Following a rough day yesterday, the Athletics flipped the script today, winning both games of the spring training split-squad double-header to end the weekend on a positive note. The A\u2019s in Arizona came back from a seven-run deficit to defeat the Las Angeles Dodgers 11-7, while the other half of the team beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-4, splitting the two-game preseason series in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
A\u2019s vs Dodgers<\/p>\n
Making his first start of the spring, A\u2019s left-hander Jacob Lopez did not have his best performance, yet that was expected as he is getting back into the groove and likely had to shake off some rust. Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages hit a two-out solo home run off Lopez in the first inning and then Lopez allowed Nick Senzel and Ryan Ward to hit back-t0-back RBI doubles the next inning.<\/p>\n
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In the fourth inning, the Dodgers added to their lead, scoring three more runs off of A\u2019s pitchers Matt Krook and Kenya Huggins. Up 7-0, it seemed like the Dodgers would coast to another Cactus League victory. However, the A\u2019s top prospect, 19-year-old shortstop Leo De Vries, said not so fast. The best prospect the A\u2019s acquired from the San Diego Padres in the Mason Miller trade singlehandedly willed the A\u2019s comeback against the defending champions, with the caveat that it came against Dodgers minor league pitchers.<\/p>\n
In the bottom of the fourth inning, De Vries hit his first homer in an A\u2019s uniform, a two-run blast to right field. An inning later, he came up again, this time with the bases loaded and two outs. De Vries made more noise, hitting a grand slam over the right field fence to trim the A\u2019s deficit to one.<\/p>\n
It is hard to believe that the Padres traded this rising star for a reliever. That leaves them without a successor should their starting shortstop 33-year-old Xander Bogaerts start declining as he ages.<\/p>\n
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De Vries got the A\u2019s back in the game and then his teammates picked up the slack to take the lead and secure the victory. Third baseman Andy Ib\u00e0\u00f1ez\u2019s RBI double tied the game in the sixth inning and then the A\u2019s put up a four-spot in the eighth inning to take their first lead of the game. Minor league outfielder Clark Elliot\u2019s single scored the go-ahead run and then Colby Thomas capped off the scoring with a two-run double. Ib\u00e0\u00f1ez had another run-scoring hit in that inning, finishing the game an impressive 4-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, A\u2019s pitching prospects Zane Taylor and Steven Echavarria shut down the Dodgers for the game\u2019s final three innings. With all the attention on the lefties Gage Jump and Jamie Arnold, do not sleep on these two right-handers as they also have the talent to make waves in the A\u2019s minor leagues this season.<\/p>\n
A\u2019s vs Angels<\/p>\n
Taking the mound for the second time in an A\u2019s uniform, offseason acquisition Aaron Civale put forth a solid performance. He accumulated four strikeouts over 3 2\/3 innings pitched. Civale\u2019s lone blemish was Angels catcher Logan O\u2019Hoppe\u2019s two-run home run in the fourth inning. O\u2019Hoppe\u2019s home run gave the Angels the lead, erasing the A\u2019s 1-0 advantage which came courtesy of third base prospect Tommy White\u2019s second home run of the spring in the second inning.<\/p>\n
Angels starting pitcher Jack Kochanowicz pitched well, only allowing White\u2019s home run in his four inning outing. Once the Angels ended his day, the A\u2019s took advantage, tying and then taking the lead against Angels relievers. The A\u2019s tied the game in the fifth thanks to doubles by Henry Bolte and fellow prospect Joshua Kuroda-Grauer. Bolte, who finished the game with four hits in four at-bats, came up with another big hit later in the game. His two-run home run in the seventh inning gave the hosts a lead that they would not relinquish.<\/p>\n
White added his third hit and second home run of the game an inning later to give the A\u2019s a three-run cushion going into the ninth inning.<\/p>\n
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Relievers Wander Suero and Nick Hernandez protected the A\u2019s late lead in this game, only allowing one run over the final three innings. While they are likely to start in Triple-A, it would not be surprising to see at least one of them with the MLB club this season, especially given the relative dearth of experienced bullpen arms on the A\u2019s roster.<\/p>\n
The fact that the A\u2019s won two games today despite getting limited contributions from their core offensive starters bodes well, even if these are just meaningless spring training games. Tomorrow, the team coalesces back into one unit as they travel to Goodyear, AZ to take on the Cincinnati Reds. It will be a matchup of promising young right-handed pitchers with Jack Perkins to start for the A\u2019s and Rhett Lowder for the Reds. Can the A\u2019s make it three in a row or will their week get off to a losing start? Tune in tomorrow to find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following a rough day yesterday, the Athletics flipped the script today, winning both games of the spring training…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[97372,163,165,164,97367,6132,1956,9004,97373,97363,426,97362,97371,97365,1421,97366,97364,2866,7867,97374,3482,97368,97369,97375,2611,36991,46988,97370,60758],"class_list":{"0":"post-211691","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-aaron-civale","9":"tag-anaheim","10":"tag-anaheim-headlines","11":"tag-anaheim-news","12":"tag-andy-ibanez","13":"tag-andy-pages","14":"tag-arizona","15":"tag-cincinnati-reds","16":"tag-colby-thomas","17":"tag-de-vries","18":"tag-dodgers","19":"tag-henry-bolte","20":"tag-jack-kochanowicz","21":"tag-jacob-lopez","22":"tag-las-vegas","23":"tag-las-vegas-ballpark","24":"tag-leo-de-vries","25":"tag-los-angeles-angels","26":"tag-mason-miller","27":"tag-matt-krook","28":"tag-nevada","29":"tag-nick-hernandez","30":"tag-nick-senzel","31":"tag-rhett-lowder","32":"tag-san-diego-padres","33":"tag-spring-training","34":"tag-the-athletics","35":"tag-wander-suero","36":"tag-xander-bogaerts"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}