May 12, 2022
On Tuesday May 10, the Majors had a full slate of four games at Nutile and Skillings. The Dodgers visited the Diamondmacks, the Orioles played the Cardinals, the Padres hosted the Red Sox under the lights at Skillings and the A’s played the White Sox. The league pundits would have predicted wins for the Dodgers, Cardinals, Red Sox and White Sox. But that’s why they play the games.
All four underdogs would come out victorious on this night including the first wins of the season for the Diamondbacks and Orioles. And the league has a new first place team as the A’s knocked off the White Sox 9-8 to improve to 5-1 as the season approaches the mid-way point. Will teams start to shift focus away from the preseason favorites and toward the charging Athletics?
Red Sox at Padres
The Padres hosted the Red Sox Tuesday night under the lights at Skillings Field. The Red Sox were looking to get back to their winning ways after a tough loss to the A’s Friday night while the Padres were hoping their red hot bats hadn’t cooled over the cold weekend.
Brendan Kutylo got the start on the mound for the Padres. After a strikeout and a hard lineout to third baseman James Marshall by Jack Silberhorn, the Red Sox were able to draw a walk to Sam Pandolfo who would score the game’s first run on a Padres error.
The Padres would fight back in the bottom of the first against strong pitching by Jack Silberhorn, scoring three on a passed ball, a dropped third strike and a single by Kutylo.
The score remained 3-1 into the third inning behind some very strong pitching by both Silberhorn and Kutylo, each surrendering only one hit and striking out 8 and 3 respectively. The Padres were able to add 3 to their lead in the bottom of the 3rd when James Chaytors singled to lead off the inning. He then scored on a double by James Marshall. The Padres added two more on a line drive home run to left center by Kutylo.
The Padres were able to hold the Red Sox offense at bay behind solid relief from Tyler Bernstein. They increased their lead in the 4th when Luke Seitz scored from third on a passed ball.
The Red Sox were able to score 2 in the top of the 5th on a hard line drive single by Sam Pandolfo, scoring Luke Bailey and Jack Silberhorn. But the Padres were able to put the game out of reach adding 3 more runs in the bottom of the 5th on a double by Jack Lennon and a single by Michael McCarthy, followed by a sacrifice fly by Ben Saurman.
The Padres turned to closer Jack Lennon to seal the victory, improving to 3-3 while dropping the Red Sox to 4-2.
White Sox at Athletics
The White Sox jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to singles from Leo Gannon, Ben Ragosa, Adrian Lupien, Dylan Sala and fielder’s choice groundouts from Leo D’Agostino and Dylan Murtie. The A’s would get one back in the last of the second against White Sox starter Nathan Wan as a Christian Grimaldi single plated Nate Rotondi.
The Sox went up 5-1 in the top of the third as Ragosa singled in Sala who had reached base on a single of his own. With two outs and no one on in the last of the 3rd, the A’s would mount a ferocious rally. Damon Romanos and BZ singled before a Shane Doherty walk loaded the bases. Daniel Driscoll then fit a fly ball down the right field line which scored two and moved the score to 5-3. After a Max Brown single and walks to Rotondi and Mauras, the bases were again loaded with the score 5-5. Grimaldi then tripled to right field, scoring three and putting the A’s ahead 8-5.
The Sox would wait until the 5th inning to try a comeback. William Fiorentino doubled to left center with one out before Gannon walked. Ragosa drove in one with a single to left field and Lupien drove in another with a single and Ragosa came around to score on a steal of home a few pitches later.
The game was tied 8-8 but the Sox could not push across the go ahead run. In the last of the 5th, the Doherty hit a grounder that got through the Sox infield and Driscoll reached on a fly ball single to right. Doherty came around to score on a Brown fielder’s choice to give the A’s a 9-8 lead heading to the 6th. In the 6th, Doherty allowed a two out walk to Fiorentino. Gannon hit a hard liner to first that was picked off by Brown to seal the A’s victory.
The A’s win moves the A’s and White Sox to 5-1 records through 6 games.