Game #83: Seattle Home Runs Sink A's

Well, that game was decidedly unfun. Sorry, huge crowd. Four two-run home runs by Seattle; one in the third, one in the sixth, and two in the eighth sunk Jesse Chavez and the A's as both the starting pitcher and the bullpen could not keep Seattle off the board.

The A's actually jumped out to an early lead in the second after both teams squandered chances in the first; a pop-up and a ground out ended Seattle's first and third, one out situation and a predictable double-play by Billy Butler ended the A's own first and third, one out. But the A's came roaring back in the second on one-out infield singles by Lawrie and Reddick. Lawrie scored on a single by Canha, Reddick scored on a ground out by Semien, and Canha scored on a double by Billy Burns, giving the A's an early 3-0 lead.

It didn't last long. A single and a home run by Logan Morrison cut the lead to 3-2 in the third inning and only a really nice double play from Vogt to Semien--who atoned for his earlier league-leading, but not costly error--stopped the scoring there. Chavez allowed nine hits in his six innings; he wasn't exactly fooling anyone. The Mariners would take the lead for good in the sixth as a single and a homer by Seth Smith put Seattle on top 4-3.

After a lead-off double and a ground-out to start the seventh, Chavez was pulled in favor of O'Flaherty, who got out of the jam unscored upon. After he allowed a single to start the eighth, he was replaced by Evan Scribner and all hell broke loose. Nelson Cruz homered with the man aboard to drive the score to 6-3, and a double, a ground-out and an error by Vogt scored the 7th. With another man aboard, Brad Miller's home run sent the score to 9-3 and the A's were done, despite their ninth inning teAse, where Sogard and Reddick singled and Canha doubled just so the A's could lose 9-5.

So Canha had a good night, huh? (crickets)

The A's play some patriotic baseball tomorrow at 1:05PM. We'll see you right here.