After losing 2 of 3 in Philadelphia, the A’s just took 3 of 4 from the defending AL East champions. The offense for the A’s came alive in all 4 games. Scoring a total of 31 runs in the series.
The most came on Monday evening when the A’s dominated Tampa Bay winning 13-2. Seth Brown, Elvis Andrus, Chad Pinder, and Sheldon Neuse all homered in the contest. The A’s also got an excellent pitching performance from Paul Blackburn who earned his first victory of the season.
On Tuesday night the A’s fell in extra innings. Adam Oller started and struggled early on in his Major League debut, giving up 5 runs just over an inning and a third. However, after being down early the A’s managed to tie the game late on a 2 run double from Chad Pinder. The A’s would then take the lead 8-7 in extra innings, but Tampa rallied in the bottom of the 10th to score 2 runs off A’s closer Lou Trivino to win 9-8.
Wednesday night the A’s got a dominant performance from ace Frankie Montas as he only gave up 1 earned run in 6 plus innings. The offense was timely, and featured big hits from Sean Murphy and Cristian Pache.
In Thursday’s series finale the A’s totaled 6 runs on 9 hits. Including a little league type Home Run from Cristian Pache that scored 3 runs. Cole Irvin who got the start, bounced back in a major way from his first outing of the season. Then when the A’s bullpen took over they shut the door, not allowing a run over 3 plus innings of work.
Next Series
The A’s are off to a surprising start at 4-3. They’ll wrap up their 10 game road trip this weekend against the dangerous Toronto Blue Jays. Then they’ll come back home to the Coliseum for their home opener Monday night.
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