Game #15: A’s Score 8 Runs! (And Give Up 10)

Coming into the season I think we all knew there would be a lot of games that would end up something like 10-8. We were just hoping the A’s would have the 10 sometimes. Generally you hope that if you score 8 runs and have your Opening Day starting pitcher on the mound you can eek out a win, but no.

Kendall Graveman now has a 9.87 ERA after surrendering 5 runs on 8 hits in just 4 innings. After leaving the bases loaded in the 1st inning, Graveman got the first 2 out in the 2nd but then was required, by Oakland A’s Law, to give up a hit to the back up catcher, David Freitas. A Dee Gordon single later, Jean Segura cracked a 3-run HR — the 5th HR this season off of Graveman in just 17.1 IP.

The A’s had some fight in them, getting up off the deck to score 3 of their own in the top of the 3rd, highlighted by Mark Canha’s two run single and a game tying single by Jed Lowrie, but Graveman gave 2 right back in the bottom half and the evening progressed about like that: every time the A’s made a move the Mariners had an answer.

The closest the A’s came after that was in the top of the 4th when they tried once again to match Seattle. Trailing 5-4 following a Stephen Piscotty RBI single that put runners at the corners with just one out, Matt Joyce pinch hit, swung at the first pitch from reliever Chasen Bradford, and bounced into a 4-6-3...”safe at 1B!” bellowed 1B umpire Paul Nauert, suggesting that the game was tied. However, the fine folks in New York noted that by lunging for the bag instead of just running, Joyce was in fact out and the inning ended with Seattle still up 5-4.

The bullpen remains an overworked, underachieving bunch, and matched Graveman’s 5 runs in 4 innings with 5 of their own in their 4 frames. Included in the mess were HRs off of Danny Coulombe (Mitch Haniger), Emilio Pagan (Kyle Seager), and Pagan again (Daniel Vogelbach). The A’s, along the way, countered with HRs from Khris Davis, Canha, and Piscotty.

The bottom line? The A’s made 3 errors (Graveman, Semien, Chapman), served up 4 HRs and 10 runs, and dropped to 5-10. A word to the wise would be to turn things around right quick, get hot, run off a few wins, and stay in touch with the .500 mark. That might require the starting pitchers to last more than a handful of ineffective innings and for the relievers to join in the whole “getting batters out” theme. Otherwise, fans may complain on Tuesday that the tickets were overpriced.

At least we never lose to Felix Hernandez or anything.

After a game like this, you probably want to go read the game thread comment by comment! Go for it.