Oakland Athletics Recap 4/7: A’s Lose 6-1

Oakland Athletics Recap 4/7: A’s Lose Despite Graveman’s Solid Start

The Oakland Athletics lost today behind Kendall Graveman‘s strong start, by a score of 6-1. The Chicago White Sox, coming off of their first loss of the season, started the scoring in the sixth inning off of a Jose Abreu home run. Graveman eventually went 5 1/3 innings, striking out four and walking one. He was scoreless for five innings.

The Sox came in hard in the ninth inning, shellacking Liam Hendriks for four runs and six hits. Each hit was a single. Meanwhile, the A’s couldn’t muster a hit until the fifth inning, and didn’t score until the ninth. Both the White Sox and A’s left seven runners on base, but the White Sox were able to make more runs of it.

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Chicago was also able to provide pressure on the A’s defense, which committed two errors, both coming from the left side of the infield. Both Marcus Semien and Danny Valencia made errors, but neither error committed was one that scored. Still, it is troublesome to see these errors this early in the season, knowing the A’s infield woes may continue on from last year.

In fact, this entire series has been one reminiscent of the games from last year. So far this year, the A’s have lost two one-run games, barely edged out the Sox in a game where Sonny Gray started, and were blown out in this last game. Compare that to last year, when the A’s lost 35 one-run games, won 17 games in which Sonny Gray pitched, and were blown out for five or more runs for a loss 23 times.

Next: A's Celebrate First Victory With Dallas Braden

The A’s have strengthened their bullpen this year with many additions, and Liam Hendriks is expected to be a solid part of this bullpen. His 2.92 ERA with Toronto last year along with a 2.14 FIP (fielding independent pitching) would not have predicted his performance today. He did allow four earned runs, bringing his total to a 9.82 ERA, but his previous appearance was a scoreless 2 2/3 inning appearance. Additionally, both John Axford and Ryan Madson pitched yesterday, giving Hendriks a little more pressure to get out of the ninth inning today. The A’s will continue to use Hendriks and the rest of the bullpen with impunity as time goes on, and Hendriks’ numbers will even off.

Tomorrow, the A’s head to Safeco Field for the Seattle Mariners’ home opener. Eric Surkamp will be on the mound for the A’s as he faces Taijuan Walker of the Mariners. Gametime is 7:10 PM.