Davis’ three-run blast in 8th inning launches A’s over Angels
ANAHEIM — Deny them what you will, the Oakland A’s are no longer a last-place team.
With a 7-4 win over the Angels on Friday fueled by Khris Davis’ three-run homer, the A’s pushed past the Angels and into fourth place in the American League West.
Admittedly, a 31-42 record isn’t setting the league on fire, but it’s enough for a half-game advantage for Oakland over the Anaheim crew, which is now 31-43. And any steps forward, even baby steps, are what the A’s need in the last week of June if July and August are to be brighter.
“We can’t fall into those labels,” Davis said of the A’s, whose streakiness has been one reason the club has tumbled to the bottom of the A.L. West. “We’ve just got to keep learning about ourselves.”
Davis, who hit a solo shot for the fifth Oakland run in a 5-4 win Thursday, came up in the eighth inning Friday after Stephen Vogt singled and took third on Danny Valencia’s double. Davis, held to a single in three atbats earlier in the game, fouled off two pitches from Fernando Salas, then hit the third out to left-center for his 18th homer and 47th, 48th and 49th RBI.
Off the bat, Davis’ blast seemed like a double, good perhaps for a couple of runs.
“I thought it was in the gap; I thought ‘I’ve done my job,’” Davis said, admitting seeing the ball carry out surprised him.
Like Davis, manager Bob Melvin said he thought the ball would wind up hitting the wall.
“That looks like a double off the bat,” the manager said. “It ends up carrying out of the ballpark. When you look at his production numbers, he does his damage in a hurry. He may go a few games without getting any hits, then he’ll knock in three runs with one swing. And a lot of them have been big. He’s been terrific.”
Davis had an earlier contribution to the win, a diving catch to steal a double from the Angels’ Jeff Bandy.
The left fielder is frequently labeled as a subpar outfielder because of a weak throwing arm, but as Vogt, who’d homered earlier in the game, said, Davis is “underrated” as a defender and as a player is “a strong, strong human being.
“I wasn’t surprised he came up with that ball,” Vogt said. Neither was Davis. “What I lack with my arm, I excel with another,” Davis said. “I think my hands play it up a little more with catches.”
Friday’s win was large psychologically for the A’s. The Angels’ starter, Jered Weaver, had thrown a three-hit shutout at the in the Coliseum last Sunday, and Oakland vowed to be more patient with the softthrowing right-hander this time around.
They were, and rather than flirting with another shutout, Weaver was knocked out in the fifth inning. The A’s went on to get 14 hits, the seventh time this season they’ve had so many, and one reason they came back from two runs down to win by three.
“I think it’s a confidence booster for sure,” Davis said. “Just knowing that we can do it and we’ve done it before, you can’t ever count us out.”
Rookie Dillon Overton n credits the cutter he picked up from Triple-A pitching coach Rick Rodriguez and minor league pitching instructor Gil Patterson for his making it to the big leagues so quickly after his 2013 Tommy John surgery.
He added it this year, and that seemed to be the missing piece; he was 7-0 with a 1.40 ERA in his last seven Nashville starts before getting promoted to start Saturday. “It’s hard to describe how I feel being up here for the first time,” he said.
Daniel Mengden, Overton n and another rookie soon to be back in the rotation, Sean Manaea, all began the year at Nashville. They’d talked some collectively about making it to the big leagues, but it’s been quicker than all expected, due in part to a series of injuries to A’s starting pitchers.
“We all knew Manaea was the closest to getting called up,” Overton said. “And once Mengden was called up, I knew I’d be next if I kept pitching well.”
The A’s are still awaiting n word on what’s up with right-handed starter Henderson Alvarez, who has twice been shut down while making what he’d hoped would be his final injury rehab start before joining the A’s.
Melvin speculated Andrews wanted to keep Alvarez around until the exact pain in his surgically operated right shoulder has been detected.
“What I did hear is that all of a sudden he feels really good again,” Melvin said. “It’s kind of a puzzling situation. Hopefully we can get him back throwing again. Who knows what the timetable would be.”
Rich Hill threw a 35pitch n bullpen session before Friday’s game. He’ll take two days off, start Monday for Stockton in Modesto, then hopes to return to the starting rotation. “I feel great,” he said. Melvin said, “he feels real good going into his rehab assignment. Hopefully that will be it.”
Manaea threw 3.2 innings n and 54 pitches during his injury rehabilitation assignment start with Class-A Stockton Friday. He gave up two hits and two runs, both of those scoring on a first-inning homer. His next start should be against the Giants, probably Wednesday in Oakland.