SAMARDZIJA SHUTS OUT RAYS
Crisp’s PH Walk-Off for Game’s Lone Run
OAKLAND, Aug. 4 (AP) – Coco Crisp’s walk-off base hit in the bottom of the ninth produced the game’s only run as the Oakland A’s slipped past the Tampa Bay Rays 1-0 at the Coliseum. Jeff Samardzija tossed his second shutout of the season and moved to 5-0 in six starts since joining the A’s in early July. Two of the starts have been complete games. Alex Cobb of the Rays was the hardest of hard luck losers. Cobb retired the first 13 Oakland batters he faced and entered the ninth inning having allowed just two baserunners—isolated singles in the fifth inning (to Derek Norris) and the sixth inning to (Sam Fuld).
Tampa Bay had a few scoring opportunities off of Samardzija, all of them in the early going. Desmond Jennings—who had three hits in the contest—led off the game with a double and advanced to third on Ben Zobrist’s deep fly to center, but Samardzija fanned Matt Joyce and retired Evan Longoria on a routine fly to right to end the threat. Jennings singled with two outs in the third, stole second and advanced to third on Zobrist’s infield hit, but Samardzija struck out Joyce again to end the inning. It was the last time the Rays advanced a runner past first base.
Cobb, meanwhile, was on full cruise control. After retiring the first 13 batters, he yielded the fifth inning single to Norris, who stole second, but then Josh Reddick struck out and Jed Lowrie flied to left. Fuld singled with two outs in the sixth and stole second but Cobb fanned John Jaso to put a quick end to the frame.
Samardzija retired the side in the top of the ninth, striking out Joyce for the third time in the game to end the inning. In the bottom of the frame, Cobb walked Eric Sogard leading off, the only free pass issued in the entire contest. Sogard then stole second—the third stolen base of the game for the A’s. Fuld followed by sacrificing Sogard to third. With lefty swinging Jaso due and Josh Donaldson on deck, Rays manager Joe Madddon eschewed the intentional walk and called on southpaw Jeff Beliveau. The A’s countered with the switch-hitting Crisp. On an 0-1 pitch Crisp hit a sharp ground ball through the hole on the left side of the infield for a base hit, easily scoring Sogard to win the game for Oakland.
Cobb lost despite allowing only two hits and issuing one walk while striking out seven in 8-1/3 innings.
Despite tossing one of the two no-hitters in the major leagues this season, Samardzija really scuffled while pitching for the Chicago Cubs, to the tune of a 4-7 record with a 5.33 ERA in 17 starts. In six starts with Oakland Samardzija is 5-0 with a 1.35 ERA.
8/4/2014, TB14-Oak14, The Coliseum
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2014 Rays 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 3 0
2014 Athletics 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 3 2
Rays AB R H BI AVG Athletics AB R H BI AVG
Jennings,De cf 4 0 3 0 .278 Fuld cf 3 0 1 0 .288
Zobrist lf 4 0 1 0 .256 Jaso dh 3 0 0 0 .270
Joyce dh 4 0 0 0 .231 Crisp ph 1 0 1 1 .232
Longoria 3b 3 0 0 0 .220 Donaldson 3b 3 0 0 0 .254
Loney 1b 3 0 1 0 .319 Moss lf 3 0 0 0 .257
Forsythe 2b 3 0 0 0 .211 Norris,De c 3 0 1 0 .284
Escobar,Y ss 3 0 0 0 .245 Reddick rf 3 0 0 0 .295
Molina,J c 2 0 0 0 .149 Lowrie ss 3 0 0 0 .243
Figueroa,C ph 1 0 1 0 .182 Vogt 1b 3 0 0 0 .273
Casali c 0 0 0 0 .200 Sogard 2b 2 1 0 0 .239
Kiermaier rf 3 0 0 0 .228 27 1 3 1
30 0 6 0
Rays INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Cobb L 6-4 8.1 2 1 1 1 7 99 65 2.62
Beliveau 0.0 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 1.69
8.1 3 1 1 1 7 101 67
Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Samardzija W 9-7 9.0 6 0 0 0 8 114 83 4.06
9.0 6 0 0 0 8 114 83
TB : Figueroa,C batted for Molina,J in the 8th
Casali inserted at c in the 8th
Oak: Crisp batted for Jaso in the 9th
2B-Jennings,De(30). RBI-Crisp(25). SB-Jennings,De(9), Fuld(14), Norris,De(2),
Sogard(10). CS-Zobrist. K-Joyce 3, Longoria, Forsythe, Escobar,Y, Molina,J,
Kiermaier, Jaso, Donaldson, Norris,De 2, Reddick 2, Sogard. BB-Sogard.
SH-Fuld.
GWRBI: Crisp
Temperature: 56, Sky: clear, Wind: out to right at 1 MPH.
Attendance: 21,275
Game Time: 2:13