PHILADELPHIA — After opening the season with back-to-back losses to a revamped Phillies team, the Oakland A’s secured their first win of the year Sunday behind a standout pitching performance from a staff that entered the year with significant question marks.
Starting pitcher Daulton Jefferies turned in an efficient effort and the A’s offense came to life in the late innings to key a 4-1 victory that helped Oakland avoid a sweep in the three-game series at Citizens Bank Park.
“I couldn’t be more proud of those guys,” manager Mark Kotsay said following his first career victory. “They battled, and they deserve this day to celebrate and enjoy the win.”
Jefferies tossed five scoreless innings of two-hit ball before the Oakland bullpen took over and continued to hold off Philadelphia’s high-powered offense. The A’s were held scoreless through five innings, but first baseman Seth Brown delivered a go-ahead RBI single in the sixth before left fielder Billy McKinney launched a solo homer in the seventh.
Second baseman Tony Kemp, who finished the day with three hits, provided an additional lift in the ninth with a two-run single to give Oakland a 4-0 lead.
“You have to give credit to those pitchers on the other side,” Kemp said. “They made some pitches in those first couple games, and we just needed to make some adjustments in the cage and that’s what we did.”
The most important adjustment?
“Just hit the ball,” Kemp said.
The 26-year-old Jefferies was efficient in his first outing, throwing only 48 pitches on the day. The A’s defense made play after play behind him, beginning in the first inning with two difficult catches from catcher Austin Allen and Kemp at second.
“We knew that they were going to be hacking,” Jefferies said. “They have some really good hitters on their team, so we wanted to really try and take advantage of their aggressiveness. Just trying to keep the ball down in the zone and try to mix (cutter) and (sinker) a little bit, and our defense was just outstanding.”
The right-hander surrendered just two singles and struck out two while A’s fielders kept the Phillies from reaching base. Jefferies pitched into the sixth inning, but was removed in favor of left-hander Sam Moll after walking the leadoff batter.
“Daulton set the tone today,” Kotsay said. “He went out and threw really great. Through five, he did an excellent job and gave us a chance to get to the bullpen, and those guys down there came in and did their job.”
After Phillies starter Zach Eflin shut Oakland out for four innings, the A’s took their first lead of the season in the sixth inning as Brown hit an RBI single off long reliever Bailey Falter to knock in Elvis Andrus. McKinney added a solo home run against the left-hander to lead off the seventh.
The A’s threatened Eflin in the third inning by loading the bases, but the right-hander escaped trouble with the help of live-drive double play off the bat of Andrus. Oakland finally broke through against Falter, scoring just enough to lift the team to victory.
With Moll completing the sixth for Oakland, Domingo Acevedo and Kirby Snead came out of the bullpen to handle the seventh and eighth innings. Closer Lou Trivino — a native of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, around 30 miles outside Philadelphia — gave up a leadoff home run to Jean Segura to start the bottom of the ninth, but bounced back to finish the game in his first appearance of the year.
“We’re going to get into this and we’re going to start defining roles,” Kotsay said of his bullpen. “And those guys are going to start earning roles. It feels good, overall, that they came in and had success.”
The A’s performed well in all facets of Sunday’s game as they improved to 1-2 on the season and will now travel to Tropicana Field for a four-game series against the reigning American League East champion Tampa Bay Rays.
“This team battled this weekend,” Kotsay said. “I was really proud of the way they competed.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com