‘He’s been the guy’ — Laureano does it again
Saturday morning, Ramón Laureano was asked whether he has noticed a difference in the supposedly altered baseball this season. He answered with emphasis.
“It’s traveling way less than before,” Laureano said. “That’s for sure. Tell me about that.”
MLB reportedly made subno said he had seen the change as a hitter, with drives not carrying as far. He said it would not change his approach.
“I know I have pop,” Laureano said. “It’s going to go if I hit it good. So I’m not worried about it.”
Laureano has since hit home runs in three consec
The A’s Ramón Laureano passes former teammate Marcus Semien after his tworun homer. tle changes to the baseball meant to slightly decrease distance of flyballs. Some A’s pitchers this spring said they noted little difference. Laurea
utive games. His towering tworun shot in the fifth inning Monday night broke a tie and lifted the A’s to a 54 win over the Blue Jays at the Coliseum. Right fielder Stephen Piscotty added a tworun homer of his own. The A’s picked up their seventh win in nine onerun games this season.
“He’s been the guy right now,” starter Frankie Montas said of Laureano. “He’s been the guy putting us back in the game. He did it yesterday. He did it again today.”
The A’s are facing a wave of lefthanded starting pitching. It typically would be a time for Chad Pinder to take atbats, but he remains out with a knee injury. Other sources have provided an impact. The A’s are 83 in games started by a lefthanded opponent without one of their key right
handed bats. They did all their damage Monday against lefthander Steven Matz.
Matt Chapman hit a oneout double in the second inning and scored when Jed Lowrie doubled to the rightfield wall. Piscotty followed with a home run on 12 changeup.
Piscotty reached base twice more on a single and walk. Lowrie recorded his second threehit game in two days following an 0for19 stretch.
Tony Kemp, a lefthanded hitter who has drawn starts against lefties with Pinder out,
walked to open the fifth. Two batters later, Laureano drove a Matz changeup an estimated 432 feet to leftcenter field. Laureano is batting .343 this season against lefthanded pitching.
It erased one bad inning for Montas. Toronto hitters went aggressively at Montas; seven put the first pitch in play in the first three innings, including four straight hitters in a threerun third. Montas surrendered five singles in the inning, three on the first pitch. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lined a single at 110 mph off the bat to drive in a run; Teoscar Hernandez followed with a tworun single. Montas rebounded to complete six innings on 88 pitches.
The A’s bullpen supported him. Sergio Romo worked a clean seventh inning with two strikeouts; he has not allowed a run in his past four outings. Lou Trivino allowed a run in the eighth, but Laureano made a catch on Joe Panik’s sinking liner to strand a runner. Jake Diekman struck out two batters in the ninth for his third save of the season.