While Guillermo Moscoso was not dominant on Wednesday, he pitched well enough that the Oakland Athletics should have been able to figure out a way to defeat the Florida Marlins. Moscoso gave up four hits and one earned run while striking out eight batters. And yet even if that was the whole story, it was not enough as the A’s fell 3-0 to the Marlins.
The first inning gave fans an idea of what kind of game this was going to be and it was not encouraging. In the top of the first, Marlins leadoff hitter Emilio Bonifacio hit a ground ball to shortstop Cliff Pennington. Pennington booted it and Bonifacio was safe at first. Two batters later Moscoso struck out Gaby Sanchez in what should have been the third out of the inning. Instead, the error allowed Hanley Ramirez to come up to bat and he proceeded to hit a two-run homerun off Moscoso. While Moscoso should have pitched better to Ramirez, he never should have been in that position.
In the bottom of the first, the A’s offense had their best chance to score as they put men on first and second with one out. Instead, Hideki Matsui flied out to right and Ryan Sweeney flied out to center, stranding three base runners after a two out walk. Ricky Nolasco was pretty much unhittable from there on out as he would give up three more hits and finish the complete game shutout.
The A’s and Marlins will meet in the rubber match as Trevor Cahill faces Chris Volstad. First pitch is scheduled for 12:35pm and will only be available on MLB.TV and radio. A’s fans pray Chris Carter is in the lineup.