The A’s second half isn’t really a half; they’ve already played 89 games and have just 73 left with the Blue Jays coming to town Friday to rev up the post-All-Star break portion of the schedule. “He said he’s feeling pretty good”, Gibbons said. “I knew I was safe”.
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Stroman held the Kansas City Royals to two runs on three hits over eight innings in his last outing, as an adjustment to his windup that eliminated a glove pump to his chin seemed to have helped him get back down in the zone.
The A’s who took the field Friday mostly looked the same as the team that ended the first half Sunday in Houston.
Reddick, Davis and Vogt all homered for the A’s.
Reliever Ryan Dull (3-2, 1.94 ERA) was credited with the win for his 1-2/3 innings of work.
Down 7-4, Josh Reddick singled following a Jed Lowrie called strikeout – one he was also frustrated about. A couple of sloppy defensive plays didn’t help, and the winning run scored in the seventh when Josh Reddick beat an excellent Kevin Pillar throw home by mere inches, as Brett Cecil allowed a walk and consecutive singles with two outs to let the damage happen. Stroman made his only career start against the Athletics on July 4, 2014, settling for a no-decision despite scattering three hits over seven scoreless innings at Oakland. Reddick hit his sixth home run of the season, a solo blast in the third.Davis went 3-for-4, drove in three runs and scored once, while Vogt went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and scored twice. Even if they don’t get one, the player the A’s could receive in the 2017 draft should Reddick leaves as a free agent is more attractive at this point to Oakland than the player(s) the A’s could get in a trade. Crisp went 0 for 5 as the designated hitter, and Valencia entered on defense in the fifth after Alonso’s ejection. Bautista has been hitting off a tee…. RHP Marco Estrada (back) is expected to come off the disabled list in time to start against Seattle when the Blue Jays return home on July 22. Among the 15 teams in the A.L., the A’s are 12th in batting average (.251) and homers (90), 13th in runs per game (4.11) and runs (366), 14th in walks (222) and last in on-base percentage (.304) and OPS (.701). The knuckleballer has allowed six earned runs over his last 21 innings. Hill is 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA in 10 career games (three starts) against Toronto.
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Sonny Gray (3-8, 5.16) looks to turn the page from a rough first half when he takes the mound in Saturday’s 1:05 p.m. game.
