This story was originally published by Dead Spin
The Oakland Athletics will get an opportunity to exact revenge in the wake of a humiliating defeat when they close a three-game interleague series against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday afternoon.
With a season-high 35,207 in attendance — the bulk of them Dodgers fans — the A’s watched Saturday night as Los Angeles turned a tight contest into a blowout with two runs in the eighth and a six-run ninth inning in what became a 10-0 laugher.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts then embarrassed the A’s by moving Enrique Hernandez from third base to pitch the last of the ninth.
To add insult to injury, Oakland failed to score against Hernandez, who was making his third career mop-up pitching appearance, getting just one hit.
It was the first time Hernandez had pitched in the majors with a lead.
Afterward, a visibly upset A’s manager Mark Kotsay chose his words carefully when electing to vent his frustration to the media about plate umpire Alex Tosi and first-base umpire Dan Bellino rather than his Dodgers counterpart.
Kotsay thought Tosi erred when he called what the manager thought was a ball a strike on hot-hitting Brent Rooker with two on and one out in a scoreless game in the first inning, and on a 2-0 count to Seth Brown, who already had two hits, with the bases loaded in a 2-0 game in the sixth.
On the pitch in question, Rooker struck out looking. Brown wound up striking out swinging.
Also taken to task was Bellino’s view that the Dodgers’ Cavan Biggio hadn’t swung at what would have been strike three in the third inning. Biggio walked and scored later in the inning, in which Los Angeles took a 2-0 lead.
The strike call on Brown particularly bothered Kotsay.
“You know umpires are not trying to miss a call, but that was a really big strike call,” he said. “It only supports … is there a challenge system there?
“We had a couple of (bad) calls tonight.”
Having won the opener 6-5 on Friday, the A’s can win the series if they can prevail in a duel of young right-handers who began the season as rivals in the Pacific Coast League.
The Dodgers’ River Ryan (1-0, 0.82 ERA) has been brilliant since his initial call-up last month. The 25-year-old has pitched 3-2 and 6-2 wins in his first two major league starts, limiting the San Francisco Giants and Houston Astros to a total of two runs (one earned) and six hits in 11 innings.
Ryan made five starts at Triple-A Oklahoma before getting the call from the Dodgers.
Roberts insists he’s not surprised with the rookie’s immediate success.
“The fastball certainly plays and has a lot of life,” Roberts said after last Sunday’s 6-2 win over the Astros. “I thought the curveball was really good, particularly versus left-handed hitters. It was good to see him use that four-pitch mix effectively.”
Ryan’s rival will be Osvaldo Bido (2-2, 5.00 ERA), a fellow PCL alum who also has enjoyed some success after an in-season promotion from Triple-A Las Vegas.
Like Ryan, Bido has a win over the Astros already to his credit. But the 28-year-old is coming off the worst of his nine outings, crushed for seven runs in 3 2/3 innings in an 8-6 loss to the Los Angeles Angels last weekend.
Neither starting pitcher has faced Sunday’s opponent.
-Field Level Media
