The Oakland Athletics dropped the first half of a doubleheader 4-2 to the Los Angeles Angels Sunday afternoon and fall 14 games under .500. Angels starter Jered Weaver won his 12th game of the season while his earned run average rose slightly to 1.90. He no longer leads Major League Baseball in ERA but he still has a sizable lead among AL pitchers.
Trevor Cahill was not lights out but he put together a solid enough outing after struggling with his pitch count early. Cahill threw 31 pitches in the first inning and seemed destined for a quick exit. However, he settled down as the game moved along and managed to get through seven innings throwing 119 pitches. He gave up three runs on five hits and five walks as he struggled again with his control.
The A’s wasted a strong performance from Jemile Weeks who was 3-for-4 with a stolen base and an RBI. As the team has been hoping, he worked to be a rally-starter all day long but the A’s couldn’t quite do enough. He led off the game with a walk and stole second on a Coco Crisp strikeout, but was unable to score. In the sixth he reached on a one-out single and advanced to second on a wild pitch before being stranded again. He had a key RBI single in the seventh and advanced to second on a wild pitch but was once again stranded. And he wrapped it up with a two-out single off Jordan Walden but was again stranded.
The A’s and Angels will play the second game of their doubleheader approximately 35 minutes after the completion of game one, which means it should start any minute now. Eric Sogard will get the start at shortstop after Cliff Pennington had some defensive struggles.
The A’s also sent down Adam Rosales and activated Jerry Blevins before game two. Rich Harden will make the start and the team will need every available arm in case he struggles with pitch count issues. Here is the A’s starting lineup for game two:
1. Jemile Weeks 2B
2. Coco Crisp CF
3. Ryan Sweeney LF
4. Josh Willingham DH
5. David DeJesus RF
6. Conor Jackson 1B
7. Landon Powell C
8. Scott Sizemore 3B
9. Eric Sogard SS