Athletics Nation - Game #30: A's at TwinsAn SB Nation blog for Oakland Athletics fanshttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47025/an-fave.png2015-05-07T13:11:16-07:00http://www.athleticsnation.com/rss/stream/83324442015-05-07T13:11:16-07:002015-05-07T13:11:16-07:00Game #30: A's walk their way to another loss
<figure>
<img alt="Pom's 6th walk of the day. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ztlVSwlpO8k_z7jGlWJfIxChhxs=/38x0:3009x1981/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46294570/usa-today-8555230.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Pom's 6th walk of the day. | Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Keeping with this season's trend, the A's literally throw away a winnable game. </p> <p>I briefly considered writing "today's starter was <span>Drew Pomeranz</span>" over and over and over for my recap, but decided you all deserved a little better than that. But Drew was true to form today, walking a ton and generally taking forever on the mound. If they ever actually implement that pitch clock, Drew is probably out of a job.</p>
<p>After a quiet first inning, the A's got off to an auspicious start in the second thanks to a <span>Billy Butler</span> double, an <span>Ike Davis</span> walk, and a <span>Brett Lawrie</span> single. With the bases loaded and nobody out, <span>Max Muncy</span> and <span>Josh Phegley</span> followed with back to back sacrifice flies, the former of which probably deserved to be more. As always, hindsight is 20/20, but the A's lost the game by one run, and if you're looking for a spot on offense where the A's could have had it, this was it. Bases loaded and 0 outs should yield more than two runs, but this is 2015, and offense is at a premium unless you're facing our bullpen. Also, you can't blame the offense.</p>
<p>Unhappy with the lead, Drew Pomeranz walked back to back batters following a leadoff single in the bottom half of the frame. An overwhelmed pitcher with poor control, pitching in the rain is a recipe for disaster. Pomeranz came through, however, inducing a slow tailor-made double play ball to shortstop (seriously, shortstop) Eric Sogard. Sogard fielded the ball cleanly, flipped to second baseman (yes, second baseman) Brett Lawrie. This should have been solid damage control by Pomeranz. If the play is made, a run scores and there are two outs, with a runner on third. Instead, Lawrie threw the ball away (I really think Ike Davis should have caught the ball though) allowing a second run to score and leaving the Pomeranz with an added out to get. A stolen base and a sacrifice fly later, and the A's are down 3-2. Some simple math tells you that this error, among about 93 other things, cost us the game.</p>
<p>The A's added two more in the top of the third thanks to some good hitting by <span>Billy Burns</span> and Billy Butler, the A's killer B's (and no, I'm not talking about cup size). Butler's single drove in Burns from second after he swiped his second bag of the year. Ike Davis followed up with a "double" over the head of apparent leftfielder <span>Mark Canha</span> to score Butler and give the A's a 4-3 lead. Seriously, that might have been the worst defensive play of the day, which is saying something. You know how we have the <a href="https://www.athleticsnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Athletics</a> Strike Zone on twitter that tells us how often pitches are called strikes in certain locations? They need that for balls hit too, because I think Davis's double was the first ball hit in that location that went for a double in baseball history.</p>
<p>Onto the fourth, and stop me if you've heard this one before. With a runner on first, the A's middle infield blew a simple groundball, keeping the defense on the field with runners on first and second. In the most predictable at bat of all time, <span>Eddie Rosario</span> followed with an RBI single to plate the <a href="https://www.twinkietown.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Twins</a> fourth run. Another run that shouldn't have scored in a game we lost by 1. Hmm.</p>
<p>The Twins added two more in the fifth on the strength of three walks, two by Pomeranz and one by replacement chucker Dan Otero. Eduardo Escobar drove in the runs with a bases loaded single. There's not a whole lot to say here, other than the Twins did not earn these runs at all.</p>
<p>Down 6-4 in the top of the sixth, the A's added the final run of the day on an Ike Davis homerun. Statcast took a pretty cool look at it, so check that out. It's nice to see Ike go deep, and I still like Ike, but hard to get excited on a day like today.</p>
<p>While it's easy to be down, and frankly probably safer for your mental health, there are still glimmers of hope. <span>Fernando Rodriguez</span> turned in one of the first solid pitching performances by a reliever not named Scribbles or Clipboard this year, and the offense showed more signs of life on a day not conducive to hitting. In 2014, the <a href="https://www.royalsreview.com/" class="sbn-auto-link" style="background-color: #ffffff;">Kansas City Royals</a> sat 4 games under .500 on the first of June; it is very possible to come back from this kind of deficit. The A's have plenty of opportunities to turn it around and make the most of the talent they clearly have. It is looking increasingly unlikely that that will happen, however.</p>
https://www.athleticsnation.com/2015/5/7/8569071/game-30-twins-6-as-5Inactive User 1396162015-05-07T12:47:06-07:002015-05-07T12:47:06-07:00Game Thread #30: A's at Twins (3)
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3z5bAszp3oWJDB-5JdXZW7LxUUE=/0x26:400x293/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47827673/large_athleticsnation.com.minimal.0.png" />
</figure>
<p>Pomeranz Pomeranzed through the slowest 4 and 2/3rd innings of all time with the help of errors by our worst case middle infield. The bullpen kinda bullpened thanks to a bajillion walks, and this game will never end.</p>
https://www.athleticsnation.com/2015/5/7/8568619/game-thread-30-as-at-twins-3Inactive User 1396162015-05-07T11:18:51-07:002015-05-07T11:18:51-07:00Game Thread #30: A's at Twins (2)
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3z5bAszp3oWJDB-5JdXZW7LxUUE=/0x26:400x293/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47827673/large_athleticsnation.com.minimal.0.png" />
</figure>
<p>Pomeranz is Pomeranzing all over the place, but the A's offense has come alive to take a 4-3 lead!</p>
https://www.athleticsnation.com/2015/5/7/8568437/game-thread-30-as-at-twins-2Inactive User 139616