The roof of the Tropicana Field is damaged the morning after Hurricane Milton hit the region, Oct. 10, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
On That’s Amaury News and Commentary podcast:
#1 The Tampa Bay Rays are now being mentioned for relocation from Tampa Bay after having Tropicana Field destroyed by Hurricane Milton on October 9th. The damages for repair is estimated at $56 million and the Rays will play their 2025 season in the spring training home of the New York Yankees George M Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.
#2 The move to Steinbrenner Field for the Rays puts them as the second big league club not to play in a Major League facility for the 2025 season as the A’s of Sacramento will be playing their home games in minor league park Sutter Health Park in 2025.
#3 The Rays are at a tough crossroads here as Tampa Bay Mayor Ken Welch wants to go ahead and repair the Trop but with the Rays getting a new stadium in 2029 they might end up playing their regular season games at George Steinbrenner Field until their new stadium is ready?
#4 The construction cost for the A’s Las Vegas ballpark at $1.5 billion is still yet to be seen. A’s owner John Fisher’s spokesperson Sandy Dean said recently at the Las Vegas Stadium Authority meeting headed by Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce CEO Steven Hill that the Fisher Family will be putting up the $1.5 billion to cover their share of the construction costs. The bill to help supplement SB1 is due Dec 5th.
#5 Meanwhile until things are sorted out in Las Vegas, West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero has said that West Sacramento can build a 40-50 thousand seat ballpark for the A’s by the Sacramento River Bridge. The A’s are focused on playing in Las Vegas after the 2027 season.
Tampa Bay Rays’ Randy Arozarena acknowledges the crowd from the dugout after hitting a two-run home run during the eighth inning at Tropicana Field in St Petersburg on Sat Apr 8, 2023 (AP News photo)
A’s Blanked By Tampa Bay 11-0
By Barbara Mason
Saturday afternoon the Oakland A’s (2-6) played the Tampa Bay Rays (8-0) in game two of their three game series. Friday Oakland dropped game one 9-5 amid a flurry of Ray home runs. The A’s did have more hits than Tampa Bay did but they had trouble stringing hits together and bringing runners home. They were looking to even the series Saturday but were lambasted by the Rays in an 11-0 laugher at Tropicana Field in St Petersburg.
This game was scoreless through three innings. In the fourth inning the Rays got a couple of runs off a single from Isaac Paredes sending Brandon Lowe and Wander Franco home for a 2-0 lead.
Tampa Bay began to pile it on in the fifth and sixth innings. They scored seven times taking a 9-0 lead. A Randy Arozarena single brought Manuel Margot and Francisco Mejia home and the Rays were just getting started. Brandon Lowe would score his second run of the game when Paredes was hit by a pitch.
This gave the Rays a 5-0 lead. The sixth inning did not get any better for the Oakland defense giving up another four runs. Tampa Bay had a couple of home runs; one a solo from Margot and another from B. Lowe with two runners on base for the 9-0 lead.
In the eighth inning the Rays had their third home run of the game courtesy of Arozarena with a runner on base for the final 11-0 score. This was the eighth win a row for the Rays to start the season.
The A’s could only manage three hits in this game. They sent ace Shintaro Fujinami to the mound going 4.1 innings allowing three hits and five earned runs. Oakland would send four relief pitchers to the mound in the losing effort.
Tomorrow the A’s will finish up this series in Tampa Bay. James Kaprielian will take the mound for the A’s and for Tampa Bay Drew Rasmussen will get the nod. First pitch is scheduled for 10:10 AM.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL – MAY 21: Pitcher Sean Doolittle (C) of the Oakland Athletics celebrates his save with teammates Fernando Abad #56 of the Oakland Athletics and catcher Derek Norris #36 of the Oakland Athletics after striking out Wil Myers of the Tampa Bay Rays to end the ninth inning of a game on May 21, 2014 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images)
By Matthew Harrington
The Oakland Athletics managed only one hit against the Tampa Bay Rays Wednesday evening at Tropicana Field, but the lone base knock proved to be an efficient one. Brandon Moss’ solo home run in the fourth inning proved to be the game-winner in a 3-2 decision over Tampa Bay (19-28). Oakland (30-16) also scored two unearned runs in the second, proving to be all the run support Tommy Milone (2-3, 3.99 ERA) would need. The lefty fired 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball, outdueling Erik Bedard for a fifth-straight victory for the Green and Gold (30-16), leaders of the AL West by four games. Sean Doolittle converted the save just hours after manager Bob Melvin declared the flame-throwing southpaw full-time fireman, replacing the previously employed closer-by-committee approach.
To open the second inning, the A’s loaded the bases on Bedard without registering a hit. Yoenis Cespedes reached on an errant throw from shortstop Yunel Escobar that pulled James Loney off the bag at first base. Derek Norris and Brandon Moss followed the error with back-to-back walks and nowhere to put Alberto Callaspo, but the second basemen struck out for the first out of the inning.
Defensive miscues doomed Bedard’s brilliant performance though after a second error in the inning brought Cespedes and Norris around for a 2-0 lead. Rays second-sacker Sean Rodriguez turned a surefire double-play from Josh Reddick into a two-run mistake, sailing the potential twin-killing feed to Escobar into left field instead. The misplay gave Cespedes and Norris ample time to cross home plate from third and second base respectively.
While the A’s bedeviled the Rays to two runs on four base runners without a hit earlier, it only took one batter in the fourth for Oakland to add to the lead. With two outs in the top of the fourth, Brandon Moss crushed a first-pitch hanging breaking ball from Bedard to right field for his 10th long ball of the season to make it 3-0 for the visitors. Moss collected his 40th RBI of the season, the fourth-highest total in the Majors this season. Moss is also second in the junior circuit in on-base plus slugging percentage (.988) and sixth in the AL in on-base percentage (.393) in a quest for his first All-star bid of his career.
Tampa scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth on run-scoring singles from Loney and Escobar, the latter of which greeted reliever Fernando Rodriguez into the game. Rodriguez relieved Milone, who departed the game responsible for one run already and on the hook for a pair of runners on base as well. Only one of the runners scored before Rodriguez could retire the side, closing the book on Milone after three strike-outs and a solitary walk issued. His opponent Bedard (2-2, 2.63) went 5 1/3 innings, striking out six Athletics while yielding the lone hit to Moss for the only earned run of the night
After closing out the sixth inning, Rodriguez pitched a scoreless seventh before handing the ball over to Luke Gregerson for the eighth. Gregerson retired Evan Longoria looking at strike three but surrendered consecutive singles to Loney and pinch-hitter Matt Joyce to put the tying run at third with only one out.
Fernando Abad, the Athletics most reliable reliever this season, entered the game trying to cut off the Rays rally. He lost David DeJesus on a full-count base on balls to fill the bases with Rays but induced a lead-saving double play from Escobar to end the inning and the stamp out the Tampa scoring threat at two runs.
Sean Doolittle pitched a near-perfect ninth for his fourth save of the season, striking out two while allowing a lone hit to close out the game and put Oakland in line for the sweep in the Sunshine State. A’s ace Sonny Gray will take the bump for Thursday’s matinee from the Trop looking for win number six in a row for Melvin and associates. He’ll be opposed by the Ray’s Alex Cobb in the finale before the team heads north of the border for a weekend series in Toronto. The Blue Jays currently stand tied with the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East.
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