Toronto Completes Season Sweep Of Athletics
Apr 28, 2019, 8:18 PM | Updated: 8:19 pm
(Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
Oakland Falls In Extras As Blue Jays Sweep Series
It was deja vu for the Oakland Athletics as they were swept by the Toronto Blue Jays for the second time in nine days after falling 5-4 in 11 innings on Sunday afternoon.
Coming off of a successful series sweep against the Texas Rangers, Oakland dropped all three games of their series in Toronto. Two of those losses were via walk-off heroics by the Blue Jays as the Athletics bullpen couldn’t hold on, as Oakland now sits at 14-16 on the season. Oakland took a late lead on Sunday as they put up a three-spot in the top of the 11th inning to take a 4-1 lead. However, Toronto responded with a rally of their own as Brandon Drury tied the game up with a three-run home run off of Blake Treinen and Justin Smoak singled int he winning run to complete the sweep.
Chris Bassitt pitched seven strong innings on Sunday as he only gave up one run and struck out nine batters. Blake Treinen took the loss as he gave up four earned runs over 1 2/3 innings.
The introduction to #1 MLB prospect Vladmir Guerrero Jr. loomed large over the weekend as the 20-year old son of Hall of Fame member Vladmir Guerrero took made his debut on Friday night. Guerrero Jr. went 1-for-4 in his widely anticipated debut, picking up a clutch double in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday night to put Toronto one hit away from a victory.
Guerrero went 3-for-12 for the series with a double and a walk.
Marcus Semien carried the offense once again with four hits over the three game series to improve his batting average to .316 on the season. The Athletics shortstop is enjoying a hot start as he has hit four home runs and driven in 16 RBI’s to start off his 2019 campaign.
The Athletics, who are now 4-7 over their last 11 games, head to Fenway Park on Monday to open up a series with the sluggish Boston Red Sox. After winning 108 games and claiming a World Series title in 2018, the Red Sox are off to an awful start as they come into action on Monday with an 11-17 record.
Saturday, April 27 – Blue Jays 7, Athletics 1
Brett Anderson had a rough outing on Saturday as he yielded six runs on 10 hits over 4.1 innings of work. It was too much to overcome for Oakland, especially with Blue Jays starter Aaron Sanchez dealing five shut out innings.
Friday, April 26 – Blue Jays 4, Athletics 2
After falling behind 2-0, Oakland scored two runs in the 8th inning via a Robbie Grossman two-run home run. Blue Jays infielder Brandon Drury drilled a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th inning off of Yusmeiro Petit to give Toronto the victory.
Mike Fiers (OAK): 6 IP, 2 ER, 5 K