Athletics fall to Phillies 11-5

Gelof, Rooker homers not enough

Fresh off a 6-2 victory yesterday in the “City of Brotherly Love” the Oakland Athletics faced off against the Philadelphia Phillies today at Citizens Bank Park. Today, A’s manager Mark Kotsay sent Mitch Spence to the mound for his last start of the first half against 26-year-old rookie Tyler Phillips who made his first career start for the Phillies.

After an uneventful first inning for both teams, Brent Rooker led off the second with a double. After Shea Langeliers strikeout, a Seth Brown double brought in the first run of the game for the visiting A’s. Alec Bohm led off the bottom of the second with a walk. Bryson Stott struck out, but Nick Castellanos homered to straight away center field to put the Phillies ahead 2-1.

The Phillies lead did not last long, as Zack Gelof tied the game with a solo shot to left field in the top of the third inning.

Garrett Stubbs led off the bottom of the inning with a walk. Kyle Schwarber doubled to center field to score Stubbs. Trea Turner struck out for the first out of the inning. Bryce Harper walked. Alec Bohm singled to load the bases. Stott struck out for the second out of the inning and got Castellanos to pop out to first for the final out and end the rally.

Spence struck out Marsh to open the bottom of the fourth, but Johan Rojas homered on the first pitch he saw to make the score 4-2. Kyle Schwarber walked with two outs and then Trea Turner homered to left field to drive in the fifth and sixth runs of the game. Spence walked Bryce Harper. Tyler Ferguson replaced Spence. Ferguson struck out Bohm to end the inning. The final line on Spence was 3.2 innings, five hits, five walks and six earned runs. Ferguson stopped the bleeding in his 1.1 innings, allowing just one walk.

Scott Alexander replaced Ferguson in the bottom of the sixth and pitched a scoreless inning. Brent Rooker led off the top of the seventh with his nineteenth home runoff the season, continuing his push to be an All-Star next week. Shea Langeliers doubled and that was the end of Phillips day. Daz Cameron singled, sending Langeliers to third. Brett Harris followed up with a base hit scoring Langeliers. Max Schuemann struck out for the second out of the inning. Miguel Andujar pinch hit for Butler facing new Phillies reliever Gregory Soto. Andujar struck out swinging to end the rally, but not before the A’s scored two more- shrinking the gap to 6-4.

Austin Adams replaced Alexander and promptly gave up a homer to Bryce Harper. He retired the side and avoided any more damage. But Harper’s homer brought the score to 7-4 heading into the top of the eighth.

Brent Rooker struck out with two outs in the eighth but made it to first safely on the wild pitch. Shea Langeliers walked on four pitches. But Seth Brown struck out for the third time today to end the inning and the threat. Michel Otañez relieved Adams in the bottom of the eighth. Otañez hit Garrett Stubbs and walked Kyle Schwarber, bringing up Trea Turner with one out. Turner lined a shot that hit Otañez and ricocheted safely to third to load the bases. Harper then doubled off Otañez’ replacement T.J. McFarland scoring two more. Bohm was intentionally walked to reload the bases. Castellanos doubled into the left field corner scoring two more. Marsh grounded out to end the inning but when all was said and done, the Phillies had extended their lead to 11-4.

José Alvarado entered the game in the ninth to shut the door on the A’s. Brett Harris singled, and Miguel Andujar doubled to drive him home. Gelof walked putting runners on first and second with two down. Alvarado walked JJ Bleday, loading the bases for Rook. But Rooker struck out, stranding the runners and ending the game. The final score was 11-5.