The Oakland A’s jumped out to a 1-0 lead after the first inning and then held onto beat the Minnesota Twins 3-2 as the two teams opened up a three game series in Minnesota. The A’s got a big boost from Kirk Saarloos who was called up from Triple-A and pitched out of the bullpen.

Saarloos came into the game after Justin Duchscherer left the game in the third inning with hip pain. Saarloos would go onto throw 3 2/3 innings while onling giving up one hit. He pitched very good and picked up the win which was his first at the major league level this year.

The Twins tried to make things interesting late in the game as they scored one run off of Huston Street and then another one off of Brad Ziegler. Ziegler was able to calm down however and pick up his third save of the season.

Mark Ellis got the A’s on the scoreboard in the first inning with a solo home run. The A’s would then score two more runs in the fourth inning on a Kurt Suzuki single that scored Frank Thomas and Jack Cust. There wasn’t much offense but it was enough to get the victory over the Twins.

Athletics Baseball Blog

What a wild day it was for the Oakland Athletics as they traded Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin to the Chicago Cubs and then went out and shut out the Seattle Mariners for a 2-0 victory.  First I will blog about the game where Justin Duchscherer threw a complete game two hitter and the A’s beat the Mariners 2-0.  Duchscherer was amazing all game long and improved to 10-5 on the season.

The A’s jumped on the scoreboard with single runs in the first and second innings and that was all the runs that they ended up needing.  Emil Brown had a rbi single in the first that scored Ryan Sweeney and then Donnie Murphy had a rbi sac fly that scored Kurt Suzuki in the second inning.  That was all the scoring the A’s could come up with but it was enough the way Duchscherer threw the ball.

Now onto the trade that happened.  Billy Beane sent Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin to the Chicago Cubs for Matt Murton, Eric Patterson, Sean Gallagher, and Josh Donaldson.  Gallagher is the prize of this trade in my opinion as he can be thrown right into the rotation and start pitching.  Murton is a decent corner outfield that just didn’t have a spot on the Cubs roster to get full playing time.  Patterson is an iffy player while Donaldson was the Cubs second round pick last year and plays at the catching position.

We will see how the A’s do without Harden, but so far so good.  Athletics Blog

Jack Cust led the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night as he had three rbi and the A’s defeated the New York Yankees 8-4.  It was actually a blow out until  the ninth inning when the Yankees were able score three runs off the A’s bullpen.  Great win for the A’s as the improved to 35-30 on the season.

Cust went 2-2 with three walks and the three rbi.  He had a two run single in the third inning and then a rbi single in the fourth inning.  The A’s got two rbi from Carlos Gonzalez who had a two run double in the third inning.  Not to be left out, Mark Ellis, Bobby Crosby, and Kurt Suzuki all had one rbi in the game as well.

Justin Duchscherer pitched the first seven inning for the A’s and gave up five hits and one run.  Duschscherer picked up the win and is now 6-4 with a 2.20 era.  Great job Justin!

Andrew Brown pitched a scoreless eighth inning before the Yankees scored two runs which were charged to Kiko Calero in the ninth inning.  Alan Embree came in for Calero and gave up both runs as he didn’t pick up his teammate.  The ninth inning was the only downside in the game as Calero and Embree struggled.

The A’s and Yankees will play another late night game on Thursday as they finish up the series.  It will be the rubber game of the series.  Will the A’s come out on top?  Leave us a comment and let us know!

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The Oakland Athletics completed a three game sweep of the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday with a 10-2 victory.  The A’s were finally able to get things going in the middle innings and force Tigets starting pitcher Nate Robinson out of theg ame and then took advantage of a weak Tigers bullpen.

Carlos Gonzalez led the team with three rbi in the game and was followed by Bobby Crosby who had two rbi.  Travis Buck went deep and had one rbi as did Jack Hannahan, Daric Barton, and Rob Bowen.

Justin Duchscherer picked up the win and is now 5-4 on the season.  Duchscherer tossed 6 2/3 innings and only gave up three hits and two runs in the game.  He did walk five however, and that was the reason he was pulled after six plus innings.

Alan Embree, Brad Ziegler, and Kiko Calero finished things up in the game for the A’s and only gave up one hit.  It was a good job all the way around for the Athletics.  They will hope to continue playing this good on Friday when they begin a huge series with the Los Angeles Angels.

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Not the way the Oakland Athletics wanted to start their series with the Cleveland Indians as they lost 4-0.  The A’s were in the game until the bottom of the eighth inning when it was only a 1-0 game, but then Ryan Garko hit a three run home run to extend the Indians lead to 4-0.

Justin Duchscherer tossed 6 2/3 innings to take the loss even though he only gave up four hits and one run.  He pitched well enough to get the win, there was just no run support behind him.  Alan Embree pitched one inning of relief and gave up two runs.  Andrew Brown gave up the big three run home run to Garko in the game and was charged with that one run while the other two runners were charged to Embree.  That isn’t how you want to pick up your teammates.

Ryan Sweeney was the only Athletics hitter to have two hits.  They struck out seven times in the game as they couldn’t ever get a good rally going and come up with a big hit to drive in a run or two.

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Jack Cust had a error in the second inning that accounted for five unearned runs but he made up for it throughout the game as the he went 4-4 and two walks while hitting a solo home run in the fifth inning to give the A’s the lead for good.  The A’s went onto beat the Angels 15-8 in the game.

The A’s pounded out twenty hits as the put up fifteen runs on the scoreboard.  Kurt Suzuki, Daric Barton, Frank Thomas, and Bobby Crosby all had two RBI each.  Emil Brown, Jack Hannahan, and Cust all had one RBI in the game as well.  That is production up and down the lineup for the A’s!

Justin Duchscherer didn’t have his best stuff but managed to pitch five innings to pick up the win.  Duchscherer gave up six hits and six runs in his five innings of action.  Andrew Brown and Santiago Casilla pitched scoreless sixth and seventh innings before Dallas Braden gave up four hits and two runs in the final two innings.

Athletics Blog

The Oakland Athletics were able to beat the Cleveland Indians to open up there three game series on Friday night.  The Athletics got ahead early, and then went on to win 6-3.

Justin Duchscherer picked up the win but had to leave the game after pitching five innings.  He felt some dis-comfirt in his bicep.  He was pitching very well until he had to leave the game, hopefully it isn’t anything serious and he will be able to make his next start.

Bobby Crosby, Jack Hannahan, Kurt Suzuki, and Ryan Sweeney all had one RBI each to help the offense.