Chase Anderson finished the four-hitter to secure his first save. Joe Boyle (0-1) had a tough outing, allowing eight runs—seven earned—and eight hits in 2 2-3 innings in his first start of the season for Oakland.
But his teammates didn’t help much with the five early errors. “We couldn’t get out of our way the first three innings,” manager Mark Kotsay said.
Catcher Shea Langeliers made a bad throw on a steal attempt, center fielder JJ Bleday missed catching a ball near the warning track for a two-base error, right fielder Lawrence Butler made an error on a sacrifice fly, allowing another run to score, first baseman Ryan Noda threw one away on an infield hit, and even Boyle himself made a wild throw on a pickoff attempt at second base.
“We’re going to push the envelope as a group,” Cora said. “Yeah, they struggled defensively, but we put pressure on them, too.”
Oakland also became the first team in seven years to commit at least five errors in the first three innings of a game, with Seattle being the last to do it on Aug 27, 2017, against the New York Yankees.
The A’s have made at least one error in every game, with 13 being the most in the first five games of a season since the Chicago White Sox had 18 in 1995. It’s also the most errors in the first five games of a season for the franchise since Philadelphia had 16 in 1923.
