Anderson a oneman wrecking crew
Oakland starter takes his game to another dimension
CHICAGO — Brett Anderson, the man who frequently mocks his lack of grace and athleticism on a baseball field, put on a show Tuesday at Wrigley Field ... including with a bat.
Anderson had singles in each of his first two atbats, making him 4for5 to start the season and giving him the record for most hits by an A’s pitcher in the designatedhitter era. He also earned his 10th victory of the season as the A’s shellacked the Cubs and onetime Oakland lefthander Jon Lester 114.
“We’ll probably look for a position for Brett Anderson to play tomorrow,” manager Bob Melvin joked. “He’s hitting, what, like .700?”
As usual, Anderson, who has five career hits with Oakland, was quick to make fun of himself. “The first two atbats, the thought process was ‘Don’t look like an idiot,’
and I end up getting two hits and the third one was like, ‘All right, I might try to hit one hard,’ and I swung at one over my head,” said Anderson, adding that on his first two hits, he “blacked out and found a hole.”
Anderson said left fielder Nicholas Castellanos kept moving in more and more and Anderson told first baseman Anthony Rizzo, “If you guys try to throw me out from left, I’m going to protest.’ Right field is one thing, but I was like, ‘I don’t want to have to run fast on a single to left.’ ”
Anderson’s teammates had a field day with it. Stephen Piscotty called him Babe Ruth in postgame remarks. And when Matt Chapman, who is hitless in his past 12 atbats, gave Anderson some grief, Anderson fired back. “I think Chapman was kind of angry,” Anderson said. “I told him I’ll be down in the batting cages early tomorrow if he wants some pointers.”
Anderson (107) worked six innings and allowed two runs, both on a homer by Kris Bryant in the sixth. Anderson gave up seven hits and a walk, and he lowered his ERA to 3.99. “When you see the ball on the ground early in the game, that means he has his good stuff,” Melvin said.
Lester, best remembered by A’s fans for his wobbly start in the team’s dramatic 98 loss to Kansas City in 12 innings in the 2014 wildcard game, gave up all 11 runs, 10 of them earned, sending his ERA soaring from 3.86 to 4.46. He incurred his first loss at Wrigley since May 23.
Oakland got two threerun homers, one from new catcher Dustin Garneau in the eightrun second inning and another from Piscotty in the fourth, Piscotty’s first since coming back from a sprained right knee that kept him out more than a month. Piscotty’s 10th homer gave the A’s a franchiserecord 10 players with 10 or more home runs in a season.
Piscotty is 5for15 since his return. He said he got a chance to test things with his swing during his minorleague rehab. “I’m starting to feel more like myself,” he said. “It’s not a finished product yet, but I’m in a better place now than I was going into that injury.”
Once Lester left the game, the A’s slowed their roll. Duane Underwood Jr. began the fifth and struck out all six men he faced in his two innings. The Cubs added two runs in the ninth off WeiChung Wang.
Anderson singled to left and scored in the second, an inning in which Oakland sent 12 men to the plate and Lester threw 43 pitches. Mark Canha opened the inning with a triple and with one out, Piscotty sent him home with a soft single to right. Robbie Grossman added another single and Garneau homered; then, after Anderson’s base hit, Lester walked Marcus Semien and Chapman, and Matt Olson delivered a tworun single. Chapman scored on Canha’s tapper; catcher Victor Caratini couldn’t handle the throw to the plate as Chapman’s leg struck his arm when he came into the plate. Finally, a grounder by Chad Pinder sent in Olson.
In the fourth, Chapman walked again, Pinder knocked a twoout single and Piscotty went deep to left.
Every member of Oakland’s starting lineup reached base and scored, and Chapman and Piscotty each scored twice. By the end, catcher Taylor Davis was pitching for Chicago and outfielder Kyle Schwarber was catching.
Oakland is back to a seasonhigh 16 games over .500 at 6549, but remains a half game behind Tampa Bay for the second wildcard spot.
The A’s are 208 in games started by opposing lefthanders, and the Cubs have lefty Jose Quintana scheduled to go Wednesday. Another quirky number: Oakland is a majorleaguebest 144 on Tuesdays.