Oakland Athletics Spoil Lincecum’s Home Debut
By Ana Kieu
The good news for the diehard Oakland Athletics fans is that there’s still a lot of time left in the baseball season, but there’s room for improvement.
Entering Angel Stadium to take on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, it certainly seems like the Oakland Athletics will split the four-game series because of the way they’ve been playing lately. Their season has been a rollercoaster ride so far. They’ve justified the popular idiom “You win some, you lose some.”
Tim Lincecum made his second start in an Angels uniform and faced a familiar Oakland Athletics lineup at Angel Stadium in his home debut. He faced Kendall Graveman, who also faced the Angels his last time out, delivering his best start of the year in a 3-2 win Friday.
However, Graveman struggled early in the season, going 1-4 with a 5.87 ERA in six starts in May. He hasn’t received a lot of help from his teammates. The Oakland Athletics average 3.16 runs of support for Graveman, which is fourth lowest in the American League among pitchers with 60 innings under their belt.
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That wasn’t the case Thursday night in Orange County. The Oakland Athletics took Game 2 with a close 5-4 win over the Angels. It all started when Marcus Semien hit a three-run shot for his 13th home run of the season. Shortly after, Coco Crisp scored on a Yunel Escobar error. The home team dominated at the top of the second and had an early 4-0 lead.
Then the Angels took two back, courtesy of a Johnny Giavotella single and a Jett Bandy sacrifice fly. This sliced the Oakland Athletics’ lead in half in the bottom of the fourth. Not a good look for Graveman, but he managed to pick up a win.
The Oakland Athletics built a comfortable cushion in the top of the fifth, as Khris Davis homered on a fly ball to center to help the Oakland Athletics extend their lead to 5-2. The scoreboard wasn’t out of reach for the Angels, but the three-run lead was enough to secure a victory.
Bandy homered on a line drive to left and the Angels made it a one-run game in the bottom of the ninth. It was a last-minute run, which was nerve-wracking. Oakland Athletics fans had a reason to be concerned because their mediocre team is known for blowing leads.
But the Oakland Athletics spoiled Lincecum’s home debut, which was a moment that many people didn’t think could happen. They scored first and held on for a 5-4 win in a nail-biting game.
Davis’ 17th long ball of the season proved to be the difference for the Oakland Athletics. Reliever Sean Doolittle recorded his fourth save of the season and secured the win for Graveman, who struggled — scattering eight hits and allowing two runs in 6 2/3 innings.
The Oakland Athletics made the right decision in deciding not to pursue Lincecum, who surrendered four runs on seven hits over three innings. Graveman is a decent pitcher, but his team doesn’t always back him up.
Let’s see what happens in Game 3.