Melvin reaches major milestone as A’s top Blue Jays
OAKLAND — One night after the A’s popped an expensive six-liter bottle of champagne to celebrate Edwin Jackson’s 100th win, manager Bob Melvin gave the clubhouse more reason to celebrate.
With a 6-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at the Oakland Coliseum Tuesday, the A’s earned Melvin’s 600th win as a manager. In doing so, Melvin became just the fourth A’s skipper to reach the 600-win mark, joining Connie Mack (3582), Tony La Russa (798) and Art Howe (600).
Regardless, Melvin wasn’t planning to break out the expensive stuff to celebrate the milestone win.
“A bottle of mumm’s when I go home,” the A’s skipper joked. “I had no idea to tell you the truth. It’s one more (win) than 599.”
The guys in Melvin’s clubhouse saw the achievement in a different light.
“We’re all happy for him,” Mark Canha said after going 2 for 4 with a pair of doubles and an RBI. “We all love that guy. He’s our fearless leader. It’s a pleasure to play for him.”
The A’s allowed Melvin to reach the milestone by continuing the offensive assault they started with their 10-1 win over the
Blue Jays Monday.
Khris Davis led the charge at the plate, capping off a remarkable month of baseball by singling in the first, blasting his ninth home run of July in the third and ripping an RBI single in the sixth. Davis’ 29 RBI are the secondmost in July during the franchise’s Oakland era behind the 35 runs brought in by Jose Canseco in 1991.
While Davis’ 29th homer landed a ways above the “Holy Toledo” sign in center, Melvin was more dazzled by his run-scoring single.
“What I’m most impressed by is the base hit single that drives in the sixth run,” he said. “You watch him take BP now and it’s more of a hitter’s BP. It’s not necessarily just a power hitter’s BP. He hits the other way in one continuous round and his bat control’s gotten better and better since we’ve seen him here.
“He’s drawing more walks. He’s more dangerous.”
In addition to Davis’ offense, Matt Olson went 2 for 4 with two RBI, bringing in Nick Martini and Matt Chapman with a single in the first.
During their threerun third, the A’s achieved a pair of uncommon feats on the same play. Semien and Canha pulled off a double steal, which included a swipe of home plate with Rickey Henderson present in the facility. Canha managed to sneak home after Luke Maile attempted to throw out Semien at second, sliding foot first under the catcher’s tag. He said he’s expecting compliments on his slide from baseball’s all-time stolen base king.
“I went before (Maile) got rid of it,” said Canha, who also stole home last season on a similar play. “If he’d pulled that down and took a look at me, I would have been hosed.”
Chapman also participated in the 11-hit parade, doubling in the sixth after walking in the first, reaching base in a career-best 17th consecutive game. Chapman, who leads all defensive players in runs saved, also made a remarkable play in the field, chasing down a grounder with the shift on, pivoting, jumping and throwing out Aledmys Diaz as his momentum carried him toward foul territory in the eighth.
Melvin called the Chapman’s defense “video game-ish,” before suggesting that a video game probably “hasn’t seen that before.”