A’s 5, Indians 4
Jed Lowrie’s two-run homer in ninth gives Oakland win in return from All-Star break.
Four days away did not transform the A’s offense. Wasted scoring chances were an issue before the AllStar Break. Home runs were a salve. Both resurfaced in their first game back.
Jed Lowrie hit a oneout, tworun homer off Cleveland righthander Emmanuel Clase to lift the A’s to a 54 walkoff win to open the second half. It was Oakland’s eighth walkoff win of the season, most in the American League. Seven of the A’s past 10 games have been decided by one run. They are 1514 overall in onerun games.
Elvis Andrus opened the ninth with a single and Lowrie drove a 11 fastball measured at 100.5 mph over the rightfield wall. It was the 11th home run of the season for Lowrie. The A’s began Friday as the only team in the majors to have seven players with doubledigit home runs.
Lowrie’s erased the frustration of two innings prior. Down one, the A’s loaded the bases with one out in the seventh against reliever Bryan Shaw. The rally yielded no runs. Mitch Moreland and catcher Sean Murphy each took called third strikes. Moreland disputed his but it did not change the result.
Timely hits have eluded the A’s for stretches this season. Their .231 team batting average with the bases loaded entering Friday was 23rd in the majors. Their .287 mark with a runner on third and less than two outs ranked 24th. They left 10 runners on base Friday night but improved to 13 games above .500.
Andrus awoke Friday with a .367 career batting average against Cleveland, highest of any player with at least 300 plate appearances and just ahead of Rod Carew (.363), according to the A’s. He then had three hits, including singles in his first two atbats against righthander Eli Morgan, the second sparking a twoout rally in the third. Matt Olson doubled to score Andrus and Lowrie’s flare dropped in shallow right to drive in Olson.
Andrus’ .599 OPS entering Friday was thirdlowest among qualified AL hitters, yet he is clearly contributing more of late. Friday marked Andrus’ 13th multihit game since June 1. His average during that time is .289. He is still not hitting for much power, but hitting metrics recognize his approach. Andrus ranked in the 82nd percentile in the majors in expected batting average, the Statcast metric that measures likelihood of a batted ball becoming a hit, entering Friday.
Statcast’s defensive metric, outs above average, does not favor Andrus as much. He ranked in just the 22nd percentile before Friday. But he helped A’s starter Sean Manaea at shortstop as well. In the third inning, Andrus dived to his backhand to catch a line drive off the bat of Cesar Hernandez and doubled Bradley Zimmer off second base.
Manaea did not allow a run until the fifth inning yet allowed sharp contact. Cleveland hitters put eight of the lefthander’s pitches into play at 95plus mph off the bat. Manaea also induced 16 misses on 44 swings and totaled seven strikeouts. After giving Manaea four runs of support total in his previous four starts, the A’s staked him to a 30 lead that did not last.
Roberto Pérez opened the fifth inning by driving a 12 fastball from Manaea over the leftfield wall. The pitch appeared close to Murphy’s high target. Amed Rosario, José Ramirez and Franmil Reyes each singled to open the sixth. Manaea struck out Bobby Bradley on his 96th and final pitch. Harold Ramirez’s sacrifice fly against Yusmeiro Petit tied the game.
Petit returned for the seventh and allowed a oneout home run to USF alum Bradley Zimmer. It was the first home run this season for Cleveland’s ninth hitter. Petit finished the seventh and Jake Diekman and Sergio Romo worked scoreless innings to keep the A’s within one run.