A’s pitchers battered by Toronto, Marcus Semien as they split series

OAKLAND — It’s safe to say the Athletics miss Marcus Semien.

They miss having him around the clubhouse and said as much when their former shortstop made his first trip to the Coliseum this week with the Toronto Blue Jays as a second baseman.

But where Semien is really missed is on the field, as was evident in a 10-4 loss to Toronto Thursday at the Coliseum before a crowd of 3,611 that surely noticed their favorite son catching the final out of the game on a pop up by his struggling replacement Elvis Andrus.

Semien had four hits, including a double and a home run, and Randal Grichuk drove in five runs with a home run (his sixth) and a double as the A’s split the four-game series and fell to 19-14.

The Blue Jays (16-14) had 16 hits against five A’s pitchers. Semien’s home run, his seventh, put Toronto up 10-4 in the seventh. Danny Jansen also homered for Toronto, his first. For the A’s, Mark Canha had his first leadoff home run, his fifth of the season.

Andrus, the shortstop the A’s acquired after Semien left in free agency, continued to be mired in a season-long slump, finished 0-for-4, dropping his batting average to .143 (15-for-105).

Semien came in to the series hitting .228, but is up to .256 and has 14 hits in his last 12 games after going 4-for-6 against his former team. He was greeted warmly by the crowd, which cheered his line drive home run in the seventh.

“Playing in a stadium that I’m very familiar with, the batter’s eye, the backdrop, it was just nice to come back,” Semien said in a video conference. “Everybody wants to finish with a bang. A four-hit game, a home run and a win, it doesn’t get much better than that. It was nice to hear some cheering as a road player. You don’t hear that every day. I appreciate all the fans for that.”

A’s starting pitcher Mike Fiers (0-2), who survives on staying away from the batter’s sweet spot, caught too much of the plate and paid the price, giving up nine hits and five earned runs in 3 1/2 innings. Both Fiers and catcher Sean Murphy addressed the dilemma of facing Semien as an opponent rather than a teammate.

“He’s a tough out. He has a short swing, he knows me as a pitcher,” Fiers said. “He’s been behind me for two and a half years. He’s seen now my pitches work. I’ve seen him a bunch in live B.P. Mistakes have got to be minimal, especially with a guy that’s seen you a lot.”

Fiers, for instance, went 0-2 on Semien to open the game and then gave up a line single to left.

“We treat him just like every other player,” Murphy said. “We go through heat maps and all that stuff, but on the flip side, he knows our pitchers, so it’s sort of a chess match with a guy like that who’s familiar with us and we’re familiar with him.”

While the Coliseum is home to Semien, it continues to be foreign to Andrus. He’s 2-for-23 (.087) on the homestand and 7-for-68 (.103) in home games. He’s the highest paid position player on the roster at more than $8 million, some $10 million less than Toronto is paying Semien.

A’s manager Bob Melvin said the A’s are planning to ride it out with Andrus.

“You give him at-bats. We see plenty of left-handers now,” Melvin said. “We give him a day off now and then like we did with (Vinmael) Machin the other night. Just give him consistent looks and hopefully he comes around. He has a track record of doing that.”

Hyun Jin Ryu (2-2) gave up six hits and four earned runs through five innings, walking one and striking out six. Toronto got scoreless relief from Travis Bergen and Joel Payamps.

Romo touched up

Sergio Romo, who had pitched much better of late, came in with runners inherited from Deolis Guerra and gave up two hits which knocked in four runs without four pitches — a run-scoring single by Teoscar hernandez and a two-run double by Grichuk.

Romo also appeared to tweak a knee sliding for an overthrow on a relay by Tony Kemp to prevent it from going in the dugout.

Melvin said Romo has a “trick knee” and has been able to work around it.

Home sweet home

An EXTRA special one for Semien! pic.twitter.com/K2Kun6ZnzT

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) May 6, 2021

A’s clutch two-out hits

Although the A’s had only six hits, they did manage a pair of two out hits with brought home three runs in the third inning.

Matt Olson’s ground rule double brought home Kemp, and when the ball bounced over the fence, it left runners at second third instead of bringing home another run. Murphy made sure it didn’t matter with a single to left to drive in Ramon Laureano, who had walked, and Olson.

 

 

 

Canha’s home run was the first to lead off a game in his career. He hit a 1-0 pitch from Ryu, and was struck with enough authority to left fielder that Canha took time to admire it as it left the park.