ON THE MOUND
After not allowing a walk in his first start (SEVEN innings vs the Angels) Erasmo allowed a walk in each of the first TWO innings to the A’s but, didn’t get into serious trouble until the 3rd, when a couple of singles and a homer tied the game at THREE. The A’s took the lead in the 5th via a single, stolen base, walk, wild pitch and a single – so, without recording an out in the 5th, that would be Erasmo’s day . . .
FOUR innings pitched ~ SEVEN hits ~ FIVE runs ~ THREE earned runs ~ THREE walks ~ ONE strikeout
} Chris took over in the 5th where his Mariners debut turned out to be his first (non-All Star Game) career bullpen appearance (he was scheduled to start Friday’s game that was called due to poor field conditions) and he proceeded to retire SIX straight batters (first out in the 5th allowed an inherited runner to score).
} Dominic seemed to have some butterflies (not an usual occurrence in one’s big league debut) as he allowed a lead-off double and a walk, threw 27 pitches but, in the end, he didn’t allow a run. Debut outing = mixed bag, Debut results = success
} Yourvis allowed the A’s SIXTH run via a lead-off homer to Cespedes in the 8th then retired the next THREE batters in order
AT THE PLATE
~EIGHT hits (including TWO doubles) and THREE walks is an OK day but, 3 for 11 not so much. Gotta give the A’s defense credit – there were some very hard hit balls that were either at ’em in the infield or that A’s OF’ers made spectacular plays on.
~ Good to see Michael get his first couple of hits
~ Once again, some questionable ball/strike calls – especially the last strike call on Abe that ended the game (but, it all evens out . . . right?)
IN THE FIELD
* Dustin lost a ball in the sun in the 2nd but, it didn’t end up hurting them, in large part to Cespedes’ base-running blunder
* Justin smothered a line drive and was able to feed it to Brad to get the lead runner at 2B in the 3rd
* Brad makes a huge head’s up play to back up Abe after he made a diving effort on a sinking line drive that popped out of his glove – Brad fires to 1B to nail the runner who had started toward 2B and was out trying to get back to 1B when Justin tagged him ~ by a hair ~ (Melvin asked for the review, and lost)
* Crazy play on a fly ball to Abe who seemed to catch it, take a few steps and then lose it on the transfer but, it was ruled a no catch. Either way, it was the first out of the inning so, the runner from 3B scored and there was a runner at 1B instead of 2B
tweets of the game . . .
Some M’s numbers and rankings after the first road trip of the season . . .
^ lead the AL West with a 4-2 record
^ offense has outscored opponents 34-18
^ offense tied (w/Rays) for most extra base hits in the AL (2nd in homers behind – the Astros!
^ pitching staff has the lowest WHIP (1.04) in the AL
^ pitching staff has the third lowest ERA (2.62) behind the A’s & Rays
^ don’t count ’em out ~ M’s lead the majors in 9th inning with TEN!
Compass Rosy 