The Oakland Athletics dropped the opener of the exhibition Bay Bridge Series 4-3 as Matt Cain “outdueled” Brett Anderson. Anderson had his moments but gave up a few untimely Giants hits. He went seven innings, striking out six batters and giving up four runs on six hits and two walks. Additionally, Anderson came to bat three times tonight since the game was at AT&T Park. He stood at the very outer edge of the batters box and didn’t take his bat off his shoulder once. It’s safe to say the A’s had no interest in seeing him hurt himself in a truly meaningless at bat.
The story of the game for the A’s will likely be the continued hot bat of third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. The generally strong fielding third baseman had a horrendous 2010 season at the plate, hitting .247/.283/.396. Entering tonight’s game with the Giants, Kouzmanoff’s spring line was .426/.467/.611. He was 2-for-3 with a run scored tonight.
While Kouzmanoff only has six extra base hits on the spring, if he can bring a fairly consistent bat to the table, extra base hits will not be all that necessary from him. They are always welcome, but after last season’s hitting debacle, base hits of any kind are welcome from Kouzmanoff.