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A’s Lose To Mariners In Extra Innings

Published

11 years ago

April 11, 2015

Oakland, CA – It began as a pitcher’s duel. But a challenge in the eighth was the game changer for the Mariners. Snapping a thee-game losing streak Seattle evened the series with a 5-4 win over the A’s. No one saw it coming, if you mulled over the events of the afternoon, it still might not make sense.

Both pitchers were dominant and in a zone. Sonny Gray has been remarkable on the mound since last season. But he got himself in a jam when he surrendered his first home run of the season to Dustin Ackley to leadoff the third. Gray has allowed just two runs, one earned, on seven hits this season.

“It was definitely one of those games that was going to be a grind,” said Gray. “I knew that warming up in the bullpen, but I knew after that solo homer that if I could keep them right there and give us a chance to get back in it. We did that in the seventh, just unfortunately couldn’t hold them off.”

Gray’s career-high scoreless inning streak ended against Ackely. The streak dated back to last September. While feeling under the weather he still had a great start. Gray tossed 7 1/3 frames allowing six hits two runs, one earned, one walk and four strikeouts. He retired the first six batters he faced before giving up the home run.

“Last night we got punched in the face,” Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said. “And we got hit in the mouth today as well. I thought our guys rebounded and did a little punching of their own. This shows the type of fortitude this club has, because that was a gut-wrenching type of game, and they really battled and continued to fight and came out on top in the end.”

Seattle’s pitcher J.A. Happ kept his streak of wins going as he recorded his third win against Oakland in three starts. He pitched a shutout six innings allowing no runs until the seventh. The A’s cleverly knocked out Happ in the seventh when they scored two runs to take the lead 2-1.

Billy Butler leadoff with a single and is the only Athletic to hit safely in each of the first six games and is the only American Leaguer with a six-game hitting streak. Cody Ross followed with a single, Brett Lawrie’s sacrifice bunt moved both runners up. And Josh Phegley’s RBI single tied the game 1-1.

“We let them back into the game,” said Phegley. “But you saw how hard we fought.”

Two on in the corners with one out, Marcus Semien gave Oakland the lead with a RBI single. Tyler Landendorf bunted and was safe at first but the runner at home was out. A’s manager Bob Melvin challenged the call, that the catcher blocked the plate. After the review, the call stood, citing there was no violation at the plate.

“It was a bad throw 100 percent,” Eric O’Flaherty said. “We work on that all spring, and I messed up. You’ve got to throw that over the bag there, so that’s on me.”

Another call challenged by the Mariners in the eighth changed the face of the game. Justin Ruggiano hit into a forceout, Flaherty threw to second for the attempt and Semien stopped short of the base before throwing to first. Seattle quickly challenged the call and after further review, the call was overturned.

They ruled it as an assist to the pitcher and an error to the shortstop. That put Jackson back at second with two runners on base. Robinson Cano lined out to first baseman Mark Canha and both runners advanced. Dan Otero replaced O’Flaherty and gave up a three-run homer to Nelson Cruz making it a 4-2 game. But the A’s weren’t done yet.

“It wasn’t a terrible pitch,” said Otero. “But in that circumstance, it obviously didn’t work out and he was looking for it. Put a good swing on it, unfortunately it didn’t end our way in the end”.

Oakland rallied back, Canha singled to leadoff the eighth and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Ben Zobrist hit a RBI double and moved to third on Butler’s sacrifice bunt. Lawrie’s double scored in Zobrist and tied the game 4-4. But Semien grounded out to third baseman Kyle Seager to end the inning.

Closer Tyler Clippard got himself into a jam in the ninth when he gave up to walks to both Mike Zunino and Brad Miller after retiring the first two batters. With two batters on in scoring position, Jackson was caught looking at the plate and Clippard escaped without any damage.

