The A’s got a great pitching performance from their starting pitcher tonight. Unfortunately one swing of the bat was enough for the surging Red Sox to get past the Athletics tonight in the series opener in Sacramento.
The Athletics struck first tonight and it didn’t take long. Facing left-hander Jake Bennett for the Red Sox, the second batter of the game for the A’s connected on a solo blast as Tyler Soderstrom inflicted some lefty-on-lefty damage with his 17th of the year:
That also extended his team-leading hitting streak to 10 games, and he now has 4 long balls in his last 15 games.
That gave his starting pitcher some early room to breath. It was right-hander Jack Perkins on the bump tonight making his second start of the second half. After walking the first batter of the game, the young gun locked in. Over the first five frames tonight Perkins issued just two walks (one of which was immediately wiped out on a double play) and a hit by pitch. He looked as good as he had all year and looked confident on the mound doing it. And yes, he had a no-hitter going through five.
Boston got their first hit with a leadoff double in the sixth. A pair of ground balls and Perkins was almost out of it unscathed but a walk prompted a pitching change from the manager. Perkins would depart with a 1-0 lead but responsible for the two runners on base.
- Jack Perkins: 5 2/3 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 69 pitches
That’s the type of performance the A’s were hoping to see from their young right-hander. Hindsight is 20/20 but it would have been nice to let him work through the jam, especially considering his relatively low pitch count.
Alas, lefty Jose Suarez came on in relief of Perkins and gave the game away. Another walk loaded the bases and Boston center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela connected on a hanging slider for a go-ahead grand slam. Suddenly it was 4-1 Boston.
The A’s got one of those runs back in the bottom half of the frame though as new starting catcher Jonah Heim connected for his 10th long ball of the year to cut it to 4-2:
Still, the club was down two runs and needed more to catch up. The A’s went down in order in both the seventh and eighth innings before they managed to get the tying run on base in the ninth against Boston closer Aroldis Chapman. Sadly rookies Henry Bolte and Alika Williams struck out to end the late rally and secure the defeat in front of the home crowd.
Another tough loss, which drops the club to 44-62. Perkins was pitching great tonight and probably deserved a win. Alas, it’s hard to win a game when you only collect six hits. Soderstrom and Heim did their jobs at the top of the lineup but the 5-9 hitters went a combined 2-for-16 with two singles. Not a great performance from the offense tonight, even without Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers.
The series continues tomorrow night, same time same place. It’s going to be a battle of left-handers as Gage Jump gets the ball for the Athletics while Boston will turn to Jake Bennett. Jump is set for his third start here in the second half; his first one was solid but he got roughed up for six runs against the Diamondbacks last time out so he’ll be looking for a bounce-back performance. Bennett meanwhile comes into this one on a roll, posting a pristine 1.64 ERA over his previous seven starts. Not an easy assignment for either lineup tomorrow so runs will surely be at a premium.
