Kaprielian halts A’s mini skid, quiets Seattle
OAKLAND» The Athletics restored order Wednesday afternoon and James Kaprielian continued to make a case that he should stick around for a while.
Kaprielian threw seven shutout innings and gave up two hits in the longest outing of his major league career as the Athletics took advantage of walks and some timely hits to beat the Seattle Mariners 6-3 before a crowd of 3,571 at the Coliseum.
The win improved the Athletics’ record to 29-22 as they
avoided being swept in a series since they opened the season against the Houston Astros. It also halted a three-game losing streak that was the longest since their 0-6 start to begin the season.
Seattle, which was hoping for its first series sweep of the season, fell to 23-27.
Kaprielian, who threw five innings in his debut in Boston and 5 2/3 innings against the Angels in Anaheim, threw 94 pitches, 61 for strikes, in his Coliseum debut.
With a 2-0 record and a 1.53 earned run average, Kaprielian’s success can allow them to take their time getting Jesús Luzardo back into the rotation while enabling the right-hander to put a stranglehold on a spot in the rotation.
“It starts with having a couple of good starts and excelling when you have the opportunity,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said in a postgame video conference. “That’s what he’s done with these three starts. He keeps pitching like this, we’ll find a spot for him.”
The Mariners roughed up usually reliable reliever Yusmeiro Petit for four hits and three runs in twothirds of an inning in the eighth before Jake Diekman got the final out. In the ninth, Seattle had the tying run at the plate before Diekman got the final out on a looper to shortstop Elvis Andrus for his sixth save.
Matt Olson homered for the Athletics, his 13th of the season, in the third inning against starter and loser Robert Dugger (0-1).
The seven innings was Kaprielian’s longest out since 2016 as a member of the Yankees organization in the Class A Florida State League. He threw just 20 pitches in the first two innings, but labored in the third and fourth with 52 pitches.
But Kaprielian retired the last 10 batters he faced, throwing just 22 pitches from the fifth through the seventh. He wasn’t overly impressed with his own stuff, and concentrated on getting ahead of hitters and working his slider off his fastball to be efficient.
“I wanted to go out and use my defense,” Kaprielian said. “Obviously I didn’t pile up a bunch of strikeouts, every pitcher loves those. Just use the defense and pound it and attack guys. That’s the game plan.”
The A’s chased Dugger in the fourth and added three runs for a 6-0 lead. After Dugger retired Tony Kemp, Andrus singled and Aramis Garcia was hit by a pitch.
Wyatt Mills replaced Dugger, and after walking Mark Canha, Matt Chapman hit a sacrifice fly and Ramon Laureano and Seth Brown added consecutive run-scoring singles.
The A’s run in the third inning came when Olson lofted a high fly ball to right field that just kept carrying until it dropped over the fence just out of the reach of Jarred Kelenic. It was Olson’s fifth home run in his past 11 games.
“I wasn’t too sure about it,” Olson said. “I told Dallas (Braden) on the postgame, I’m glad it was a day game and not a night game here because that’s probably an F-9. I picked the right spot and right time of day to do it I guess.”
Dugger, in his second start served as the opener, walked two of the first three batters he faced in
Canha and Laureano, with Canha coming home when Brown slashed an oppositefield, ground-rule double to right. Chapman then drove in Laureano with a sacrifice fly to left for the A’s. MARINERS’ DEFENSE STYMIES
A’S COMEBACK ATTEMPTS ON TUESDAY » The Oakland A’s may look back at this game as a story of what-ifs.
Big picture, their 4-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday at the Coliseum marks their first threegame losing streak since they lost six straight to start the season. Because the Houston Astros lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the A’s remain a game up in first place in the American League West. But losses to division foes, even in May, aren’t what the A’s want.
Two impressive catches by the Mariners separated the A’s from a win. First was reigning AL Rookie of the Year Kyle Lewis’ outstretched catch in center field to rob Ramón Laureano of an extra-base RBI down two runs with the game-tying run at first base. Second was more of a dagger: Down a run with game-tying run in Matt Olson on base, Mitch Haniger ran from shallow right field to the wall to track down Sean Murphy’s drive, at least a double if it hadn’t hit glove.
“That’s the difference in the game,” manager Bob Melvin said. “When you have one-run games like that, it’s a small margin for error. Certainly if Murphy’s ball gets down, it’s a whole different ballgame.”