A world of offense couldn't make up for Cashner's collapse and Kimbrel's sloppy outing.
Pat Murphy managed his first major league ballgame today, and for a while, everything was going swimmingly. Andrew Cashner was hitless through four innings and staked to a two run lead... and then everything came crashing down. Cashner collapsed, and even when the team rallied to get him off the hook in the eighth, Craig Kimbrel couldn't keep things tied in the ninth.
There were early signs that the baseball gods favored the A's today. In the first inning, center fielder Billy Burns made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Justin Upton of what looked to be an RBI double, if not an outright home run.