A’s 4, Padres 2: Jed Lowrie’s homer lifts Oakland.
SAN DIEGO — Stephen Piscotty created the momentum, then Jed Lowrie rode the wave.
The A’s were one strike from a bleak outcome in the opener of a 10-game trip, and they came alive just in time. Piscotty homered to tie the Padres in the ninth inning, and Lowrie homered to beat them in the 10th inning, 4-2.
“All the momentum is on our side,” Lowrie said of Piscotty’s game-tying shot off lefty Brad Hand. “When you’re down to your last strike and a guy hits a homer off one of the better closers in the game, that’s a huge momentum shift.”
Piscotty and most of his teammates were quiet for most of the evening. His previous three at-bats, he didn’t hit a ball out of the infield — two ground balls and a strikeout — but the former National Leaguer emerged in a National League ballpark and sent a 94-mph fastball over the left-field wall.
In the 10th, Marcus Semien hit a one-out single, stole second, took third on catcher Raffy Lopez’s throwing error and watched Lowrie’s homer sail to the seats in right.
“Terrible,” Piscotty said of his previous trips to the plate. “I was trying to make up for some poor at-bats with guys on. That’s baseball. It’s going to happen. You just try to bounce back as best you can.”
Before the Piscotty clout, the A’s had just four hits, two by Mark Canha, and their first run was unearned. But they came close to clearing the wall a few times, including Khris Davis’ drive to right-center with Semien aboard in the eighth.
The A’s have homered in 20 straight road games.
“I was shocked,” manager Bob Melvin said of the ball Davis hit. “We’ve seen him hit that ball so many times, and it’s a homer almost every single time. Off the bat, there was no doubt in my mind that was a homer. That’s right in his sweet spot. Here, sometimes like our place, it’s a little bit tough to carry, especially out in the big part of the ballpark.”
No worries. Piscotty did what Davis couldn’t do. A former Cardinal, Piscotty is 5-for-7 with a homer and two doubles off Hand.
“If there’s someone you want up against him based on his numbers, it’s him,” Melvin said.
Melvin’s interleague lineup included Davis in left field for the first time since April 11, not ⏩ A’s Beat: Melvin opposes making DH universal. an easy transition for someone whose previous 50 starts were at designated hitter, but there was no way Melvin was going to take his biggest power threat out of the lineup.
“When you get in a National League ballpark, you’ve got to find a way to get his bat in there,” Melvin said.
With Davis playing a defensive position, the domino effect had Chad Pinder at second instead of left and Franklin Barreto on the bench. Lowrie played third, replacing injured Matt Chapman.
A’s pitcher Paul Blackburn made his third start of the season and lasted five innings and 85 pitches, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks.
Blackburn walked Cory Spangenberg with one out in the first, and Spangenberg advanced two bases on Eric Hosmer’s single and scored on Jose Pirela’s fielder’s choice. Next inning, Blackburn yielded doubles to Franmil Reyes and Lopez for the other run.
Four relievers followed with five scoreless innings. Lou Trivino pitched two innings for the win, and the save went to Blake Treinen, his 16th.