Recap: A’s @ Cubs ST Game 3

Break up the A’s! Oakland traveled to Mesa today to play the Cubs of Chicago at HoHoKam Park, the future spring home of the Oakland A’s. A’s win 12-10, here are some thoughts on what transpired.

• Brandon Allen clearly made an impression on people driving in seven runs including four on a grand slam off of Cubs pitcher Dae-Eun Rhee. Allen also got a double off of Rhee. Eric Sogard also managed a home run off of Rhee so he maintains his home run lead which now stands at two. The soon-to-be Korean Rhee, has only pitched as high as the Florida State League and hasn’t pitched particularly well in his career (4.37 ERA, with a 7.0 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 290 2/3 innings of MiLB work) so let’s not get ahead of ourselves here with the excitement and be ready to give Allen the starting nod at first base or name Sogard a power hitting infielder. That said, I do indeed think Allen is the favorite to win the spot and Sogard looks good to win a spot on this roster as well.
• Speaking of hitting well off of subpar pitchers. The A’s faced five Cubs pitchers with previous MLB experience (Rodrigo Lopez, Carlos Marmol, Trever Miller, Rafael Dolis and Marcos Mateo). Against Mateo the A’s managed two hits by Chris Carter and Josh Donaldson, but against all the other MLB experienced pitchers, the A’s went 0-for-15 with five K’s and no walks. That to me speaks louder than the eight hits they got versus pitchers who have yet to grace an MLB field.
• Only two A’s pitchers avoided giving up runs, Andrew Carignan who allowed two hits in his inning of work and Sean Doolittle who struck out two hitters, while walking one in his hitless frame.
• Edgar Gonzalez wins the award for most ugly outing of the spring allowing five to reach base before even retiring a batter. His inning ended with a messy: 1.0 IP, 5H, 5R, 5ER, with a walk and strikeout adding up to a 45.00 ERA. The combined MLB experience of those he faced being a mere 121 days (Anthony Rizzo and Dave Sappelt) points to Gonzalez not helping his cause at breaking camp and making a return to Oakland.
• A’s made two errors, both from MLB guys, Cliff Pennington and Josh Donaldson both with errant throws. Though of defensive note, Kurt Suzuki picked off both David DeJesus and Darwin Barney at first base though Marlon Byrd and Barney both managed steals off of Suzuki and starter Brandon McCarthy.
• Brian Fuentes allowed the only home run the Cubs got to Welington Castillo – a right-handed hitter. He faced two more right-handed batters and neither got to first, and got the lone left-handed hitter he faced out.