Athletics drop second half opener 8-6 to Guardians

Sears hit hard; but A’s bats came alive late

The Athletics kicked off the second half of the season on the road against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field in Cleveland. JP Sears got the call tonight for the Athletics against Slade Cecconi for Cleveland.

With two outs in the bottom of the second, Johnathan Rodríguez homered to give the Guardians an early 1-0 lead. His shot to left centerfield was the first of his career. The A’s went down quietly in the third, in fact Cecconi had set down all nine batters he faced. Then in the bottom of the third, the Guardians put together four straight hits, a double, a single and a three-run homer by David Fry giving them a 4-0 lead. José Ramírez then finished off the inning cycle with a triple. Carlos Santana hit a shallow fly to Soderstrom who forgot how many outs had been recorded and Ramírez scored easily. At the end of three, the A’s trailed 5-0. Three-up, three down for the A’s in the fourth, but that wasn’t the case for the Guardians. Will Wilson walked, and Bo Naylor reached on a fielder’s choice and error by Nick Kurtz. Brayan Rocchio doubled on a line drive to center fielder Denzel Clarke. Wilson and Naylor both scored. At the end of four, the Guardians had extended their lead to 7-0.

In the top of the fifth, Brent Rooker led off with a homer to deep left field. It was his 21^st homer of the season and 100^th of his career.

That was the first hit of the game off Cecconi. Shea Langeliers followed with a single but that was all for the A’s in the fourth inning.

J.T. Ginn replaced Sears in the fifth. Sears final line was 4.0 innings with seven runs (six earned) on six hits. José Ramírez greeted Ginn with a double. Nolan Jones followed that with a single, scoring Ramírez. That made the score 8-1.

Denzel Clarke doubled to lead off the sixth inning. Showing his speed and base running acumen, he took third on a fly out to Nolan Jones in left field. Nick Kurtz singled to left to score Clarke. Hogan Harris entered the game replacing Ginn in the bottom of the sixth.

In the top of the seventh, Shea Langeliers homered to tighten the score to 8-3. Langeliers originally legged out a double with what looked like a ball off the top of the wall. But an umpire review overturned the call on the field and gave him a homer.

Elvis Alvarado replaced Hogan Harris in the bottom of the eighth. Johnathan Rodríguez and Bo Naylor walked. He struck Wilson and Rocchio out. and escaped by getting Angel Martínez to fly out to shallow centerfield.

Cecconi came out to pitch the ninth, hoping for his first career complete game. He entered the inning having thrown ninety pitches. Kurtz tripled off the wall in center. Brent Rooker followed that with a slightly misplayed triple to right field. Soderstrom battled for eight pitches but was called out looking on a breading ball on the outside corner. Langeliers blooped a double into right field scoring Rooker. That was it for Cecconi. With the score now 8-5, Stephen Vogt brought in closer Emmanuel Clase. Miguel Andujar doubled into the left field corner, easily scoring Langeliers. Muncy struck out for the second out. Gio Urshela pinch hit for Clarke. He struck out swinging to end the inning and the game. The final score was 8-6.