Oakland Athletics Show Signs of Life in 6-2 Win Over New York Mets
August 19, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher
Scott Kazmir(26) delivers a pitch against the New York Mets during the first inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Coming in to Tuesday night’s matchup, the Athletics (74-51) had dropped five straight. After their 6-2 victory, the A’s clinched a winning record at home for the fifth straight season.
New York (59-68) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 4th on a Travis d’Arnaud solo homer off of A’s starter Scott Kazmir. The A’s came back in the home half of the inning by stringing some hits together, something that has been missing from the Athletics’ offense as of late.
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The other missing component lately has been the big hit. After Alberto Callaspo hit a sac-fly with the bases loaded and one out, Eric Soard walked, re-loading the bases for Coco Crisp. Crisp laced a pitch down the right field line, clearing the bases, and landing himself at third standing and giving the Athletics the 4-1 lead.
The triple is Crisp’s 22nd as an Athletic, and ties him for the 8th in Oakland history with Sal Bando and Mark Ellis.
For Scott Kazmir (W, 14-5, 2.73), Tuesday’s start was his most effective in over a month, going 6 innings, allowing just 4 hits and 1 earned. Kazmir did allow 3 walks, upping his pitch count and leading to an early exit, relatively speaking.
With Ryan Cook taking over in the top of the 7th and a runner on, former Athletic (the Mets tally 3, currently) Anthony Recker delivered an RBI double to inch the Mets closer, making the score 4-2.
They get one, we take two.
In the 8th, Josh Reddick (1 for 3, HR, 2 RBI, 2 runs, walk) hit a towering two-run shot to right off of Mets’ reliever Gonzalez Germen, putting the game out of reach. The dinger is Reddick’s 9th on the season, and the RBI increases his total to 37.
Sean Doolittle came on to work a scoreless 9th, and struck out the side.
The Angels also took care of business on Tuesday, beating the Red Sox 4-3 in Boston. With both teams winning, the Angels retain their half-game lead…for now.
With LAA coming to town for a weekend series, the A’s needed to snap out of their road trip funk, and on Tuesday night it appears as if they may have done just that. The A’s currently hold a 4.5 game lead over Detroit and Seattle for the first Wild Card spot. Oakland currently holds a 99% chance of making the postseason.
Jeff Samardzija (3-2, 3.21) takes on Zack Wheeler (8-8, 3.49) on Wednesday afternoon at 12:35. Samardzija will need to be on his game, because his good friend the Rally Possum is a creature of the night.
Game Notes: After hitting .224 over an 18-game stretch, Stephen Vogt (2 for 4, run) is now hitting .371 over his past 10 games.
Mets starter Dillon Gee (L, 4-6, 5.2 IP, 8 hits, 4 earned, 2 walks) has now lost 5 straight decisions in the span of 7 starts, a career-high streak.
Attendance: 23,498
Time: 3:02