Game #4: Athletics at Braves Game Thread

A new week means a fresh start, something the Athletics badly need after losing all three games of the season-opening series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Entering the season, the team’s pitching was considered its biggest weakness as the A’s did not do much to improve that part of its roster this offseason. It did not take long for that to come back to hurt the team.

They lost their initial two games in walk-off fashion. On Friday, reliever Justin Sterner allowed the Blue Jays to score the winning run in the bottom of the ninth immediately after A’s catcher Shea Langeliers hit his second home run of the game to tie the score in the top of that inning. The next day, Langeliers bashed a grand slam to give the A’s a four-run lead in the seventh inning.

Only nine outs away from a victory, the A’s bullpen just needed to protect that sizable lead to get the team its first win of the season. Alas, that was too much for them to handle as multiple relievers let the Blue Jays come back and eventually win in 11 innings. On the other hand, the A’s offense was seen as its biggest strength, the likes of Brent Rooker, Tyler Soderstrom and Nick Kurtz bringing enough firepower to help the team overcome any pitching struggles.

Through three games, that has not been the case. The team is off to an extremely slow start at the plate with the exception of Langeliers. The A’s struck out an MLB record 50 times in their inaugural series.