FanPost

Spring Game #21: Buchter struggling again, A's lose 4-1

Mark Canha scored a Rickey Run for Oakland's lone tally. - Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

With the split squad teams the game quickly turned out to be a pitching duel as both Manaea and Lawrence were getting outs at the beginning of the game. Sean had a rocky 4th inning were he has given up 1 run on a sac fly by Kirk Nieuwenhuis, but apart from that it was a solid performance by our starter. Jonathan Lucroy might have gone 0-2 at the plate, but he was responsible for catching Manaea and after that he got to work with Yusmeiro Petit, who again made the bats go quiet. But the A's were still trailing 0-1 after 6 innings as Casey Lawrence and Shawn Armstrong continued their hot spring with the Mariners.

*** Click here to revisit today's Game Thread! ***

After the 6th inning we got to see some changes on the field. Josh Phegley came in to catch for Lucroy with Melvin Mercedes and Nick Martini joining him on the field. Chris Hatcher got the ball to start the 7th and he again showed us why the A's front office had so much faith in him. He may not be a fan favorite among Dodger fans, but there is a chance that he could have a key role here in Oakland. Next in line to throw was Emilio Pagan and he was just as good if not better. Pitching against his old team the 26 year old reliever looks to be an important reliever just like Hatcher.

These two clean innings allowed Mark Canha to tie the game by a walk, stolen base, advancing on an error and a sac fly. It was a Rickey Henderson type scored run by a player, who has only 9 stolen bases in his major league career. Mark has been really impressive this spring and during his time in Oakland and in Nashville he has shown that he could be a very dangerous hitter.

After tying the game Ryan Buchter came into the 9th inning and gave Seattle a 3 run lead. Zach Vincej had a 3RBI triple, that scored Yonathan Mendoza, Anthony Jimenez and Mike Marjama. Unfortunately the left handed reliever aqcuired in the Brandon Moss trade had another rough outing, that kept his Spring Training ERA over 9. Hopefully this isn't the version of the pitcher that we will see during the regular season. The A's decided to send away Jesse Hahn with Heath Fillmyer while also covering some of Brandon's salary to recieve Ryan Buchter. Hopefully our southpaw will rebound and find his good form sooner than later.

The A's didn't come back from that poor performance and lost 4-1. The biggest dissapointment was of course Buchter, but the other three relievers did a good job of getting outs today. Sean Manaea was solid and with our depth getting smaller it is important that guys like him perform consistently well.


That will be it from me! Thank you guys for the opportunity that I got! It was a pleasure to write about A's baseball, this was a cool way to spend a nameday!