Since Sunday’s beatdown of the Cincinnati Reds, the A’s have outscored their opponents 52-24! What a thrill it has been too, seeing production not only come from staples like Tyler Soderstrom and Brent Rooker, but also prospects such as Junior Perez.
That narrative continued today against the Angels in Tempe.
A pair of walks to Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers in the top half of the 2nd made it a 2-run lead early. With the bases loaded, Soderstrom stepped up to the plate and absolutely unloaded on a 94 mph fastball from Aneurys Zabala for a Grand Slam. On the very next pitch thrown by the 29 year old right-hander, Rooker would take him deep. Just like that the A’s are up 7-0 and it’s only the 2nd inning. The damage wouldn’t end there. In Austin Wynn’s second at-bat (first resulted in a double) he’d get a hold of one. Another fastball served up by Zabala, another home run for the A’s. That’s 8 total runs and three tanks for the Green and Gold. They’d load the bases once again with two outs but Kurtz would roll over on a 3-1 fastball.
Aneurys Zabala’s day would be over after less than an inning of work, but oddly enough, starter Alek Manoah’s wouldn’t. Manoah would re-enter the game in the 3rd inning and aside from the Rooker ground-rule double, he pitched pretty decent compared to his first go around. Manoah’s day would end with a line of 2.1 IP, 3 hits, 5 ER, 5 BB, and 3ks.
In the 3rd, 4th, and 5th inning of offensive work for the Angels, they’d chip 4 runs off of A’s starter Luis Morales and Brady Basso. Morales looked really sharp through his first few innings, but once the 4th frame rolled around he kind’ve lost it. The bad juju vibes carried over into Brady Basso’s outing. A couple more runs would be tagged to his name on 4 hits. The highly touted Jamie Arnold would also give up a run on a homer to Denzer Guzman, but overall his day should be considered a success.
No one, however, on either team that is, had a less productive day than the 32 year old Geoff Hartlieb. The A’s right-hander got kicked around by the Halos, to the tune of 5 ER in less than an inning! Would not be surprised if he’s banished to the Phantom Zone by sundown.
Overall, A’s pitching was a bit of a mess today. Thankfully the offense got it done when called upon. Five more runs were tacked on by the Green and Gold in the 6th. Max Muncy’s single brought home Joshua Kuroda-Grauer. Michael Stefanic’s double scored Muncy as well as Bryan Lavastida. He’d then round the bases thanks to a towering cranker by Junior Perez!
Clark Elliot’s 3-run homer in the 9th capped off the last of it. They’d finish with 16 runs on 12 hits and no errors. In the hits department, the Angels came out on top. 15 of their hits resulted in 11 runs. Zero errors were committed by the Halos. Their defense wasn’t to blame, it’s the pitching! The pitching is just absolutely atrocious – – and by the looks of it, we’re not that far behind them!
Tomorrow, the A’s will be squaring up against the Colorado Rockies for the first time this spring. As of right now, it’ll be Chase Dollander (who made his big league debut against the A’s) vs. JT Ginn. Following Friday’s game, the club will split into two. Half will be staying in Arizona to take on the Cubs and the Dodgers, and half will be charting out to Las Vegas, Nevada for this season’s rendition of Big League Weekend against these same Angels!
Lots of fun baseball ahead for the Green and Gold!
What were your impressions of today’s game and do we like Chris Townsend in the booth? I personally am not a fan. I don’t like his energy. He clearly doesn’t have the stamina to be covering a full game. If I had to listen to him and Jenny Cavnar in a tandem, talking about dippin’ dots and beating traffic for 162 games, I’d probably resort to the Play-O-Graph.
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