The Oakland Athletics played the first game of the second half of their 2011 schedule Thursday afternoon and fell to the Florida Marlins 5-4. The Marlins jumped on Trevor Cahill early, chasing him in the fifth inning. While the A’s did manage to get some offense together, it was a case of too little too late as they dropped to 36-46. They currently sit 7.5 games out of first with the Rangers playing tonight with a chance to push it to eight games.
Cahill got through the first for the A’s with a quick 1-2-3. However, he got into a little bit of trouble in the second as he gave up a Hanley Ramirez double followed by a Logan Morrison double. The Marlins continued to get on base as they got at least two men on in each of the next two innings. Cahill kept them from scoring, but he couldn’t stop them forever. In the fifth inning, Emilio Bonafacio reached first on a bunt single and then stole second. Omar Infante sacrificed him to third before Gaby Sanchez lined out for the second out of the inning.
Things quickly fell apart from there. Hanley Ramirez reached base on an infield single on a play that drove in Bonafacio to make it 2-0. Ramirez reached second on a Cahill wild pitch and was then driven in by a Logan Morrison single. Mike Stanton followed with a single and he and Morrison both scored on a John Buck double to center. The A’s finally brought in relief pitcher Trystan Magnuson but the damage had already been done.
The A’s did manage some runs in the game as they scored on in the seventh, a Coco Crisp solo home run in the eight and a Kurt Suzuki two-run home run in the ninth. However, that was all they could must and the Marlins emerged victorious.
The A’s stay home for six more games against the Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners. They open a three-game set with Arizona Friday night as Rich Harden makes his return to the Oakland rotation.