Chris Coghlan blast in 9th gives A’s win at Seattle
SEATTLE — Last year, Chris Coghlan was with a Cubs team that won 34 one-run games and went to the playoffs.
The A’s are 2-2 in one-run games and a lot of the credit goes to their revamped bullpen, which has been outstanding.
Friday’s standout was Fernando Rodriguez, who came in with two on and one out in the fifth and got last year’s home-run leader, Nelson Cruz, to hit into a double play, with shortstop Marcus Semien making a nice play on a tough hop.
The A’s were in that situation in the first place because of an error by Jed Lowrie, his second of the game, which brought Eric Surkamp’s night to an earlier end; with two runs already in in the fifth, Surkamp got one of the hottest hitters in baseball, Robinson Cano, to bounce into what looked like an inning-ending double play, but Lowrie muffed the grounder.
Rodriguez also worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning and he hasn’t allowed a baserunner in his 42/3 innings.In 201/3 innings, Oakland’s relievers haven’t walked a batter and they have struck out 15.
John Axford also worked a scoreless inning, as did Sean Doolittle, working the eighth because of matchups and getting the win.
In the fifth, Dae-Ho Lee led off with a solo blast to left center, the first homer of Lee’s career, and Ketel Marte added a sacrifice fly.
Hahn did turn in a nice performance with the Sounds on Friday, allowing two hits in six scoreless innings.