The first two games of the season were a ton of fun, but it’s nice to keep the drama a little lower sometimes. Everyobody looked pretty good today, from Eric Lauer and the bullpen holding the A’s to two runs on five hits against 15 strikeouts, to the power bats showing up to the tune of three home runs. A season opening sweep is, by definition, the best start you can have.
Eric Lauer came out of the blocks looking like he wasn’t going to let Kevin Gausman and Dylan Cease outshine him just because they throw 8mph harder. He struck out the side in the first, picked up another in the second, another in the third, and one more to lead off the fourth before a Nick Kurtz walk gave the A’s their first baserunner. His seventh closed out the inning without the A’s scoring. Sacramento got some back in the fifth, as Jacob Wilson lead off with a line drive double and (not that) Max Muncy went yard the other way, cutting Toronto’s lead to 4-2. It was a brief blip, though, and he got two more Ks and a pop out to end the inning there. Lauer returned to start the sixth, getting a fly out and counceding a ground ball single up the middle. At 87 pitches, John Schneider decided to call his afternoon there, pulling him in favour of Braydon Fisher. Ultimately, Lauer only managed 9 Ks, while giving up two runs on three hits and a walk over 5.1 innings pitched. I guess that’s why he’s only a swingman. Fisher picked up a strikeout of his own and got a ground out to end the inning.
Meanwhile, the offence rolled from the jump. George Springer his his 64th career game opening home run, pulling him within 9 of Rickey Henderson for the all time lead. They went quietly in the second, but jumped back on Luis Morales in the third. Tyler Heineman lined a single with one out, and Jesus Sanchez followed with a 417ft bomb to centre field that made it 3-0. Kazuma Okamoto added one of his own in the fourth to increase the margin to four.
After Oakland closed the gap in the top of the fifth, they turned to small ball to manufacture one more run in the home half. Heineman and Sanchez walked, prompting Mark Kostay to call for J.T. Ginn to take over. Ginn’s first batter, Vladimir Guerrero jr., hit a hard ground ball single. His second, Addison Barger, worked a walk that forced Heineman home and made it 5-2. Okamoto grounded into a double play that prevented a big inning.
Ginn handled the Jays quitely in the bottom of the sixth. Fisher returned for the seventh and pitched a 1-2-3 inning while picking up his second strikeout. Ginn did it again in the eighth, retiring the jays in order. The top of the eighth fell to Tommy Nance. He got the first two A’s, but then gave up a single to Shea Langeliers and John Schneider decided to call for Mason Fluharty to face the lefty Kurtz. Fluharty had declared himself able to go after leaving the game yesterday when he took back to back come-backers to the knee. He apparently has a pretty gnarly bruise on the inside of his knee but no more serious damage, and he looked just fine freezing the Colonel on 93 on the top outside corner to end the inning.
Ginn stayed in for the bottom of the eighth and continued to look sharp, again facing the minimum and picking up two more strikeouts. That set up Jeff Hoffman for the three run save opportunity. Jacob Wilson managed a ground ball single, that was it.
Jays of the Day: Sanchez (0.18) is the only hitter who qualifies for either award. Lauer (0.11) and Fisher (0.10) make it on the pitching side.
Less so: Nobody!
That’s it for the A’s in Toronto this year. Tomorrow night we move on to the Colorado Rockies. Tomoyuki Sugano will represent the visitors, while Cody Ponce makes his official North American return for the Jays. First pitch goes at 7:07pm ET.
Read the full article here
