OAKLAND ATHLETICS NOTES:
ABOUT THE A’S: Were swept by Philadelphia in a three-game series to close out the last homestand and have now been swept 10 times (have swept one series)…have lost five straight after winning a season-high seven consecutive games and are now 7-9 (.438) in June…had just six wins in May and five in April…are 19-55 (.257) overall, which is the lowest winning percentage in the majors…it is worst record by an A’s team over the first 74 games since the 1920 Philadelphia A’s started the year 17-56 (had one game end in a tie)…it is the worst record by any team since the 2003 Tigers began the season 18- 56…are 3-2-1 over the last six series after going 1-16 over the first 17 series.
OFFENSE: The A’s have scored three runs or fewer in each of the last six games and are batting .210 (42-for-200) with 13 runs scored over that span (2.2 runs per game)…rank last in the majors in batting (.222) and have the fewest runs scored (262)…also have the lowest slugging percentage (.353) and OPS (.656)…are tied for the Major League lead in hit by pitches (44) and rank 11th in walks (248) but have the fifth lowest on-base percentage (.304)…have 12 extra base hits over the last seven games (nine doubles, three home runs) and rank last in the majors in extra base hits (176)…have the fourth fewest doubles (101) and the eighth fewest home runs (68)…lead the majors in sacrifice hits (16), have the third most strikeouts (695) and are tied for third in most times shut out (8).
IN THE PINCH: A’s pinch hitters were 3-for-4 with a double, home run and two RBI on Sunday…they are now 19-for-66 (.288) with three doubles, two home runs, nine RBI and 10 walks for the season…lead the majors in hits, rank third in walks, tied for third in extra base hits (5), tied for fourth in doubles, home runs and plate appearances (77) and tied for seventh in RBI.
PITCHING: The A’s have compiled a 2.97 ERA (37 er in 112.0 ip) over the last 12 games and now have a 4.00 ERA (64 er in 144.0 ip) in June…that follows a 5.54 ERA in May and 7.97 in April, both of which were the highest in the majors…have a 6.05 ERA for the season, which is the highest in the majors… the last team to finish the year with an ERA above 6.00 is the 1999 Rockies (6.03)…also have the highest opponents on-base percentage (.360), the second highest OPS (.827) and slugging percentage (.467) and the third highest batting average (.271)…lead the majors in most walks (327), home runs (111) and hit batters (47), are tied for the most wild pitches (36) and have the fourth fewest strikeouts (568)…have surrendered six grand slams, which are the most in the majors and tied for fifth most in a season in Athletics history (8 in 1993 and 1999, 7 in 1954 and 1997)…also lead the majors with 14 walks with the bases loaded, which are the most by an A’s team since 2011 (18).
STARTING PITCHING: A’s starting pitchers are 4-3 with a 3.27 ERA (23 er in 63.1 ip) over the last 13 games after going 2-32 with a 7.19 ERA over the first 61 contests…are 6-35 with a 6.47 ERA for the season…the ERA is the highest in the majors and the wins are the fewest…the fewest wins from a starting rotation in a full season in Major League history is 21 by the Pirates last year…have tossed seven innings or fewer in each game this year and have the fewest innings pitched (345.0)…now have a streak of 108 consecutive games of seven innings or fewer, which is the longest in Athletics history… the last A’s starter to last more than seven innings is Adam Oller, who went 8.0 innings on Aug. 27, 2022 against New York (AL).
FOR OPENERS: The A’s are scheduled to use an “opener” today for the seventh time this year (all since May 24)…openers are 1-2 with a 7.50 ERA (6.0 ip, 10 h, 5 r, 5 er, 7 so) and the “main” pitchers are 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA (30.0 ip, 28 h, 15 r, 15 er, 10 bb, 30 so)…are 2-4 in the six games…used an opener nine times in 2018 (all in September) and three times in 2019 (none after June 5).
THE BULLPEN: The A’s bullpen is 3-2 with six saves, two blown saves and a 2.89 ERA (15 er in 46.2 ip) over the last 12 games…had an Oakland record tying streak of six consecutive games with a save snapped last Wednesday…that followed a 29-game stretch without a save, which was the second longest single-season streak in Oakland history…the pen is now 10-for-23 (43.5%) in save opportunities for the season…has the lowest save percentage in the majors, is tied for the second fewest saves and is tied for eighth in most blown saves (13)…has a 5.58 ERA, which is the highest in the majors… has 308.0 innings pitched, which is second most…has allowed 54-of-135 (40.0%) inherited runners to score, which is the fourth highest percentage… is tied for the third most inherited runners.
