Laureano ends long road trip with a bang
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — So little went easily for Oakland on the road the past week and a half that it was no wonder the final game of the trip was another difficult one.
And yet, like much of the rest of the long stretch away from home, the A’s came out ahead, with Ramón Laureano delivering the first grand slam of his career in the eighth inning after Tampa Bay had tied it in the seventh. Oakland’s 6-2 victory also gave the team the series win over the previously red-hot Rays.
“It was a real relief moment for all of us,” Laureano said. “We’re going home happy.”
Starter Brett Anderson was in the clubhouse for Laureano’s slam, along with manager Bob Melvin, who’d been ejected in the third inning.
“I high-fived Bob,” Anderson said. “It was kind of a weird moment.”
The A’s finished with a winning record, somehow, on a road trip that came with some brutal travel — early-morning arrivals, a day-night doubleheader, a long delay because of a windstorm-damaged plane in Dallas. The team went 6-4 and heads home a game over .500 at 35-34.
“It’s a testament to the ballclub,” Anderson said. “I won’t say it’s make-or-break, but all the things that didn’t go our way, we could have folded, caved, played bad, but we fought through it. It’s a good sign for us, especially with the quality clubs we faced, and we finish on a positive note.”
Matt Olson hit his fourth homer in four games, a solo shot in the sixth, and Laureano drove in Oakland’s other run by beating out a grounder to the left side in the fourth, allowing Khris Davis to score. Laureano stole two bases, to boot.
“There are so many facets to his game,” Melvin said. “If you’re not doing something offensively, he can beat you with his legs or beat you with his defense and today he was doing all of that.”
Olson started Oakland’s eighth-inning rally with a single to left and with one out, Davis walked. Both advanced on Chaz Roe’s wild pitch. After an intentional walk to Robbie Grossman, Colin Poche replaced Roe to face Laureano. He fell behind 0-2, fought back to 2-2 and walloped a fastball to left-center.
“You could see after the first pitch or so what they were trying to do to him, obviously going for a strikeout and trying to elevate,” Melvin said, “so it looked like he shortened his swing a little bit and got a pitch he could handle.”
“I was just trying to stay on top of the ball — hit it in the air, but stay on top of it, at least get one run,” Laureano said. “I got four, so that was good.”
Anderson strolled through the first six innings without allowing a run and left with two on and a two-run lead, but he didn’t get the win because reliever Liam Hendriks gave up an RBI double by Yandy Diaz and an RBI infield single by Avisail Garcia. Anderson has pitched at least five innings in eight consecutive starts, the first time he has done so in four years. He has allowed no more than three runs in his past five outings.
Anderson got off to a bumpy start, giving up singles to the first two batters he faced, Diaz and Tommy Pham, but he got Austin Meadows to hit into a fielder’s choice, struck out Garcia and got a fine play from third baseman Matt Chapman, who speared a sharp shot down the line by Travis d’Arnaud and made the long throw to first to end the inning.
Tampa Bay starter Yonny Chirinos struck out Olson looking on a low fastball in the third inning that Olson did not like, and when Anderson didn’t get a similar call against Meadows in the bottom of the inning, Melvin disagreed strenuously and was ejected by home-plate umpire Sean Barber.
In his next at-bat, Olson drilled a 2-1 sinker from Chirinos into the seats in right-center. He has homered 11 times despite missing more than five weeks after surgery for a broken hamate bone.