Not a great day from the Oakland offense
The Athletics dropped the first game of the series with the Cardinals, losing a close one by a final of 3-1 at the Coliseum on Jackie Robinson Day.
Right-hander Ross Stripling got the ball to start today’s game. He’s been up and down so far this year in his first three starts but tonight he was solid enough. St. Louis tagged him for a run in the first inning but Stripling settled in after that, allowing only a few hits over the next four innings.
Meanwhile though the Oakland bats were more or less helpless against former A’s ace Sonny Gray. The newest Cardinal fired off six shutout innings, allowing just four hits and no walks while keeping the A’s bats off balance. The lone run from the Athletics came courtesy of Esteury Ruiz. Pinch-hitting in the eighth for Lawrence Butler, Ruiz blasted a solo shot over the left field fence in his first at-bat since his return:
Esteury wasted no time pic.twitter.com/2iyHiduduB
— Oakland A’s (@Athletics) April 16, 2024
Ruiz was tearing the cover off the ball down in Triple-A so it’s a fantastic sign that Ruiz’s first at-bat was a home run. Hopefully he’ll stick around for good this time.
Stripling did his best to keep the A’s in this one but things got away from him in his final inning of work as he allowed two more runs that ultimately ended up being the difference tonight. Reliever Michael Kelly pitched a couple clean innings and Austin Adams finished off the pitching staff’s day with a scoreless outing.
Other than the Ruiz homer though the Oakland offense was mostly silent tonight. Only Abraham Toro, Zack Gelof (2 hits) and JJ Bleday collected knocks. You’re just not going to win many games when the offense is shut down like tonight.
The club will try to bounce back tomorrow evening in the second game of the three-game set. It’ll be lefty JP Sears on the bump for the Green & Gold while St. Louis will counter with veteran righty Lance Lynn. Let’s get back into the win column tomorrow!