Well you can’t win ‘em all. The A’s dropped one and won one on Friday afternoon when they split up and played two different games. Surprisingly, the half that had all the regulars fell to the San Diego Padres by a 13-9 final, while the other half, which featured mostly bench players and prospects, came out on top in their matchup at the Brewers’ spring complex. Not what you’d expect but that’s baseball for ya.
A’s vs. Padres
The first matchup of the day saw A’s veteran starter Aaron Civale make his second start of the spring for the Green & Gold while the Pads countered with staff leader Michael King. It’s still spring training so it wasn’t like it was always going to be a pitcher’s duel or anything like that, but man did the ball fly out of the park today.
Civale struggles, still makes it through four
The 30-year-old Civale ran into trouble right out of the gate, getting tagged for three runs in the very first inning that saw him give up plenty of hard contact. Results weren’t the point of today’s outing however, it was about getting his pitch count up and getting him ready for the start of the long regular season. Things wouldn’t get much better in the second frame as he allowed more hard hit balls en route to allowing a pair of runs to cross home plate, pushing the score to 5-0 after 2 innings. He’d allow one more run to score in the fourth, which would end up being his final frame of the day as he exited after 75 pitches.
A’s bats explode in the fourth
It took a few frames as the Athletics hitters struggled against Michael King. That’s not especially surprising considering his pedigree but they would wake up soon enough.
After working just a single walk the first time through the frame things turned up quickly. The fourth started innocently enough with a single followed by two outs, making it look like it’d be another fast inning of work for King agains the A’s. That would not be the case however as the rally was only beginning. First Max Muncy singled to put runners on the corners, and that brought up the hot-swinging Henry Bolte, who delivered a 3-run blast to get the A’s on the board, his third this spring:
The A’s weren’t done there! Immediately following Bolte was fellow outfielder Breyson Guedez, who blasted his own home run to further cut into the San Diego lead:
It was now suddenly 6-4 and we had a game on our hands. And following Guedez was “leadoff” man Nick Kurtz, who did what Nick Kurtz does and blasted his own solo home run to make it 6-5:
Do you think that the A’s were done there? Think again. This time it was Tyler Soderstrom’s turn to get on the fun as he blasted a two-run homer to right field to give the A’s the lead:
What a way to cap the frame. Suddenly the A’s were in front and feeling like all the momentum in the world was on their side.
Quite middle frames, but Padres take late lead
For a few innings the A’s looked in control. Civale was now out of the game (and off the hook for the loss) while it was now up to the bullpen to get it done. Jake Garland, Nick Martinez, Mark Leiter Jr., and Hogan Harris all did their job getting the game to the eighth with the lead still intact. Unfortunately for the A’s their bullpen luck ran out with Nick Hernandez, who got hit up for four runs without recording a single out. CD Pelham and Dairon De Jesus finished things off allowing some insurance runs to the Padres each, again putting this game seemingly out of reach.
The A’s did have some fight left in them at the end. Guedez collected an RBI sac fly in the seventh, and one more run in the bottom of the ninth came around to score but it was just far too little too late for our A’s as they dropped the contest 13-9.
On the bright side, Civale got his work in and could probably take the ball if the regular season was here. How the results would go is anyone’s guess but he’d be ready. The offense looks like it’s in mid-season form already, and they’re still missing Lawrence Butler. We don’t have anything to worry about with the bats right now. Let’s just get them all healthy and to Opening Day unscathed.
Here’s how the box score looked today:
A’s at Brewers
Meanwhile while the A’s/Padres game was going on the other half of the squad was a few miles down the road at the Brewers complex. Compared to the other half of the team this lineup and pitching matchup featured many more rookies and bench players that are either on the outer edges of the roster or are just waiting to be reassigned to minor league camp.
Jump impresses in fourth appearance
It was Gage Jump on the bump for the Athletics today. The A’s #3 ranked prospect came into spring with little chance of breaking camp with the club but has done nothing but impress in his time with the big league team. That continued for Jump today as he pitched three shutout frames and got his pitch count up to 59 while allowing just four hits. He also struck out three without issuing a free pass. He’d have to leapfrog someone in the current pecking order but Jump is making that decision harder and harder on Mark Kotsay. Even if he isn’t on the Opening Day roster, it shouldn’t be long before we see him suit up for the big league squad.
A’s strike first
With the B-lineup in against the Brewers the prospects and bench players got to work against Milwaukee starter Kyle Harrison. First they scored three times in the second via an RBI triple off the bat of Michael Stefanic, which was immediately followed by a two-run home run off the bat of veteran backstop Chad Wallach, who is presumably the 3rd or 4th catcher on the depth chart at this point.
They added on a trio more runs in the next frame. A bases-loaded situation presented itself to A’s prospect Tommy White, and he came through and delivered for his squad with a bases-clearing two-bagger that doubled the Athletics’ lead over the Brew Crew. Offense isn’t the question with White; it’s where his long-term home on defense is.
The A’s added on an insurance run in the fifth thanks to a solo blast off the bat of outfielder Colby Thomas that made it 7-0 A’s, his first long ball of spring. He’s had a rough go of it in camp so it’s a positive sign to see him run into one. Maybe that’ll kick start the former top prospect right before cutdown time arrives.
Brewers fight back
Once Jump was out of the game you could almost feel the sigh of relief coming from the opposing dugout. A quick inning of work from Justin Sterner kept them off the board but then they were able to push a couple runs across against Luis Medina. A former top prospect himself, Medina has not looked quite back to his old self quite yet but he is out of options and therefore could end up on roster to open the season, obviously in the bullpen. Otherwise if the front office doesn’t feel like he’ll find his former form, they could end up cutting him near the end of camp and hope to sneak him through waivers. Unlikely to succeed on that front but who knows? Other teams are seeing the same thing we’re seeing from the right-hander.
A’s tack on, finish off Brew Crew
Not looking to blow the lead, the offense kept up the pressure with another run in the seventh (a Cade Marlowe RBI single) and a solo shot in the eight (thank you Stefanik). Then, just looking to make it embareessing, Tommy White came to the plate again, and again came through with a huge hit. Only this time, it left the park for a grand slam. It’s only spring but there’s not really much doubt he can hit, right everyone?
The Brewers added on a pair of meaningless runs in the bottom of the ninth off an RBI single but it was over by then. The A’s finished them off, securing at least one win on this beautiful Friday afternoon.
Here’s the final box from this contest:
The team will regroup together tomorrow for an afternoon contest against the Kansas City Royals. It’ll be left-hander Jacob Lopez on the bump for what will be his second appearance this spring. The A’s have been taking things slowly with Lopez because he ended last year with a question mark injury. Cautiously letting him get stretched out, it seems like Lopez should be in the starting rotation come Opening Day but it’s not a guarantee quite yet. A big outing tomorrow would go a long way towards assuaging the coaches that he’s healthy and ready for the grind of a six month season. He’ll be worth watching tomorrow afternoon. The Royals will counter with righty Ryan Bergert, a promising pitcher in their system who could also be making some noise in Kansas City this coming season.
