Closer Emmanuel Clase was two outs away from Cleveland’s fourth straight win on Friday night when Jed Lowrie stepped into the batter’s box in the lower part of the ninth inning at the Oakland Coliseum.
A week away from the excitement of Franmil Reyes and Bobby Bradley’s walk-off home runs, Cleveland was on the other end of the spectrum that night when Lowrie hit a clase fastball on the correct field seats to give the athletes a 5-4 give victory.
The frustrating defeat held Cleveland eight games behind first-place Chicago in the American League Central Division after the White Sox lost 7-1 to the Houston Astros.
Clases Fastball reached a speed of 100.5 mph and Lowrie produced an exit speed of 103.9 mph with one swing of the club. The ball traveled 393 feet.
“He threw that right into his sweet spot,” said Cleveland manager Terry Francona. “Man, that hurt.”
Lowries Homer came on after Cleveland scored four unanswered runs to take a 4-3 lead.
“We showed a good fight,” said Francona. “I love that. We still made some mistakes. We made a basic mistake while running that hurt us and we really can’t do that, but we got out of some traffic jams. [Phil] Maton and [Bryan] Shaw both to give us a chance.
“It hurts, but I’ll take our risk if we take the lead and finish ninth.”
Cleveland starting pitcher Eli Morgan allowed three earned runs and seven hits over five innings. He also deleted six and went one.
“He’s getting his feet on the ground and he’s using his move and his fastball and his breakball is still in the works,” Francona said of Morgan. “If he toughens that up, you’ll see him dive deeper into the games.”
Morgan said pitching six innings remains a goal.
Maton, Shaw and James Karinchak each put a goalless inning in front of Clase (3-5) with relief. Maton struck two, went one, and admitted one. Shaw gave up two hits and a walk but turned down three.
“Those were nails,” Morgan said of Shaw. “That’s just a veteran who knows he’s better than the hitter and goes on stage with confidence. He loaded the bases and then got two huge punchouts.” [to end the inning]. “
It seemed Cleveland was waiting for a comeback win after wiping a 3-0 deficit, but Clase allowed Elvis Andrus a single and Lowrie the home run.
Clase stepped into the night after allowing only one homer in 36 2/3 innings that season.
Roberto Perez and Bradley Zimmer each scored a home run for Cleveland. Zimmer and Amed Rosario both had two hits and one run. Reyes and Harold Ramirez each contributed an RBI and Jose Ramirez scored a run.
Zimmer, who finished ninth in Cleveland’s roster, hadn’t homered since July 28 last season, but he got a 0-1 move from Yusmeiro Petit and drilled it over the midfield fence to get a 3 in the seventh -All-draw.
A University of San Francisco product, Zimmer said “general relaxation and a bit of extra work” has “taken off” in the last couple of games.
“It was pretty cool,” Zimmer said of the home run. “I haven’t been here in a while. I have some family and friends here, it was fun.”
Mitch Moreland scored a home run for Oakland in his first game off the injured list. Lowrie, Andrus and Matt Olson each had three hits. Lowrie scored three RBIs, Olson had an RBI and scored one run, and Andrus scored two runs.
A starter Sean Manaea hit seven, allowing three runs and seven hits over 5⅓ innings. Reliever Sergio Romo scored two goals in a goalless ninth to win.
Coach room
Cleveland: OF Jordan Luplow, who has recovered from a sprained left ankle, will continue his minor league rehab duties by joining Triple-A Columbus on Monday “if all goes well,” Francona said.
Oakland: The A’s have put Moreland back on the casualty list and designated 1B / DH Frank Schwindel for referral. Moreland went to the IL on July 4th. … RHP Chris Bassitt, a University of Akron product that appeared relieved during Tuesday night’s All-Star Game, is expected to begin the series finale on Sunday.
Associated Press sports journalist Joe Stlicher contributed to this article. Michael Beaven can be reached at [email protected].
