Martinez Tribune The website of the Martinez Tribune.
BY RICK PORCARO
Former Saint Mary’s Gael Ken Waldichuk had his second straight solid start for the Athletics, but home runs by Atlanta’s Vaughn Grissom and Dansby Swanson turned the tide as the Braves completed a sweep of their brief two game series in Oakland with a 7-3 win over the A’s Wednesday afternoon at the Coliseum.
Atlanta’s Spencer Strider delivers a pitch during the Braves 7-3 win over the A’s Wednesday afternoon. The 23 year old rookie struck out nine in six innings to improve his record to 10-4 for the season.
It was the seventh consecutive victory for the defending World Series champions, who will at least briefly remain in a tie with the New York Mets atop the NL East pending the outcome of the second game of the Mets doubleheader with the Pirates later today. Atlanta had trailed New York by 10.5 games on June 1st.
Oakland jumped out to a 2-0 first inning lead on the strength of a RBI double by Stephen Vogt and RBI ground out by Ramon Laureano before Braves starter and winner Spencer Strider (10-4, 2.69) overcame a 36 pitch first inning to settle down and retire 16 of the last 17 batters faced, striking out nine in six innings. A leading candidate for NL Rookie of the Year, Strider only allowed two hits with his fastball topping out at over 100 mph in his first start since setting an Atlanta franchise record with 16 K’s.
The A’s lead held up behind Waldichuk (0-1, 3.60) until the fifth, when Grissom (.347) continued his blistering entry to the Majors with his fifth home run in 26 games since he got called up to tie the game. An inning later Dansby Swanson homered to deep left to give the Braves a lead they’d never relinquish and end the day for Oakland’s rookie pitcher.
Vaughn Grissom of the Braves watches his two run sixth inning home run leave the park during Atlanta’s 7-3 win over the Athletics Wednesday afternoon at the Coliseum.
“His first start, I asked him what he felt out there, and he said, ‘I couldn’t feel anything,’” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “Today, I think he did. He looked more relaxed. He got into the action right away and into the strike zone immediately. That definitely was an improvement from day one.”
“Outside of the two home runs, he really pitched well today,” Kotsay added. “He got us into the sixth inning. The Swanson at bat, he makes a pretty good pitch 2-2 that could have got him, and then Swanson takes a good swing on a fastball up that he’d beaten him with earlier in the game. He realized after his first start that these big league hitters can hit a fastball. It doesn’t matter how hard it is. I think today was a sign that he located it better. He threw it where he wanted to and more effectively.”
Former St. Mary’s Gael Ken Waldichuk delivers a pitch in his home debut for the Athletics Wednesday afternoon at the Coliseum. He pitched well, shuting out Atlanta for the first four innings before yielding a pair of home runs and leaving after 5 1/3 innings with the loss in a 7-3 Braves victory.
Atlanta broke the game open with five hits that plated four runs in the seventh as Kirby Snead struggled, unable to retire any of the three batters he faced, and allowing a runner he inherited from Tyler Cyr to score. Former Athletic Robbie Grossman’s two RBI double was the key hit as the Braves batted around to take a five run lead. Seth Brown’s 21st home run of the year in the eighth for Oakland established the final margin.
Oakland next starts a four game weekend series with the Chicago White Sox tomorrow night. JP Sears (5-1, 2.63) gets the ball for Thursday’s opener against Chicago’s Dylan Cease (13-6, 2.13). Cease pitched 8 2/3 innings of no hit ball in his last outing before AL batting average leader Luis Arraez broke up the gem just one out away from history.