ON THE BASES: The A’s have stolen 19 bases in the last 14 games and are 74-for-91 (81.3%) in stolen base attempts for the season…rank third in the majors in stolen bases, fourth in attempts and ninth in percentage…had 78 stolen bases all last year…A’s opponents are 8-for-17 (47.1%) in stolen base attempts over the last 11 games and are 56-for-83 (67.5%) for the season, which is the third lowest success rate in the majors…the 27 caught stealings are five more than any other team…A’s pitchers have nine pickoffs, which is second most in the majors.
HOME AND AWAY: The A’s begin a six-game road trip to Cleveland (three games) and Toronto (three games) tonight…went 5-4 on the last road trip to Miami (0-3), Pittsburgh (2-1) and Milwaukee (3-0)…it was the A’s first winning road trip since Sept. 14-19, 2021…have a five-game road winning streak, which is the A’s longest over the last two years…that follows an Oakland record-tying 15-game road losing streak (May 24-June 23, 1986)…are 10-26 (.278) on the road, which is the second worst road record in the majors (Royals, 9-25/.265)…went 2-5 on the last homestand against Tampa Bay (2- 2) and Philadelphia (0-3) and are 9-29 (.237) at home, which is the lowest home winning percentage in the majors…have compiled a 5.20 ERA at home compared to 7.05 (235 er in 300.0 ip) on the road.
WINNING LATE: The A’s have scored the winning run in their final at bat in 10 of their 19 victories…have five walk-off wins, which is tied for second most in the majors (White Sox, 6)…are 10-51 when tied or trailing after seven innings compared to 9-4 when leading after seven innings…are tied for fifth in the majors in wins when tied or trailing after seven innings but no other team has fewer than 14 wins when leading after seven…are 4-5 (.444) in extra inning games…are tied for fourth in the majors in extra inning games (9) and losses and tied for fifth in wins.
RUN DIFFERENTIAL: Five of the A’s seven games on the last homestand were decided by one run…each of the A’s last two wins, three of the last four and 11 of 19 overall have been by one run…are now 11-14 (.440) in one-run games…are tied for third in the majors in one-run losses and rank fourth in games (25)…however, are 8-41 (.163) in games decided by two or more runs, including 1-14 in games decided by six or more runs…have a run differential of -8 in June after posting a mark of -78 in May and -118 in April…are -203 for the season, which is the lowest in the majors…had a run differential of -202 all last year, which was second lowest in Oakland history (-287 in 1979).
PLAYERS USED: The A’s selected Yacksel Rios from Triple-A Las Vegas today… he would be the 46th player to appear in a game for the A’s this year…the current total of 45 players is tied for fourth most in the majors…employed a franchise record 64 players last year…Rios would be the 30th pitcher and the currently total of 29 is second most to the Rays (32)…tied an Athletics record with 34 pitchers last year…12 of the 45 players are rookies after using an Oakland-record 34 rookies last year…seven have made their Major League debuts…had 23 do that last year.
A’S VS. GUARDIANS
- The A’s lost two of three in Oakland in the second series of the season, April 3-5.
- The one win snapped a six-game home losing streak against the Guardians, which matched the longest home losing streak against Cleveland in Oakland history (6, June 3, 1994-July 27, 1995).
- Have lost three of the last four in Cleveland after winning eight straight.
- Lost the season series last year for the first time since 2016 and have dropped eight of 10 over the last two seasons.
- Went 1-6 in 2022, which was the A’s worst record against Cleveland since going 0-7 in 1995.
Year Home Road Totals
2023 1-2 0-0 1-2
2022 0-3 1-3 1-6
Oakland History: 289-252
at the Coliseum: 152-113
at Progressive Field: 52-70
All-Time: 924-1045
TODAY’S TIDBITS
Ryan Noda leads the American League and ranks fourth in the majors in walks (48)…is eighth in the majors in on-base percentage (.397)…leads Major League rookies in on-base percentage (.397) and walks (48)…Esteury Ruiz leads the majors in stolen bases (36) and hit by pitches (12)…leads ML rookies in stolen bases (36) and hit by pitches (12) and ranks third in hits (75) and doubles (18).
