May has officially begun, and the A’s begin the month with a series-opening loss to the Cleveland Guardians, falling to their AL Central foes in a high-scoring 8-5 contest. The starting pitching wasn’t great, the bullpen allowed three runners to cross home plate, and while the offense provided five runs they left 10 on base tonight and let this game slip away. The Mariners lost tonight but the Rangers won. The division lead is still ours and still at one game.
Teams trade early runs
Righty J.T. Ginn got the ball tonight looking to continue the solid streak he’s been on since joining the starting staff. He ran into some early trouble tonight though as the first three batters he faced all reached, loading the bases with nobody out before most people had found their seats. Not a good start.
This tough spot didn’t faze the young righty though. He buckled down and got two huge strikeouts before getting out of the early jam with a high flyout to right fielder Colby Thomas to end the threat:
That’s what we call a magic trick, folks.
Now it was the A’s turn to bat. Shea Langeliers got things going with a one-out single against Cleveland starting pitcher Joey Cantillo. After a flyout from Kurtz it was Brent Rooker up to the plate with two outs and he absolutely smacked the second pitch he saw over the wall in left field, giving the A’s the first lead of the game:
Pretty amazing considering how this game started. That was Rooker’s third of the season and he really needed that one. Snapped an 0-for-20 streak at the plate, longest of his career. He wasn’t done there tonight either.
While Ginn pulled some magic in the first, he couldn’t do it again in the second. A walk and single started the inning and Ginn got two outs right after that, but he got tagged for a two-run double that tied this game up at 2. Could have been worse.
The middle frames
From there Ginn actually settled in for a bit. He went three up, three down in the third and fourth innings, at one point retiring seven in a row.
On the other side, the A’s were getting contact against Cantillo and broke through again in the fourth. A pair of back-to-back walks to open the frame was followed by a sac bunt to put two runners in scoring position for Zack Gelof. Once considered a building block of the organization but beginning the year in Triple-A, Gelof came through with perhaps his biggest hit of the year to date, a two-run single to retake the lead for the Green & Gold:
Things have been rough for Gelof over the past couple of seasons but he’s already had a couple moments for this club so far. Gelof would actually be thrown out at home when Jacob Wilson grounded a ball to short to end the frame. Not a great call, going for home with only one out, but we like the aggressiveness. That’s a moment too.
Again, once the A’s took the lead Cleveland began to rally. Back-to-back walks to the top of the lineup to open the fifth was Ginn just asking for trouble. While he escaped the wrath of Jose Ramirez, another walk loaded the bases and veteran first baseman Rhys Hoskins made Ginn pay with a two-run double after that that tied this game back up. And at 88 pitches, that was the final straw for Mark Kotsay to come get his starter and turn things over to the bullpen.
-
J.T. Ginn: 4 1/3 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, 88 pitches
For someone whose control had been a major selling point, it was a bit disappointing to see Ginn’s command off essentially all night long. Cleveland made him pay for those free passes as three of them ended up crossing home plate. Considering his streak entering tonight he shouldn’t be in danger of being passed over for his next scheduled start, which lines up to be against the Phillies in Philadelphia next Friday.
Hogan Harris replaced Ginn and gave up a sacrifice fly that gave Cleveland their first lead of the game, which was charged to Ginn, though he did get Bazzana to strike out to end the threat. Still, the damage was done and the A’s offense had work to do.
Comeback attempt falls short
It took a couple innings but they got something going in the seventh. Starting with a Wilson single and a pair of walks, Rooker came to the plate with no outs and delivered a base knock that whittled the Cleveland lead down to three:
Of note, one of those walks was to Nick Kurtz, which was the 20th straight game he’d drawn a walk. That officially surpasses Barry Bonds in the modern era:
Next up, the all-time record by Roy Cullenbine in 1947, who walked in 22 straight games. Think Kurtz can do it?
Anyway, the bases were still loaded with no one out. The A’s were in business. But it was the Guardians’ turn for some magic. Now into the Cleveland bullpen Darell Hernaiz struck out, then Soderstrom, and finally a fly ball that looked on its way out of the yard was instead robbed by Guardians center fielder Steven Kwan. Owch:
Absolutely horrible luck. On the bright side the fire in the A’s wasn’t out quite yet. Still down three runs, the bats continued to work. A Jeff McNeil double and Jacob Wilson on base via error put runners on the corners in the bottom of the eighth with just one out. Tying run at the plate, and the heart of the order coming up. Instead Langeliers and Kurtz both struck out swinging, ending the threat. Another big owch.
The A’s went down in order in the ninth to seal this one. Their record now stands at 17-15 after the first game of May. Hopefully this isn’t another year where the season is sunk by a terrible May. Not off to a good start in that regard.
Tough pill to swallow, this one. The A’s offense came through tonight for five runs, but the pitching couldn’t hold down a Guardians offense that didn’t allow a hit to Jose Ramirez. Ginn was shaky tonight and clearly didn’t have his control in this one. Kurtz, though he drew that record-breaking walk, went 0-for-4 and came up short in some moments. Everyone of the other starters other than Hernaiz got at least one hit tonight (and Hernaiz drew a pair of walks). It doesn’t help when your bullpen doesn’t keep the deficit to a minimum but still. For someone who was a darkhorse candidate for AL MVP, Kurtz has been a bit absent in the early going.
It’s going to be a quick turnaround as the series continues tomorrow afternoon in the second game of the series. For the A’s it’ll be left-hander Jacob Lopez getting the ball for his sixth start (seventh appearance) of the season. Things have not gone all that smoothly for Lopez in his second full season with the A’s, and his spot in the rotation has to at least be feeling insecure. With other arms in the system ready to jump at their opportunity Lopez needs a big game tomorrow or else the voices calling for a change will get bolder and louder. He’ll be opposed by Guardians right-hander Slade Cecconi, who’s in line for his seventh start of the year. He saw the A’s twice last year, first going seven shutout innings against us in June before, strangely, giving up six runs in nearly nine innings of work in a Guardians win. Should be another good one at Sutter Health Park tomorrow!
Read the full article here
