But swinging at the first pitch of an at-bat isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
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Davis, who was traded to Oakland in the offseason after three years in Milwaukee, hit his 29th home run and second in two nights, but the A’s stranded four runners on third base and lost 4-3 to the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night.
Semien’s single in the first inning Friday was followed by an RBI double from Stephen Vogt and a monster opposite field homer from Davis for a 3-0 lead.
“Until noon today it was still up in the air”, Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “I think most importantly I’m healthy and helping the team”.
Cano has been outstanding on first pitches.
He’s hitting.430 (37-for-86) with seven doubles, a triple, nine homers, 25 RBI and an.849 slugging percentage. “He’s one of the few guys in the game who only needs to touch the ball and get it in the air and he can hit home runs”, Melvin said. You don’t miss “em when you’re in the zone”.
Cano puts some thought into his first-pitch swings. Crisp grounded a single to right with two outs, driving in Butler.Seattle pulled even in the fourth when Cruz led off with a home run, sending Graveman’s first-pitch cutter over the right-center field fence. Over his past 161 games, Davis has hit 49 homers and driven in 114 runs, dating back to August 6, 2015.
“That’s a veteran hitter knowing how he’s being pitched and looking at how the other left-handers are being pitched and what the pitcher has to offer and what he’s going to do early in the count”, Servais said. “I knew I hit it good”.
While most big turnarounds coincide with stellar play from some combination of offense and pitching, the Mariners’ recent run of success does not seem to extend far beyond the bullpen. The swelling from where he was struck with a line drive in the elbow is gone and the tightness is starting to recede.
“It’s nearly like they knew they were coming”, Vogt said, shaking his head at the thought of those two cutters disappearing into the night.
Barring an overnight setback, such as renewed swelling, Paxton is tracking to start Tuesday against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif. They were very good and they needed to be.
“We are kind of day to day”, Servais said. “We are playing that way till September 1 when we can expand rosters”. Iwakuma has 12 wins over his last 15 starts. Miranda was the emergency starter for Tuesday in case Paxton couldn’t go. The odds that Wieland makes that start seem slim and would take outside circumstances to make it happen.
This is where the Mariners are at with their rotation. LHP Wade LeBlanc made his 7th start of the 2016 season as a member of the Mariners. Taijuan Walker may not be back till September 1. However, today, Graveman chose to turn off his targeting computer, instead choosing to trust in his midi-chlorians, but instead of piercing through the oversized, overpowered heart of the Mariners order, far too many pitches of Graveman were landing far too up in the zone and would get hit hard. Smith fouled a ball directly off the instep of his foot in Saturday night’s win. Smith limped into the clubhouse.
Hisashi Iwakuma’s neck issues were better on Sunday.
Athletics: RHP Zach Neal (2-1) faces the Mariners for the second time this season.
Graveman began by keeping the Mariners scoreless for three innings, but Cruz’s leadoff homer on the first pitch of the fourth inning tied the game at 1-all. The Mariners took the nightcap, 6-1, to earn a split. Oakland but Mike Gallego singles. Johnson settles for a one-hit shutout in a 4-0 win.
2000 – Al Martin hits 1st HR as a Mariner. 71 and 72, adding to his ongoing career highs. American League save leader Fernando Rodney blew just his 2nd save of the season.
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OUR PICK: In 23 games this season, the over is 16-6 when Mark Wegner is behind home plate and he’ll be behind the dish this afternoon in Oakland.
