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A’s Report: A hot time in St. Louis
By Charlie O. Mallonee June 20, 2010 |
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When a team is trying to prevent a sweep and end a four-game losing streak, the last thing you want to do is battle the weather. On Sunday, the A’s had to stop a sweep in sizzling 98-degree, high humidity weather in St. Louis. The good news in those conditions is that a player has no trouble getting and staying loose. The bad news is many players cannot hold up for long under those oppressive conditions. The game appeared to be a classic pitchers duel through the first three innings. The A’s Trevor Cahill and the Cardinals’ Jeff Suppan were in total control of the game. Kevin Kouzmanoff changed the situation in the top of the fourth inning with a 417 foot home run over the left field wall. That hit gave A’s fans a glimmer of hope that the sweep could be avoided. The hope was short lived when Matt Holliday led off the bottom of the fourth with a homer down the left field line to tie the game at 1-1. In the top of the fifth, the A’s played some strong station-station baseball to score their second run of the game. Landon Powell led off the inning with a double and was eventually able to score. Matt Holliday again ripped a hole the A’s hopes in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, Holliday hit his second homer of the game over the left center field fence. Holliday finished the series with four round trippers. The game remained tied until the top of the eighth inning. In the eighth, Conor Jackson hit a one-out single to right field. Kevin Kouzmanoff also singled to right for his fourth hit of the game and moved Jackson up to third. Pinch hitter Mark Ellis hit a sacrifice fly to left field that allowed Jackson to score and gave the A’s a 3-2 lead. Andrew Bailey entered the game with one out in the bottom of the eighth. He would face five hitters and record five outs while posting his 13th save of the season. The 3-2 win gave the A’s their first win in St. Louis in Interleague play. Up Next for the A’s The National League Central second-place Cincinnati Reds led by manager Dusty Baker come to Oakland for a three-game series. The pitching probables are: Mon. 7:05 LHP Gio Gonzalez (6-5,4.21) vs. RHP Mike Leake (5-1,3.02) Tue. 7:05 LHP Dallas Braden (4-6,3.78) vs. RHP Bronson Arroyo (6-3,4.53) Wed. 12:35 RHP Vin Mazzaro (2-1,5.22) vs. RHP Johnny Cueto (6-3,4.30) Reporter’s Notepad • The A’s are 2-7 on this nine-game Interleague road trip • The A’s are 5-7 in Interleague play so far this season and 6-13 in June • Oakland has the third worst road record in the American League and the sixth best home record • The A’s are 17-9 in day games and 17-28 in night games • The A’s pitching staff has the highest road ERA in the AL and the lowest home ERA • There are currently 8 players on the Disabled List – Anderson, Buck, Chavez, Crisp, Devine, Duchsherer, Meloan, Outman This Day in A’s History On June 20, 1932, Roger Cramer tied an American League record going 6-6 at the plate in a nine inning game … in 1972 Catfish Hunter pitched all 11 innings in a 3-2 win over Detroit … Joe Rudi had three hits in that game including a lead off homer in the bottom of the 11th inning to win the game for the A’s … in 1990 Terry Steinbach drove in six runs with a grand slam and a two-run single giving the A’s a 12-7 win over Detroit … in 2002 Billy Koch records a save giving him a save in each game of the three-game series versus Pittsburg. |
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