On Friday, the A's kicked off the series in Arlington by ruining a terrific start by Jesse Hahn, followed that up with a cataclysmic 7th inning performance and today in the matinee, they delivered an encore. To witness the carnage, simply click the link below and scroll down roughly to comments 50-150.
***Read Today's Game Thread Here!***
As the 7th inning began, I was writing about how the A's were moving toward a record of 2-0 when facing former Oakland starting pitchers--the first coming on Wednesday against Anaheim's Jesse Chavez--and the second coming this afternoon against A.J. Griffin.
Additionally, that it's too bad that former Athletics pitchers Jon Lester, Jeff Samardzija, Gio Gonzalez, Bartolo Colon, et al. seemingly all reside in the National League.
Finally, that in both cases, it was the long ball that proved to be pivotal for the A's as they blasted three home runs off Griffin to rally from 2-0 down to salvage a victory in the series.
But, alas, after a 7th inning that included a really imaginative way for Trevor Plouffe to allow Carlos Gomez to score on an "infield single" from second base or the ineffectiveness of Bobby Wahl and Ryan Madson, who earns the loss, and is now 0-3 with a 6.49 ERA in Arlington, it's somehow apropos that Matt Bush would need just 6 pitches to retire all 3 Oakland hitters in the 9th inning when one of those pitches was a base hit.
The A's can't leave DFW fast enough.
There are positives that Oakland can take to Seattle when they face the Seattle Mariners. First, Seattle also suffered a brutal loss today against the Toronto Blue Jays courtesy of a Kevin Pillar walk-off and on Saturday, their bullpen coughed up 6 runs in the game's final 3 innings to blow a 1-run lead.
Misery loves company.
Defensive woes aside, Stephen Vogt was productive at the plate today, going 2-for-3 with a walk. Prior to this afternoon, he was in a 1-for-15 slump that left us all wondering how long until he'd be designated for assignment. With the Mariners sending out three right-handers to the mound, Vogt is likely to see a bit more plate appearances so hopefully today's performance gives him a bit more confidence.
Speaking of Seattle right-handers, those starters exclude the services of Felix Hernandez. In Yovani Gallardo, Chase De Jong, and Christian Bergman, the A's will face three pitchers who combined to allow 12 runs in their last 15 combined innings.
More misery loves more company. And we've got a lot of it in Oakland.