A’s 16, Royals 0: Olson and Fowler each homer twice, Montas sharp in rout of Kansas City.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Road A’s are back — maybe instead of the Swinging A’s, can we call them the Swinging Aways?
The team that struggled to scratch across runs almost their entire 10-game homestand to conclude May looked like a different crew entirely once in road grays at Kauffman Stadium. Oakland smacked four homers, two each by Matt Olson and Dustin Fowler, in a 16-0 victory over the Royals.
“Oh man, I think we scored more runs the first three innings than we did the whole homestand,” catcher Jonathan Lucroy said. “It’s great — it’s just a matter of time before this offense will break out and hurt somebody.”
The A’s also got another outstanding starting pitching performance, this time from Frankie Montas, who worked a career-high eight scoreless innings.
Still, the focus was in the batter’s box, where Oakland did so little the previous week and a half. Friday, Olson recorded three hits and a career-high five RBIs. Fowler’s first homer snapped an 0-for-12 streak, and his three hits were a career high, as were his four RBIs.
“I was just happy to get out of this slump I’ve been in and get some hits,” said Fowler, who’s been working diligently with hitting coach Darren Bush. “Obviously here, guys’ stuff here is a lot better than it is in Triple-A, so I’m just trying to clean up my swing, make it shorter. Tonight I was able to put it into play.”
Khris Davis’ return to the lineup Thursday appeared to have flipped a switch. The A’s scored seven runs in the home finale after managing just 15 over the previous eight games. Friday, they scored seven runs in the third and another seven in the ninth.
“That homestand was an anomaly for us,” Olson said. “We don’t think we’re that kind of hitting ballclub, scoring one or two runs a night. That was kind of building up a little bit. We maybe took a little bit of our frustrations out.”
Oakland’s road prowess is undeniable. The A’s lead the majors with 51 road homers in 28 games — they’ve hit 22 in 30 games at home — and they’ve scored 156 road runs, secondmost in the league, compared with 104 at the Coliseum.
“We have it in us,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Every team is going to go through some struggles, and it was pretty cold at home this week and we didn’t have K.D. in the lineup. We’re not going to score 16 runs a game, but to do it in some warm weather and get contributions from basically everyone is a good sign.”
Olson’s first homer was a solo shot off Ian Kennedy in the second inning, his second a three-run shot in the third. In the ninth, he drew a basesloaded walk. Fowler banged a solo homer in the third, single in the eighth and smacked a threerun homer in the ninth.
Lucroy had two hits, giving him 1,000 for his career. “I’m grateful I could be in the game that long and get the opportunity to get 1,000 hits,” he said.
Shortstop Marcus Semien returned a day early from paternity leave and was available off the bench but was not needed. His second child, Joshua, was born Wednesday, and Semien arrived just before game time. Semien had played every inning of every game before going on paternity leave; he made it into Friday’s game in the bottom of the ninth.