Tampa’s homers set example for Oakland
One team at the Coliseum went deep in three consecutive at-bats. That team … was not the run-starved A’s.
The Rays belted three straight homers of Daniel Gossett in the third, providing most of the heavy lifting in a 4-3 victory over Oakland, which did start to show some signs of life toward the end of the evening.
The A’s first run Tuesday ended a 17-inning scoreless drought. Oakland has scored 15 runs in eight games on the homestand and is batting .172 over the past 13 games.
Gossett, who was excellent in his previous outing after getting recalled from Triple-A Nashville, lasted five innings and allowed eight hits and two walks while striking out three. He had allowed only two homers combined in his 10 starts with Oakland and Nashville.
The barrage came with two outs. C.J. Cron hit a drive to left-center, ex-A’s prospect Joey Wendle went deep to right center and Wilson Ramos to right. “It was just a few bad pitches in a row, and they were ready for them,” Gossett said. “They were on ’em.”
Shortstop Daniel Robertson, a 2012 first-round pick by the A’s, added a solo homer off Ryan Dull in the ninth.
Oakland’s first run required some help. Bruce Maxwell reached on an error by Robertson and with two outs, he scored on Jed Lowrie’s double to left center off Blake Snell.
The A’s failed to score in the eighth despite getting two men in scoring position after another Tampa Bay error, but they did push two across in the ninth against former Giants closer Sergio Romo, getting RBI groundouts from Matt Joyce and Maxwell.
“We were better tonight,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “Snell’s tough. He’s throwing 98, he’s got four pitches, coming off a tough (13-inning) day. ... We rallied at the end and had some really good at-bats. I was encouraged by what I saw at the end.”
Defensively, the A’s were superb. Third baseman Matt Chapman, predictably, led the way. In the fourth, he started an outstanding double play, snatching a grounder by Johnny Field and throwing to first; Carlos Gomez unwisely decided to break from second and first baseman Matt Olson threw back to third, where shortstop Marcus Semien was covering, inning over. “That was enormous,” Gossett said.
In the seventh, Gomez hit a tough grounder to Chapman’s right, and as Chapman fielded it, he stumbled, his momentum taking him well into foul ground an extra step or two. He made a long, off-balance throw on the money for the out.
“It’s almost like a desperation throw,” Melvin said. “You don’t see that very often.”