The Oakland A’s (2-2-1) visited Sloan Park to face the Chicago Cubs (2-4) and hoped to keep their scoring explosion going. Sadly, Marcus Stroman and Chicago had other plans. The veteran pitcher Marcus Stroman looked good in the first inning. He got into early trouble when he walked Tony Kemp and followed that by getting called for the balk on the next pitch. But he settled in and retired the next three A’s batters. He would have little problem with the Oakland lineup, moving forward.
JP Sears got the start for Oakland and looked shaky, giving up two consecutive hits early in the lineup before Elk Grove native Nick Madrigal ripped a two run double.