A’s rookie sets new franchise mark in win over Rangers
OAKLAND (TNS) – The A’s need a few things to break their way if they hope to catch the Houston Astros for first plae in the American League West. With no head-to-head meetings left between the two teams, Oakland only controls so much.
So the A’s need to beat the teams they’re supposed to beat, like the last-place Texas Rangers.
They took care of business Friday, as Ramon Laureano hit two solo home runs – including one to lead off the game – and Marcus Semien added a two-run shot to help give the A’s an 8-3 win over the Rangers before a crowd of 15,572 at the Coliseum.
Four batters after Semien hit his 12th home run of the year, Matt Chapman singled to center to score two more runs and give the A’s a 5-0 lead. Laureano’s second home run not only put the A’s up 6-2 in the sixth, but added a rather unique feather to his cap.
Laureano, who also hit two homers against Texas on Aug. 20, Oakland Athletics’ Ramon Laureano is congratulated by Matt Chapman after hitting a lead-off home run against Texas Rangers’ Yovani Gallardo in the first inning at Oakland Alameda Coliseum on Friday in Oakland.
is the first player in A’s history to have two multi-home runs games within he first 30 games of his major league career. He has five for
the season.
Only two other A’s have had two multi-home run games within the first 50 games of their big league careers: Jose Canseco had two in his first 42 games, and Mark Mcgwire had two by his 43rd game.
Liam Hendricks starts for the A’s in another “bullpenning” game, which basically went according to plan.
Chris Bassitt allowed a two-run homer to jey Gallo in he fourth, one of eight Rangers hits A’s relievers allowed. Yusmeiro Petit, Fernando Rodney, Ryan Butcher, Jeurys Familia and Blake Treinen also pitched for Oakland, with Petit getting the win.
After the A’s series with the Rangers concludes Sunday, only six of the A’s games remaining 18 games are against teams with records above .500.
Oakland will need to be nearly perfect if it hopes to catch Houston, which won its sixth straight Friday, beating Boston 6-3. The Astros remained 3 1/2 games up on the A’s.
The A’s were tied with Houston for first place on Aug. 21, but went a respectable 12-8 in their strech of 20 straight games from Aug. 17 to Wednesday when they beat the New York Yankees 8-2.
The winning record allowed the A’s to inrease their lead over Seattle for the second AL Wild Card spot from 2 1/2 to 5 1/2 games.
“You always think you can win a game or two more whether it’s a road trip or any extended stretch,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said Friday afternoon. “But when push comes to shove, I think we came through it pretty well.”
Hendriks made his third straight start in the A’s bullpenning experiment, throwing 20 pitches and allowing one walk in one inning.
“It’s different,” said Hendriks, who made 34 starts from 20112014 with Minnesota, Toronto and Kansas City. “I don’t have my pregame routine. I’ve been built to throw almost every day. Now it’s just trying to find a good blend of being prepared but also getting prepared in case anything happens.