Red-hot A’s cooled off at Coors Field
DENVER (TNS) – The A’s high-powered road offense at a ballpark notorious for the long ball should be a match made in heaven, right? Baseball can be a funny game.
Coming off a four-game series in which they scored 41 runs, Coors Field of all places was the site where the A’s offense was finally cooled off in Friday’s 3-1 loss to the Rockies.
It was a frustrating night A’s hitters would like to forget. Three times they had the bases loaded, and all three times they were unable to cash in. Even against a poor Colorado bullpen that ranked last in the national league with a 5.26 ERA entering the night, the A’s finished the night 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position as they left 13 runners on base.
Sean Manaea did his best to keep the A’s in the game. His only real mistake came in the fifth, when he surrendered a solo home run to Nolan Arenado to put the Rockies ahead 3-0 at the time.
Manaea (9-7) allowed three runs on nine hits for the A’s, who had their season high-tying, six-game winning streak snapped. It was Manaea’s first loss since May 30.
Kyle Freeland (9-6) threw
Bay Area News Group/tns Oakland A’s starting pitcher Sean Manaea reacts after giving up a solo home run to the Colorado Rockies’ Nolan Arenado during the fifth inning of Friday night’s game in Denver.
six shutout innings to earn the win. He allowed five hits while striking out five, walking three and hitting a batter.
Colorado’s starting pitching is 6-0 with a 1.65 ERA at Coors Field in July.
Ian Desmond and Garrett Hampson also drove in runs for the Rockies, who have won 14 of 19 this month. Adam Ottavino threw a spotless ninth for his fourth save of the year. Usual-closer Wade Davis had pitched in Colorado’s last two games.
The A’s finally got on the board as Jed Lowrie hit an RBI double off reliever Bryan Shaw in the seventh. They loaded the bases for the third time in the game in the eighth before Scott Oberg struck out Matt Chapman to end the inning.
Brewers 3, Giants 1 SAN FRANCISCO – Less than 12 months after Matt Cain threw his final pitch for the Giants, the franchise will honor Cain and two of his former teammates with plaques on the Wall of Fame outside AT&T Park.
The ceremony isn’t scheduled to begin until this afternoon, but the Giants’ offense paid tribute to Cain’s career Friday with another lackluster effort.
The lack of run support Cain received became a trend throughout his career, and the term “Cain’d” can be applied to a Giants pitcher who turns in a strong effort but finishes on the losing side of a game.
One of Cain’s closest friends during his time with the Giants was Madison Bumgarner, and on Friday, Bumgarner “Cain’d.”
With their third straight loss and their fifth defeat in their last six games, the Giants fell 6½games behind the first-place Dodgers and now sit at 52-53 with just three games remaining until the trade deadline.
While the Giants’ front office hasn’t entertained the idea of “selling” yet, a franchise with a sub .500 team that has struggled in three consecutive series against contenders is unlikely in position to “buy” at the deadline.
Bumgarner scattered just five hits over seven innings, but he left the mound in line for the loss as Milwaukee mustered a pair of runs on groundball outs.
The Giants have had trouble scoring early since the All-star break, but Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford gave the club an early edge against Brewers starter Chase Anderson as the pair hit back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the second.
Posey’s double was his first extra base hit since July 13 and just his fourth this month, and it set the table for another struggling hitter in Crawford who was hitting .181 in July before Friday’s game started.
Posey had a chance to play a leading role in an eighth inning comeback, but he bounced out to third base with the bases loaded to end a scoring opportunity. got