A’s Colon Snaps Win Streak, Rangers Lose Again to the Mariners

All good streaks must come to an end and for the Oakland Athletic’s (49-36) righty Bartolo Colon’s (11-3) eight-game win streak snapped in Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs (36-46).

Bartolo Colon

In his seven innings on the mound, Colon gave up two runs, a home run (his first since May 14) and a wild pitch (the last one came on May 26, 2009). The veteran ace also lost his first game since celebrating his 40th birthday (May 24).

While this was a so-so outing for the player, he still had a good month of June. He was the second A’s pitcher since 1991 to grab 11 wins before June ended; Colon had also been named the AL’s Pitcher of the Month.

As for his disappointing play, the same couldn’t be said of Cubs pitcher righty Matt Garza (4-1). He gave up one run, four hits, five strikeouts and three walks on Wednesday. The pitcher is 3-0 (0.90 ERA) since June 11. He is again the subject of trade talk and Garza is just taking it one game at a time as the clock is loudly ticking.

Wednesday’s game also included the return of A’s catcher John Jaso. He’s been out for 10 games thanks to a left palm abrasion and his return to the plate was less than impressive: he was hitless over four opportunities with a walk. He was also unable to block Colon’s infrequent wild pitch in the first inning.

This resulted in Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro moving to second base; he ultimately scored a run and gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead.

Jaso said of the miscue via MLB.com, “There was nobody who felt worse about that than me. I had to come back in the clubhouse and get away from everybody I was so mad at myself.”

The A’s sole run of the night came from a Brandon Moss home run in the fourth inning, cutting the Cub’s lead to 2-1. But Garza’s pitching proved too challenging for the A’s.

The three-game series will wrap up on Thursday. It’s tied and the A’s will look for the win by placing righty Dan Straily (4-2) on the mound. He’s been called up from the minors, pitching for Jarrod Parker.

In his seven big league starts, Straily has gone 3-0 (3.54 ERA) but in his last two outings, he didn’t get five complete innings; however, this occurred on the road.

As for the Cubs, lefty Travis Wood (5-6) is the starting pitcher. In his five June outings, he had a 3.06 ERA but was 0-3 as his teammates gave him a 2.51 run average.

The A’s are 13 to 2 to win this year’s AL Pennant but in the short term, will get the win on Thursday (-165, 7.5).

Rangers lose to the Mariners Again

The second place Texas Rangers (48-36) sit 0.5 behind the A’s and lost their second game in the Seattle Mariners (37-47) series.

Kyle Seager

Loss no. 2 came on Wednesday at 4-2. Mariners Kyle Seager’s two-run homer in the 10th inning broke the game’s 2-2 tie and gave his team the win. Seager had three hits for the game and the home run represented his 12th for the season.

With the win, it was the first time the Mariners had won consecutive games at Rangers Ballpark in over a year (May 29-30, 2012).

They’ll look for a sweep on Thursday and will put struggling righty Hisashi Iwakuma (7-3) on the mound. He hasn’t seen a win since June 10 and has had two consecutive losses since then.

Iwakuma almost had a third one last week against the Cubs but dodged a bullet.

The Rangers will put the game in the hands of lefty Martin Perez (2-1). He’ll look for his third straight win with his last victory coming last week against the Cincinnati Reds (49-36).

The Rangers will snap their losing streak with a win on Thursday (-127, 8.5 o/u).