Game #110: A’s Bats Frosted by Brew Crew

On a day when the A’s added strength to their pitching staff with the acquisition of Reds pitcher, Tanner Roark, the A’s offense went quiet against five Milwaukee pitchers in a 4-2 loss at the Coliseum.

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GameThread #2

Anderson Bends but Doesn’t Break
Brett Anderson was chased early in his previous start (4 ²⁄₃ innings) and it looked like he wouldn’t last long in tonight’s game either, surrounding a lead-off home run to the Brewers Lorenzo Cain on just the second pitch of the evening. But credit Anderson for staying focused and limiting the Brewers to just two additional runs thru seven innings and 95 pitches.

A’s Can’t Come Thru in the Clutch
On the offense side of the baseball, the story of the night and of the series so far is the A’s lack of execution with runners in scoring position. Despite last night’s walk-off win, the team was 0 for 9 with runners on second and third and tonight the team went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. Those type of numbers won’t produce many runs unless the ballclub muscles up to hit homeruns. Tonight, the long ball was absent from the A’s offense making their opportunities with runners in scoring position all the more critical.

Solid Pitch Hit Double for Jurickson Profar in the 7th inning
Jurickson Profar did come through as a pitch hitter with a runner on second in the bottom of the 7th inning. Profar battled with two strikes and clubbed a difficult breaking ball that ended up at his ankles into right field to score the A’s second run.

The at-bat was an impressive one for Profar (he added a single in the 9th inning as well) and highlighted even more the man he replaced for the at-bat, Franklin Barreto. Barreto looks lost at the plate so far in 2019. Tonight he went 0-2 with a strikeout and lowered his season batting average to .109 in 46 official at bats. One has to wonder how much more the A’s will allow Franklin to contribute in 2019 as the calendar turns to August.

Defensive Gems for the A’s Outfield
Both Robbie Grossman (playing in right) and Mark Canha (playing in center) made outstanding plays on balls hit over their heads. Grossman’s came in the sixth inning and robbed extra bases for Brewers DH Yasmani Grandal. Canha’s catch came with the bases loaded in the eighth inning on a play where he covered 20 to 25 yards up the ally to save three runs and keep the A’s in the game. Both plays were all the more remarkable considering Canha and Grossman have had limited action at those positions in 2019.

Playoff Chase
Houston lost tonight to Cleveland so the A’s remain 8 games back of the AL West leaders. Unfortunately because Cleveland won, the A’s fall three games behind the Indians for the first wild card position and with the Rays victory tonight trail Tampa Bay by half a game for the second wild card position with 55 games left on the schedule for the A’s (plus the final innings from the postponed Tigers game)

A’s Go for the Series Win Tomorrow Afternoon
Homer Bailey gets the call for the A’s tomorrow at lunchtime as the teams battle in the rubber match of the three game series. The A’s have a rare Friday day off this week and then the St. Louis Cardinals come into town for a two game Sat/Sun series.

Be encouraged A’s fans, the bats won’t be kept down for long, baseballs should be flying to the power ally’s tomorrow afternoon on the first day of August....Let’s Go A’s!!!!