With another offensive bombardment and Ross Stripling’s best A’s appearance to date, Saturday was a perfect conclusion to Spring Training
Say what you want about Spring Training, but the A’s offense has dazzled for the majority of this spring putting up crooked numbers galore in the box score. Saturday’s Cactus League finale against the Los Angeles Angels felt like a perfect ending to this offensive barrage as the A’s put together a hitting clinic in their 11-5 victory.
As many teams have done this spring, the Angels wasted no time teeing off on A’s starter Ross Stripling. After Sam Brown doubled to left field just two batters into the game, Nolan Schanuel quickly got the Angles on the board with a two-run bomb to right center.
The A’s offense came to play too though, however. Angels starter Matt Moore would go just one scoreless inning, but in the second, it was the A’s time to break out the lumber. Back-to-back walks to Abraham Toro and Ryan Noda set up the red-hot Lawrence Butler who smacked a double to knot the game at two. The next batter, Esteury Ruiz, singled him home to snag the lead right back.
In the third inning, the A’s benefitted from another lead-off walk to Darell Hernaiz. A groundout would move him to second, and a Toro RBI single brought him home. Drew Lugbauer, the next hitter, grew the lead to 5-2 on an RBI double to center field.
A pair of walks and a Hoy Park single gifted the A’s the bases loaded with no outs in the fourth. Park finishes the Cactus League with an astonishing 21-42 mark at the dish. He struck out just one singular time all spring but also never walked, and is sure to be a huge conundrum for the A’s coaching staff these next few days.
With the bases still loaded, a wild pitch grew the lead to four, and a Colby Thomas infield RBI single later in the inning made it 7-2.
While the A’s scored multiple runs in three straight innings, those same three frames would be Stripling’s best of the spring. He faced the minimum in each inning while striking out three and benefitting from an epic leaping catch from Thomas in right field in the fourth. Great to see Stripling head back to the Bay Area with a little bit of momentum after a forgetful spring.
After Stripling, Aaron Brooks would take over and impress himself. Brooks got five of the first nine hitters he faced out via a ground ball but in the sixth, Nelson Rada would provide the only blemish to his day with a solo home run. Rada, the 18-year-old Venezuelan phenom, is a name worth keeping track of for all you MLB fans.
The A’s got that run back immediately in the next half with a Kyle McCann solo home run. Another question that will need to be addressed within the next few days is what the A’s will do at backup catcher between McCann and Carlos Perez. Perez continued his spring troubles today going 0-2 with two strikeouts.
Later in the inning, with Max Schuemann on second after being plunked and stealing the bag, Thomas knocked him home with an RBI triple. The next batter, Colby Halter, followed the act with an RBI double to stretch the lead to 10-3.
The A’s tacked on an 11th run for good measure in the eighth off a Luke Mann sacrifice fly. With 13 total hits, the A’s scored in 5/8 innings on Saturday while scoring multiple runs in four of those innings. They finish the Cactus League scoring an average of 6.34 runs a game — not too shabby.
With the impending blowout, Brooks would wound up going 4.1 innings in relief while striking out four, walking one, and surrendering just the lone Rada solo blast. Brooks would also strike out the side in the eighth to highlight a spectacular relief appearance.
Brooks would leave the game in the ninth after walking a batter, and Francisco Perez would struggle a little after in relief surrendering a single and double to score two Angels and limit the lead to 11-5. He’d still buckle down to get the last two outs, clinch the victory, and end the spring on a high note though.
With the win, the A’s leave Arizona finishing 13-13 in the Cactus League. They’ll fly back to the Bay Area for the annual two-game preseason Bay Bridge series against the San Francisco Giants starting on Monday, March 25. The first pitch is slated for 6:40 p.m. PDT at the Oakland Coliseum.