The A’s had a chance to close it out in the tenth. Zobrist leadoff the inning grounding a single to right field. Pinch-hitter Ike Davis doubled but Zobrist was tagged out at home. Lawrie was walked intentionally and Davis stole second. Vogt got a free pass to load the bases but Semien grounded out leaving all three runners stranded.

By the eleventh things got away from Oakland when Abad gave up a single to Logan Morrison to leadoff the frame. Ackley followed with a sacrifice fly and Miller doubled scoring in Morrison to make it a 5-4 game. Jesse Chavez replaced Abad to retire the next two batters but the A’s offense had nothing left.

“There are just so many things you could look back on this game that could’ve decided it one way or the other, probably for both teams,” Melvin said. “And they just got one more big hit than we did.”

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Black Artists in America, Installation Three Wraps at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens

TRI-STATE DEFENDER — With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

Published

3 weeks ago

March 24, 2026

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By Candace A. Gray | Tri-State Defender

The tulips gleefully greet those who enter the gates at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens on an almost spring day. More than 650,000 bulbs of various hues are currently on display. And they are truly breathtaking.

Inside the gallery, and equally as breathtaking, is the “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” exhibit, which runs through Sunday, March 29. This is the third installment of a three-part series that started years ago and illustrates part of the Black experience through visual arts in the 20th century.

“This story picks up where part two left off,’’ said Kevin Sharp, the Linda W. and S. Herbert Rhea director for the Dixon. “This era is when we really start to see the emergence of these important Black artists’ agency and freedom shine through. They start to say and express what they want to, and it was a really beautiful time.”

With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

“Though [Davis] was from LA, he actually lived in Memphis for a decade,” said Sharp. “He was a dean at Memphis College of Art, and later opened the first gallery in New York owned and operated by black curators.”

Another featured artist is former NFL player, Ernie Barnes. His work is distinctive. Where have you seen one of his most popular paintings, Sugar Shack? On the end scene and credits of the hit show “Good Times.” His piece Saturday Night, Durham, North Carolina, 1974 is in this collection.

Memphis native James Little’s “The War Baby: The Triptych” is among more than 50 works featured in “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens, the final installment of a three-part series highlighting the impact and evolution of Black artists through 2011.

The exhibit features other artists with Memphis ties, including abstract painter James Little, who was raised in a segregated Memphis and attended Memphis Academy of Art (before it was Memphis College of Art). He later moved to New York, became a teacher and an internationally acclaimed fixture in the art world in 2022 when he was named a Whitney Biennial selected artist at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Other artists like Romare Bearden, who had a Southern experience but lived up North, were featured in all three installments.

“During this period of time, he was a major figure,” said Sharp. “He wrote one of the first books on the history of African American art during a time when there were more Black academics, art teachers, more Black everything!”

Speaking of Black educators, Sharp said the head curator behind this tri-part series and Dixon’s partner in the arts is Earnestine Jenkins, Ph.D., an art history professor at the University of Memphis, who also earned a Master of Arts degree from Memphis State University (now UofM). “We began working with Dr. Jenkins in 2018,” he said.

Sharp explained that it takes a team of curators, registrars, counterparts at other museums, and more, about three years to assemble an exhibit like this. It came together quite seamlessly, he added. Each room conjured up more jaw-dropping “wows” than the one before it. Each piece worked with the others to tell the story of Black people and their collective experience during this time period.

One of the last artists about whom Sharp shared information was Bettye Saar, who will turn 100 years old this year. She’s been working in Los Angeles for 80 years and is finally getting her due. Her medium is collages or assemblages, and an incredible work of hers is on display. She’s married to an artist and has two daughters, also artists.

The exhibit catalogue bears some of these artists’ stories, among other scholarly information.

The exhibit, presented by the Joe Orgill Family Fund for Exhibitions, is culturally and colorfully rich. It is a must see and admission to the Dixon is free.

Visit https://www.dixon.org/ to learn more.

Fun Facts: An original James Little design lives in the flooring of the basketball court at Tom Lee Park, and he makes and mixes his own paint colors.