Jon Lester got the ball for Oakland in a somewhat dire situation for his new club as they are in a close Wild Card race with Kansas City. David Buchanan looked to continue a pretty decent stretch he's on right now. Domonic Brown was a late scratch with Grady Sizemore in LF.
The Game: Lester struggled a little bit in the first two innings and got his pitch count up but was able to keep the Phillies off the board. Buchanan had problems of his own in the 2nd inning allowing three runs on four hits with RBIs from Derek Norris, Eric Sogard, and Coco Crisp. In the 4th, the Phils would cut into Oakland's 3-0 lead with a solo home run from Ryan Howard. Lester would settle down after that and allow just the run and five hits through seven innings. Buchanan was quite good himself aside from the 2nd inning struggles but would exit in the 7th after allowing two hits. Both bullpens held the score to 3-1 and Sean Doolittle notched his 22nd save for Oakland.
It was a must win for Oakland who is barely in the playoffs after having a once commanding lead in the AL West which was claimed be Anaheim.
Up Next: The Phillies and A's return for Game 2 at the Coliseum for a 4:05 game. Jerome Williams, coming off last Monday's hard luck loss, goes for the Phillies. Left hander, Drew Pomeranz goes for the A's. Pomeranz is 5-4 with a 2.53 ERA.
