out solo round tripper in the home fifth. The 417 foot blast into center field was the rookie’s third home run and seventh run batted in and came on an 81.7 mph slurve and left Butler’s bat at 107.6mph.

The A’s would have tied it up in the bottom of the sixth if Gelof, who had singled to center and stole second hadn’t been picked off before the next pitch was thrown. Noda was at bat, and slammed a 402 foot home run into the nearly empty right field seats. The first baseman’s 14th dinger of the season closed the gap to 3-2.

Yimi García took over for Berríos after the select gathering of 9,062 had finished singing “Take Me Out to the ball Game.” After  García retired Brown, Jordan Díaz took the ball out of the park and tied the game at three all. His four bagger took a hanging curve into center field,  397 feet from the plate. It was his 10th homer of ’23 and his 24th RBI.

Lucas Erceg pitched the top of the eighth, gave up a walk and a single but escaped unscathed.Jay Jackson succeeded García in the home half of that inning. Allen greeted him with a single,  went to second on Kemp’s sacrifice bunt and to third on Geloff’s grounder that almost got past diving third baseman Biggio’s glove. That scenario brought Génesis Cabrera to the mound. He got Noda a ground out to first, and we moved into the ninth inning with the score still tied at 3-3.

With the help of a beautiful diving catch by Kemp of Varsho’s dying quail to left, Erceg retired the side in order to give Oakland a chance to win in regulation.  Rooker, who had struck out in all of his three previous plate appearances, led off with a line single to center. Aledmys Díaz, batting for Brown, went down swinging. 

Jordan Romano replaced Cabrera on the mound to face Jordan Díaz. Ruiz stole second on Romano’s first pitch and stole third while Díaz was swinging at strike three. Langeliers fouled out to first, and we went into extra innings. Francisco Pérez relieved  Erceg in the top of the tenth.

Pinch hitter Santiago Espinal whacked on a double to left on his first pitch, driving in zombie runner Ernie Clement. Springer grounded out to third. Biggio hit a solid single to center that brought in Espinal with the second Blue Jay tally of the tenth. That was it for Pérez; Spencer Patton moved from the pen to the mound and walked Guerrero. 

Horowitz sent an opposite field liner between Kemp in left and Butler in center. It looked like, and originally was called as, an RBI double, but Oakland challenged that ruling, and a reply showed that the ball had gotten lodged under the fence. Biggio had to return to third. Pattongave Merryfield an intentional walk and then retired Kirk and Varsho.

Butler was the A’s first batter in their desperate bid to stay alive in the tenth. He stunned the crowd and the Blue Jays with his second home run of the day, a 403 foot rocket into the right center field seats, bringing in zombie runner Langeliers and cutting Toronto’s lead t 6-5.

It stayed there after Tyler Soderstrom struck out pinch hitting for Allen, Kemp walked, and Gelof hit into a 6-4-3 game ending twin killing. Romano was the winning pitcher and now has a 5-5, 2.54 record. The loss went to Pérez, now is 1-2, 6.75.

Oakland’s defeat 42-96 brought their won-lost percentage down to .304, way better the  Cleveland Spiders, who on this day in 1899 lost both ends of a double header in Cincinnati, dropping their record to 19-105, .153, which still was better than their still standing season  record of all time major league losers, 20-134, .130.

The A’s no longer seem a threat to erase the memory of the loveable New York Mets of 1962, who were defeated a, 5-1, at Forbes Field by Harvey Haddix and the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 4, falling to 35-106, .248. They would rise to 40-120, .250 by the season’s end, when they established the modern era record for futility.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, the Jays will send ex-Athletic righty Chris Bassitt (13-7, 3.81) against southpaw Ken Waldichuk (2-7, .5.92) for a 6:40 start at the Coliseum

Oakland A’s Ryan Noda (49) is congratulated by Zack Gelof (20) after Noda’s two run home run in the bottom of the sixth at the Oakland Coliseum against the Los Angeles Angels on Sun Sep 3, 2023 (AP News photo)

On the Oakland A’s podcast:

#1 Oakland A’s pinch hitter Tony Kemp belted a two run seventh inning single which helped the A’s motor past the visiting Los Angeles Angels at the Coliseum for a four run win 10-6 and pick up a three game sweep.

#2 A’s manager Mark Kotsay that sixth inning rally was a good sign and that the hitting was feeding off each other to help the A’s get past the Angels.

#3 The A’s who had a 4-3 lead lost that lead when the Angels Luis Rengifo slugged his 15th home run of the season to tie up the game 4-4.

#4 The A’s never gave up hope scoring six runs in the bottom of the seventh and held onto the lead despite the Angels trying to play catch in the top of the ninth scoring two runs but falling four runs short in the loss.

#5 The Toronto Blue Jays come calling on Monday afternoon at 1:07pm PT starting pitcher for the Jays Jose Berrios (9-10 ERA 3.70) for the A’s Ken Waldichuk ((2-7 ERA 5.92) at the Oakland Coliseum.

Join Barbara for the A’s podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com