Oakland Athletics Tie Mariners; Danny Valencia Has Big Day
Oakland Athletics Tie With Mariners Behind Danny Valencia’s Three-RBI Performance
The Oakland Athletics ended Thursday’s tilt against the Seattle Mariners in true Spring Training fashion: an 11-11 tie, brought on by a late-inning rally and dramatic comeback.
The Highlights
The Athletics did all of the scoring in the early innings. Danny Valencia launched a two-run home run to get things started in the first inning, and a pair of second-inning RBI doubles from Coco Crisp and Jed Lowrie made it 5-0 in favor of the Green and Gold. The A’s added two to their total in the third, after Mariners starter James Paxton walked in a run, and Marcus Semien hit a sacrifice fly.
Kendall Graveman gave up a two-run home run to Robinson Cano in the fourth inning, then allowed a solo shot to Rob Brantly the following inning.
Heading into the ninth inning, the Athletics had a 9-3 lead. Eduard Santos gave up an RBI triple to Mike Zunino, and allowed another run on a double by Shawn O’Malley. Santos was replaced by Ryan Brasier, who walked in two runs before allowing a sacrifice fly and an RBI single. At that point, Trey Cochran-Gill took over on the mound, and he gave up an RBI single and walked in a run of his own.
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For those who’ve lost track, that made it 11-9 in favor of the Mariners. But the game wasn’t over yet – the Athletics scored two more in the bottom of the ninth, tying the game at 11-11. Chris Coghlan and Matt Chapman each had an RBI single to finish out the game.
Because Spring Training doesn’t count, teams rarely play extra innings, and Thursday’s game was no exception.
On the pitching side of things, Graveman struggled a bit in his 4.1 innings of work – giving up three runs on three hits and three walks, with just two strikeouts. However, all of those runs were scored on home runs. Excluding the ninth inning, the rest of the A’s pitchers fared well. Patrick Schuster finished out the fifth inning for Graveman, striking out one of the two batters he faced. John Axford, Ryan Madson and Angel Castro all posted scoreless innings as well.
Next: Who Will Win the Remaining Bullpen Job?
The Athletics will take the field at Goodyear Ballpark against the Cleveland Indians on Friday, as right-hander Jesse Hahn makes his third start of the Cactus League. He’ll face off against right-hander Josh Tomlin, who has a 6.75 ERA through eight innings this spring, but is in the mix for a rotation spot with the Tribe. The game starts at 1:05 pm PST.