It's really about who's going to have it and who's not going to have it in a day, and hopefully you can come in with a lead and get the game taken care of. "Even if we have a guy that's dominating, we're not necessarily going to throw him out because we have another arm that we need to get innings for. "Really, it's just the way that we're using our pitchers - we're getting all of our guys work," said Rowe. Liberta was one of five pitchers the Rogues used in Game 1, with the previous two relief pitchers - Gavin Schmidt and Kris Weulfing - allowing just one hit combined. "They had some good swings at the end of the game when they needed it and we didn't. "I think (Fresno) just did a good job putting our guys in tough spots on defense," said Rogues designated hitter Carson Blatnick. Kameron Bryant followed that up with the eventual game-winning hit, a two-run double to right-center that gave the Athletics their first lead of the day.
Roman Rosales, who hits right behind DeMaria, tied the game at 4-all with a two-run single. To add salt in the wound, Fresno's two biggest hits in the inning came with two outs and immediately followed Liberta striking out cleanup hitter Cameron DeMaria. In the meantime, I'm going to keep trying new combinations and hope that they can rally around each other and get the job done."Īll four of the Athletics' runs in the seventh came against Rogues relief pitcher Jake Liberta, who had previously allowed just one run in four appearances spanning 71/3 innings. "I'm desperately trying to figure that out and what to tell these guys.
"I don't know," said Rowe when asked about why his team has been unable to reach its full potential thus far. The second game of Saturday's day-night doubleheader was not completed as of press time.
The loss in Game 1 dropped the Rogues' record to 6-6 and allowed the Athletics to take the weekend series after rallying in the seventh inning Thursday night to score a 5-4 win. Rowe, in his third year at the helm, has seen his team struggle to find consistency over the course of the first three weeks of the summer season. They're going to be on their best, so you have to match that or else that's what happens."
"You just can't make mistakes against teams like that. "When you have another team that's really gunning for you - their coach told me that this is really their biggest series all season - so we know they're playing hard and we can tell by the way they're celebrating when they beat us.