A’s Fall To Astros In Extras In Frustrating Loss
August 14, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Jarrod Parker (11) delivers a pitch against the Houston Astros during the first inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Jarrod Parker threw one of the best games of his young career Wednesday night against the Houston Astros, but the Oakland Athletics once again couldn’t get much going on offense, and it cost them in a 2-1 extra innings loss.
Parker struck out six and walked only one in 8.1 innings, with the only earned run coming on a solo shot to former teammate Chris Carter in the seventh. Typically that sort of effort would result in a win for any team, but Houston starter Jarred Cosart was equally effective for the Astros, allowing only three hits with four strikeouts and one walk in six innings.
Neither pitcher allowed more than one hit in an inning or more than one baserunner until the sixth, when Brett Wallace and Jose Altuve each hit two-out singles off of Parker. The A’s put a baserunner in scoring position only once in that span, in the second inning when Josh Donaldson reached third after getting aboard with a one-out single.
Former Athletic Chris Carter opened up the scoring, and he took Parker deep on the first pitch he saw in the seventh, a fastball that ended up over the left field wall to give the Astros a 1-o lead. Parker worked through the rest of the inning with ease, but he paid for the mistake to his former teammate — really the only meaningful misstep he made all night.
That lit a fire under Oakland’s hitters, and they wasted no time in touching up reliever Phillip Humber, who had replaced Cosart in the bottom of the seventh. Yoenis Cespedes started things off with a lead off single, and Brandon Moss followed it up with a well-hit ball to the gap in left-center, tying the game with an RBI double.
There were still no outs at that point, but Humber was able to retire Josh Donaldson, Stephen Vogt and Chris Young and strand Moss at second. still, it was encouraging for the club to come back so quickly to tie the game after the scarcity of offense through the first six innings.
Parker stayed in for the eighth, having thrown only 75 pitches up to that point. He needed only 13 to get through the inning, and he finished it off by getting his sixth strikeout of the day.
The shutdown inning paved the way for the A’s hitters, and Eric Sogard led off the effort in the bottom of the eighth with a double to right. Unfortunately, the big hit to drive him in never came. Instead, Alberto Callaspo grounded one back to Humber on the mound for out number one.
Pinch-hitter Nate Freiman popped out to center field in the next at-bat against new pitcher Kevin Chapman, and Sogard trying to take third on the play. The throw was on target, but Sogard appeared to make it in time with a head-first slide. He was called out, however, by second base umpire Doug Eddings, and Bob Melvin came out to argue and was promptly thrown out of the game.
Melvin had words with Eddings earlier in the game after he called an Astros baserunner safe at second on a double play chance for Oakland. On replay, Callaspo appeared to lose his grip on the ball as he came off the bag, but it was undoubtedly frustrating for the call to go against the home team, and it likely contributed to Melvin being as passionate as he was arguing the call in the eighth.
Parker was left in to start off the ninth, and he got the first out before surrendering a singe to Jason Castro. That would be it for the right-hander, who handed the ball off to Ryan Cook to finish the job. It was the longest outing of Parker’s career, and it cemented his status as the strongest member of the A’s starting rotation at the moment.
Oakland’s hitters couldn’t garner a hit in the ninth, sending the game to extra innings. Grant Balfour was sharp despite giving up a two-out single to Jonathan Villar, and he struck out two in the inning.
The stagnancy on offense continued into the 10th for the A’s, with the exception of a drive to left by Young that looked like it’d be a walk-off solo home run, right up until the moment that the ball ended up in the glove of a leaping Robbie Grossman, who made a terrific play to rob Young of the game-winning hit.
It was the second time in the last two nights that Young had a home run taken away, last night’s being negated by the foul pole, and he was in disbelief after the play, clearly frustrated at the hard luck out.
As opposed to last night, tonight the A’s got to keep playing after the letdown, and Sean Doolittle was brought in out of the bullpen for the 11th. The left-hander got Jake Elmore to pop out in foul territory for the first out, but Jose Altuve hit a ground ball into left for a single, and Carlos Corporan nearly knocked one out in the next at-bat.
He didn’t miss by much, but it would still end up scoring one run for Houston as the ball bounced off the wall in left-center and was bobbled for a moment by Chris Young, allowing Altuve to score standing up to give Houston a 2-1 lead. Vogt fielded the relay throw at home and went to Donaldson third, catching Corporan in a rundown and getting the second out, but the go-ahead run put the pressure on the A’s to score or go home in the bottom of the 11th.
Unfortunately, they’d succumb to the last place team in the AL West for the second night in a row. Sogard once again did his part, leading off with another double down the right field line. Callaspo tried to advance him to third with a bunt, but he popped right back to pitcher Josh Fields in front of the mound for the first out.
Jed Lowrie was brought in to pinch-hit in the next at-bat and struck out looking on a full count, which he did not respond well to, uncharacteristically sharing his thoughts with Hernandez behind the plate after the call. Reddick struck out swinging for the final out, and the A’s now stand two games behind the Rangers following Texas’ win over the Brewers earlier in the evening.
The A’s have a chance to salvage a win from the three-game series tomorrow, returning to the park for a 12:35 PST start. Sonny Gray will get his second career start for Oakland, with left-hander Erik Bedard on the mound for Houston.