Baez struck out in an eight-pitch at-bat against left-hander Sean Manaea with runners at first and third to end the second.
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Relievers Grant Dayton and Joe Blanton combined for three scoreless frames before Kenley Jansen pitched a flawless ninth for his 33rd save.
The Houston Astros went down 3-2 against the Texas Rangers, the New York Yankees also suffered a defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Indians’ 5-2 effort and the San Diego Padres knocked off the Philadelphia Phillies 9-7.
Kyle Hendricks pitched into the eighth inning for his fifth win since June to help the Cubs complete the three-game sweep.
Lester, who played for the A’s over the final two months of the 2014 season, pitched seven strong innings in his first time back at the Coliseum since then and saw a different team than the one he left.
The A’s had not scored since the sixth inning of Friday’s loss to the Cubs before Semien’s home run, a towering solo shot that ended Hendricks’ day. The Blue Jays made it 2-0 in the top of the fifth on Travis’ RBI single.
More good news on the day: both the Cardinals and Pirates lost, the Cardinals losing two of three to the very bad Braves at home. He’s coming off a shutout win over the Marlins, which was the first time he’s made through seven innings since June 2.
Starling Marte led Pittsburgh’s offense by going 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Andrew McCutchen, John Jaso and Francisco Cervelli each added an RBI.
Melvin took a cautious approach with Hahn after noticing a sizable drop in his velocity in his most recent start against the Angels in Anaheim, which was cut short after the fourth inning. Soler will be back in the outfield, most likely in left where he has started 34 games this season. Ender Inciarte and Matt Kemp each had two-run homers during a six-run ninth. Adrian Gonzalez had three hits and drove in a run.
NY trailed 6-1 before rallying with two runs each in the fifth and seventh. The rookie reliever-turned-starter allowed two runs and four hits.
Nunez, acquired in a trade with the Minnesota Twins on July 28, entered the game hitless in his previous 16 at-bats.
After being greeted mostly warmly by the overwhelmingly blue-clad crowd of 25,182, Lester – making his first appearance at the Coliseum since the 2014 season, when he arrived in Oakland via a trade that sent popular slugger Yoenis Cespedes to the Boston Red Sox – proceeded to mow down the A’s batters with ruthless efficiency for the next five innings.
Miami’s Ichiro Suzuki, pinch-hitting in the eighth, chopped a bouncer and beat the throw of third baseman Nolan Arenado for his 2,999th career hit, ending an 0-for-11 drought with his single. “His batting practice was similar to the ball he hit out”.
“After I got out of the jam, that’s when I really sat in the dugout and told myself ‘you’ve got to really focus here if you want to go more than three or four innings.’ After that second and third inning, I felt like I really calmed down and was able to locate a lot better.”
Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun hit two homers and tied a franchise record with seven RBIs and Keon Broxton had five hits in the Brewers’ victory. He held Toronto to two runs and five hits over 6 innings. He had a sacrifice fly in the first inning and a single in a six-run ninth. Marte and Josh Harrison each had two hits. Sanchez was replaced by Danny Barnes to start the seventh, after giving up four runs on nine hits.
Melvin chose to take a cautious approach with Hahn after noticing a sizable drop in his velocity in his most recent start against the Los Angeles Angels, which was cut short after the fourth inning.
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Both pitchers involved in the transaction have struggled at the major league level so far this season.
