MidValleySports.Com

By Tim Byrnes

It was one of those series where the Athletics showed its fans a little bit of everything. There was a rare win in the series opener, and there was the game where they were down three runs in the first inning. The way Manager Mark Kotsay runs his team, every series has to have a blowout loss, and this series was no different.

(Athletics: 5-2)
Joshua Kuroda-Grauer had one of his most memorable moments in his young career when he hit his first career home run in the top of the 2nd-inning. Unfortunately, he followed that at-bat with arguably, one of the most painful moments of his life.
In his next at-bat, JKG fouled an inside fastball off his groin, doubling him over immediately. He laid crumpled in the batters box for several minutes while being tended to by the A’s coaching staff. After several minutes, Kuroda-Grauer returned to his at-bat and singled, which is amazing considering he had a “ruptured testicle” requiring immediate surgery. He was pulled from the game, had surgery the next morning, and is now on 10-day IL.
Jacob Wilson added a solo-shot of his own in the fifth inning, and Tommy “Tanks” White went 4-for-5 to lead the bats.
Athletics starter Jeffrey Springs lasted five innings before Luis Medina (W 2-1, 3.55) relieved Springs, and took the win.

(Diamondbacks: 6-5 F/10)
The A’s seem to have one of these starts to a game, in every series, where they are down big early. The Diamondbacks’ Max Kepler hit a 3-run bomb in the bottom of the first, and the Athletics had to play catch-up the entire game.
After a Lawrence Butler triple to open the third, Alika Williams singled and scored the A’s first run. Later in the 8th-inning, Shea Langeliers hit his 23rd home run of the season, to draw the score to 4-2, and set up the dramatic comeback.
With two outs in the ninth, Angels castoff Donovan Walton was pulled off the bench, and he tripled to center field. Jacob Wilson hits his second home run of the series, and ties the game at 4-4.
A’s took the lead in the top of the 10th-inning, on a rare successful sac-fly, and looked poised for its first series win since June 14th versus Colorado. Kotsay chose to send out Luis Medina to close the game, which was questionable, because he pitched two innings the night before and had a 36-pitch count.
Hogan Harris had a 12-pitch ninth and was probably the better choice, and Medina melted down. With the mandatory runner on second base, Medina (L 2-2, 3.72) walked the bases loaded, and singles by Nolan Arenado and Ildemaro Vargas sealed the 6-5 Arizona win.
Tommy Tanks went 2-for-4 and was batting over .660 in the series after two games. Amazing!

(Diamondbacks: 15-5)
It wouldn’t be a proper Athletics series without being blown out at least once, and Kotsay didn’t disappoint. Arizona hit five home runs, and nine extra-base-hits, to completely demolish Athletics pitching.
The honeymoon is over for Gage Jump, as he allowed six earned runs, and lost his fifth consecutive start. Jump (L 3-6, 4.42) allowed home runs to Nolan Arenado and Gabriel Moreno before being chased for recently-promoted Yunior Tur.
Tur (0-0, 47.25) picked up where he left off in the National series, where he gave up six runs in two innings. Ryan Waldschmidt hit Tur’s first pitch for a 2-run homer, Tim Tawa hit the next pitch for a single, and two pitches later James McCann hit another 2-run bomb, 9-2.
Eight earned runs later Tur was pulled, but Kotsay left him to walk the bases loaded first, with the last two being 4-pitch walks, and giving up an RBI-single.
Everyday player Carlos Cortes closed out his third appearance of July, signaling that Kotsay is way too comfortable with these blowouts. Cortes has six appearances, which translates to six blowouts requiring him to eat innings.
Tur is the example, being demoted with a near 50.00 ERA, and it shows you exactly how Kotsay handles his pitching staff. He Needs To Go!

Next: 7/24 @ Twins: Target Field, Minneapolis Mn