Oakland Athletics Game 30 – Thursday, May 7, 2015 @ 1:00 pm
Game Attendance: Away Game
Season Attendance: 291,434
Lowest Attendance: 15,025 (Game 2)
Game Time: 2:57
Season Time: 88:47
Win Record: 12-18
Win Record vs Twins: 1-3
Streak: L2
AL West Standing: 4th
Elimination Number: 126
Winning Pitcher: Ricky Nolasco (2-1)
Losing Pitcher: Drew Pomeranz (1-3)
Pitchers/Pitch Count: Pomeranz/87, Otero/14, Rodriguez/34, Scribner/7
Total Pitches per game: 142
Total Pitches per season: 4254
Game Home Runs: 1
Season Home Runs: 26
Game Runs: 5
Season Runs: 145
Runs Rank: 2nd
Run Differential: 4
Differential Rank: 14th
Game RBI Leader: Davis (2)
Season RBI Leader: Vogt (25)
Most RBI’s in Single Game: 5 (27)
Game RISP: 2 for 5
Game LOB: 5
Season RISP: 80 for 265
Season LOB: 200
Game Batting Average: .173
Lineup Batting Average: .265
Total Players Used in Game: 17
Most Players Used in Game: 20 (Game 25)
Challenged Plays: 0
Total Challenged Plays: 8
Total Overturned Plays: 2
Games Won in Extra Innings: 0
Total Games Played in Extra Innings: 4 (6,7,18,25)
Special Notes:
Just another day game for the Oakland Athletics who have only won once while the sun was shining. Drew Pomeranz took the mound for the final of a four game series in Minnesota and threw a three up, three down inning in the first. Then came the second.
In the second inning, Pomeranz gave up a lead single followed by two walks to load the bases with nobody on. This was followed by a two RBI groundout to tie the game at 2, a stolen base and a sac fly to end the inning with a 3-2 lead for the Twins. The A’s came back to take the lead in the top of the third with another Billy Burns single/steal and an RBI from Billy Butler. This scenario has happened a couple of times this year and has worked out both times. Butler scored on a double by Ike Davis.
Pomeranz was able to produce a shut down inning in the bottom of the third but the fourth was marred by an error that moved Kurt Suzuki into scoring position and allowed him to score on a single. Tied at 4 in the fifth, Pomeranz issued two walks and was pulled from the game with one out logged for the inning. Dan Otero came in to pitch out of a jam and immediately walked the bases loaded and the following single brought in the two runners Pomeranz put on base.
Ike Davis had a solo home run but it wasn’t enough to get the W for the Oakland Athletics as they lost another series, another day game, and another one run game.
The Oakland Athletics will not win the season, the division, or a post season berth at the rate they are going. For the season, the team is averaging 4.8 runs per game and are currently ranked second in all of baseball for runs scored (they actually went up a spot with this loss). A team scoring this many runs should be winning more games and, in fact, their Pythagorean W/L is sitting at 15-15 right now which means, on paper, we should have three more wins on the season.
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Before you blame all of this on the bullpen, and they do deserve a fair amount of the blame, you must also put some blame on the defense. In so many ways, this should be a better defensive team than they’ve had in years past but, for whatever reason, they are averaging .9 errors per game. Of all Oakland’s losses, there is only one attributed to a starting pitcher that did not feature a single error by the defense and many of the ones that did, featured multiple errors.
It is not too late to right this sinking ship. With 132 game remaining and most of the division playing equally below expectation (except Houston who will come back to Earth eventually), it is safe to say that there is still plenty of time in the season. That being said, each of these losses, particularly the blown saves and one run games, will come back to haunt us if we fall just shy of a playoff berth. Don’t panic just yet but don’t be delusional and assume these games don’t count for much.