TODAY’S MAIN PITCHER: Luis Medina (1-6, 7.55 ERA)
FOR STARTERS: Is scheduled to make his ninth appearance of the season… had made six starts and this will be his third outing in a game started by an opener (Waldichuk on May 28 vs. Houston, Moll on June 9 at Milwaukee)… was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas May 11 for his second stint with the A’s this year…went 0-2 with a 4.67 ERA over his first three starts following his return but is 1-3 with a 9.00 ERA (17.0 ip, 24 h, 17 r, 17 er, 11 bb, 18 so) in two starts and two relief appearances since then…was called up for the first time on April 25, started and lost the next day at Los Angeles (AL) in his Major League debut, and was optioned back to Las Vegas on April 27…was 0-1 with a 7.42 ERA in five games, four starts, with the Aviators.
RANKINGS: Based on a minimum of 30 innings pitched, he has the fifth highest opponents slugging percentage in the majors (.577), the seventh highest ERA (7.55) and 10th most home runs per nine innings (2.29).
THE LONG BALL: Has not allowed a home run in his last three starts after yielding at least one in each of his first five outings…15 of the 34 runs he has allowed this year have scored on home runs…has yielded at least one home run five times, including two or more four times…has surrendered 10 home runs in 39.1 innings for the season, an average of 2.29 per nine innings…has allowed eight home runs in 99 at bats against right-handed hitters (12.3 at bats per home run) compared to two in 57 against left-handers (28.5 at bats per home run).
THIS AND THAT: Opponents are batting .237 (22-for-93) with the bases empty, .365 (23-for-63) with runners on…has a .361 (13-for-36) opponents average with runners in scoring position…has not allowed a run in the first inning (6.0 ip) but has a 13.50 ERA (12 er in 8.0 ip) in the second inning… picked up his first win of the season June 9 after starting the season 0-5… is one of four Oakland pitchers this year to start the season 0-4 or worse… Rucinski and Fujinami also started the year 0-4 and Kaprielian was 0-6…the A’s are 0-6 in his starting assignments and 1-7 when he pitches.
2023 DAY-BY-DAY: Began the season at Triple-A Las Vegas and was 0-0 with a 3.86 ERA in three starts when he was recalled by Oakland on April 25… made his Major League debut the next day with a start at Los Angeles (AL) and was the losing pitcher in the A’s 11-3 loss…became the 59th pitcher in Oakland history to start in his ML debut, the third this year (Fujinami on April 1, Miller on April 19)…allowed eight runs in 5.0 innings, which match the most runs in Oakland history by a pitcher in his debut…the first pitcher to do it was Fujinami earlier this year on April 1…it matches the most runs by an Athletics pitcher in his debut over the last 103 years (fifth time)…in addition to runs, he also had career highs in hits (8) and strikeouts (6)…was optioned back to Las Vegas on April 27 and went 0-1 with a 15.75 ERA in two starts before he was recalled by Oakland a second time on May 11…matched his career high with 6.0 innings pitched on May 11 against Texas and May 17 against Arizona…tossed a career-high 96 pitches in the start against the Diamondbacks when he also equaled his career high with six strikeouts…his fifth career appearance on May 28 against Houston came in relief of opener Ken Waldichuk…allowed a career high three home runs and took the loss in a 10-1 decision…started in his next outing on June 3 at Miami but took the loss after walking a career-high four and yielded six runs on six hits in 2.0 innings…it was the shortest start of his career…it gave him a career-opening streak of six consecutive games with three or more runs allowed, which matched the longest such streak in Oakland history…joins Mike Morgan (June 11, 1978-July 7, 1979) and Dillon Overton (June 25-Sept. 15, 2016)… pitched in relief of opener Sam Moll on June 9 at Milwaukee and picked up his first Major League win in the A’s 5-2 victory…matched his career high with six strikeouts.
LAST APPEARANCE: He was the losing pitcher in the A’s 6-3 loss to Tampa Bay last Wednesday in Oakland…allowed a career-high tying eight hits in 4.2 innings…yielded a sacrifice fly to Bethancourt in the second but the A’s came back with three in the bottom of the second…allowed RBI doubles to Margot and Diaz in the fifth to tie the score at 3-3 and was relieved by Moll with a runner on second and two outs…Moll allowed the run to score.
CLEVELAND GUARDIANS NOTES:
No team release available.
