A’s fall in series finale to Braves

The A’s dropped the series finale against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday morning, falling by a final of 3-1 against the team with the fourth-best record in the National League.

Today’s game saw one of Oakland’s young promising starting pitchers make his return to the club today. Right-hander Luis Medina, who has been on the IL all season long due to a knee sprain, made his season debut today and it went about as well as one would hope. Medina struck out the first batter he faced to start this game, but a couple baserunners later and the Braves were staked to an early 1-0 lead.

After that, Medina went cruise control mode. Over the next five innings Medina allowed just one more hit and walk apiece while punching out five more Braves hitters. Things went swimmingly for the young righty in his return to a major league mound.

-Luis Medina: 5 ²⁄₃ IP, 2 H, 1 R (0 ER), 2 BB, 6 K, 89 pitches

The starting pitching staff has been hit hard by injuries all season but getting Medina back is going to be a boost. Today’s start is exciting to see because we’re all hoping the sophomore pitcher can take a big step here in his second season as a major leaguer.

It’s just disappointing that the offense didn’t back him up today. Facing veteran right-hander Charlie Morton, the Athletics drew five walks but only managed one hit, a Max Shuemann single in the third that went to waste. They got a couple chances with baserunners in scoring position but just couldn’t find that big hit that would push them across.

The A’s did manage to breakthrough later in the game though, and that big hit was a solo bomb off the bat of second baseman Zack Gelof in the seventh:

Gelof has had a tough year all around up to this point so it’s encouraging to see him go yard, his first home run since April 22nd. That home run cut the Atlanta lead in half and the A’s were right back to being a swing away from tying this game.

That would be as close as the Green & Gold would get in this one though. Atlanta added on an insurance run in the bottom half of the seventh off Austin Adams and another off Dany Jimenez in the eighth. With the way the A’s bats were performing today it was unnecessary but it sealed this game up for the Braves.

So the A’s lose another series, their third straight series loss. There were some bright spots in the loss though. Righty Luis Medina looked sharp and ready to roll in what could be a big boost to the starting pitching, so that’s extremely encouraging. And while the offense managed just two hits, they did walk seven times today. And Gelof swatting a home run offers hope that he could be ready to start going on a streak. We can only wait and see.

The road trip is finally over, and the team went just 2-4 on their East Coast excursion. The team has an off day tomorrow before getting home and hosting the division rival Seattle Mariners for a 3-game series at the Coliseum. It’ll be young right-handed Rule 5 pick Mitch Spence getting the start, and he’ll be hoping to keep his strong momentum going against a Mariners lineup that has been disappointing so far this year. He’ll be opposed by Seattle’s prized young starter George Kirby, who after a tough start to the year is beginning to find his own groove. Should be a good series between two division rivals!