To be a legitimate postseason threat, the A’s added three offensive players to help boost a somewhat average offense into, at least, an above average one.
A 8-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday afternoon in Anaheim showed how big of a difference those additions can make on this offense.
Yan Gomes, Starling Marte and Josh Harrison, the newest A’s, were penciled into the lineup all together for the first time. Marte and Gomes were at the center of what’s become a rare outpouring of runs and helped turn the A’s bad habit of hitting solo home runs into a handful of demoralizing multi-run home runs.
Down three runs heading into the third inning, Marte’s first hit of the game followed a leadoff single by Elvis Andrus and set the table for Matt Olson, who just cleared the center field fence for a game-tying, three-run home run. His 28th of the season. In the sixth with the A’s up 6-3, Mark Canha singled and Marte collected his second hit of the game and stole second base to put two in scoring position for Jed Lowrie, the A’s best hitter with runners in scoring position. Lowrie knocked a two-run single.
Marte reached base four times with three hits and a walk.
The A’s brass coveted Gomes because he rakes left-handed pitching. He upped his .365 average and 1.032 OPS against left-handers when he smashed a two-run home run off Angels starter Reid Detmers — making his big league debut as one of their top prospects — to break a 3-3 tie. Gomes’ home run traveled 421 feet and came off his bat with a 107 exit velocity. Gomes added another run with a single off reliever Austin Warren.
Gomes, Marte and Harrison weren’t the only new faces making waves. With James Kaprielian on the injured list with shoulder impingement, Daulton Jefferies was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas Sunday morning to take Kaprielian’s start.
Jefferies started shaky, hanging a curveball to Max Stassi for a two-run home run after issuing a rare walk and allowing another run in the second inning. But he settled in, allowing just two hard hits and those early runs in a five inning outing.
Harrison, playing second base, helped Jefferies out of a leadoff single to Adam Eaton by turning a 4-6-3 double play on Shohei Ohtani — a fast, therefore difficult hitter to get out on a double play at first. Harrison would turn another double play on Ohtani in the eighth inning, marking the first time Ohtani hit into two double plays in a single game.
The moves to get Jefferies up
Kaprielian was placed on the 10-day IL on Saturday and Aramís Garcia optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas, making room on the active roster for Gomes and Harrison. To add Jefferies to the active roster, the A’s optioned outfielder Seth Brown to Triple-A Las Vegas.
