The Oakland Athletics got their first win of the season thanks to the strong performance of their pitching and from leadoff hitter Tony Kemp.
Starter Daulton Jefferies was impressive in his five innings of work allowing only two hits, he struck out two and walked two. He was removed after giving up a leadoff walk to Matt Vierling. Sam Moll entered and struck out Kyle Schwarber, got Jean Segura to lineout to center, and reigning National League Most Valuable Player, Bryce Harper to strike out swinging.
Domingo Acevedo pitched the seventh and looked nasty when he struck Nick Castellanos out, he then walked Rhys Hoskins though. He also fell behind to Bryson Stott, yet he hit the ball on the ground to Kemp who got the out at second. Johan Camargo ended the inning by striking out.
For the eighth inning, A’s manager Mark Kotsay went with Kirby Snead who struggled in his first appearance of the 2022 season. He came back strong getting the first two hitters out quickly and getting Schwarber to pop out.
Interestingly Lou Trivino got used in a non-save situation. His first pitch to Jean Segura was a solo home run. He was able to get Harper to lineout to center field, Castellanos to ground out to Elvis Andrus at short stop, and he ended the ball game with a swinging strikeout by Hoskins.
Offensively the A’s missed out on a big inning in the third. Andrus got an opportunity with no outs and the bases loaded. He did hit the ball hard unfortunately it was right at Zach Eflin who threw to second to get the double play. Designated hitter Sean Murphy then popped out to end Oakland’s threat.
In the sixth the A’s got their first lead of the season on an RBI single off the bat of Seth Brown. Billy McKinney in the seventh inning hit a solo home run on a 1-2 pitch off left-hander Bailey Falter. The ninth inning is when the two insurance runs were scored.
After Kevin Smith struck out, catcher Austin Allen got hit by a breaking ball. Cristian Pache doubled down the left field line to put runners on second and third with one out.
Kemp snuck a single by the drawn in defense of the Philadelphia Phillies, easily scoring Allen, and Pache with a great head first slide snuck his hand in before J.T. Realmuto was able to make a tag. The call on the field was safe and it was confirmed by replay.
Noteworthy is that the A’s defense was impressive with Kemp making several nice plays, Allen making a difficult catch near the railing of the dugout, and Stephen Piscotty making an outstanding catch on a low sinking linedrive off the bat of Harper. Even better with the 4-1 win, Kotsay picks up his first career managerial win.