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Laureano’s defense is crucial in a game he was able to play on appeal
Manager Bob Melvin waited until the last seconds before Wednesday’s first pitch in Anaheim before officially submitting his lineup. The A’s hadn’t heard back from Major League Baseball regarding Ramón Laureano’s suspension appeal and Melvin wasn’t sure if their prized outfielder could play that day.
So, Laureano played.
He didn’t just play, the A’s might not have won without him. Laureano made a handful of game-saving defensive plays and knocked in two late-game insurance runs in Oakland’s 8-4 sweep-preventing win over the Los Angeles Angels.
“He won us the game defensively,” A’s starting pitcher Chris Bassitt said. “He definitely saved us.”
Laureano has a knack for web-gem outfield plays, and so many seem to happen at Angel Stadium. See: The near 300-foot assist he made from the outfield to first base back in 2018. The ballpark’s low outfield walls allowed for a defensive gem of a
different variety when Laureano casually robbed Brian Goodwin of a potential game-tying home run in the seventh inning.
“It’s never an easy play,” Laureano said. “I just got good timing on it.”
The catch nearly mimicked the home run robbery of the Cincinnati Reds’ Tucker Barnhart to preserve Mike Fiers’ nohitter last May. Higher wall at the Oakland Coliseum, same level of ease despite the play’s difficulty.
“I don’t want to say we get used to it, but he’s done it enough where, at times, you expect it,” Melvin said.
The A’s outfielder has been playing farther back in center to improve his route running. He covered 74 feet on the home run robbery and made up a lot of ground robbing another two hits from the Angels. Those included a would-be bloop single and extra-base hit at the wall.
His defensive prowess made up for a cold series at the plate in which he collected one hit with six strikeouts (three on Wednesday).
That is, until Laureano punched a two-out single to tack on some key insurance runs in the eighth in- ning.
“I mean, I didn’t really know what I was doing all day,” Laureano said. “So I was just trying to hit the ball.”
Sometime between Laureano’s third strikeout and his late-game heroics, word landed that Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly’s eight-game suspension for throwing at Astros hitters was reduced to five games upon appeal. This could be good news for Laureano, who appealed his ban and might soon hear from MLB if his suspension is short- ened, too.
“Since you’re telling me that, I won’t take the bait,” Melvin said when asked if Kelly’s lessened punishment made him hopeful for Laureano. “But, yeah, I would like it to be reduced.”
CHRIS BASSITT VS. MIKE TROUT >> Bassitt struck out star Mike Trout twice when the Los Angeles Angels
came to Oakland at the season’s onset. And it took a little guts. On the first, Trout whiffed at Bassitt’s rainbow curveball. On the second, the Angels star flailed at a changeup.
“I don’t usually throw changeups and curveballs to Trout, but it worked out today,” Bassitt said after that July start. “Throwing it, you’re thinking this could go 600 feet, but when he swings and misses it’s pretty awesome.”
Things in the Bassitt vs. Trout micro battle went a little differently Wednesday. Bassitt was living down in the zone — a good sign for a starting pitcher against a brutal Angels lineup that will punish mistakes up (as they did Tuesday). But fastballs down in the zone are Trout’s chum.
Trout homered on a 94 mph fastball down in the zone in the first inning, tying the score. It was the first home run Bassitt allowed this season.
Trout also punished a 94 mph fastball for a sacrifice fly in the following at-bat — not a home run, but it produced a run nonetheless. Bassitt, at least, pushed back in the final at-bat with a strikeout.
The A’s right-hander left with two outs in the fifth inning, having allowed four earned runs, five hits with four strikeouts. OLSON, GROSSMAN AND PISCOTTY HOMER >> Angels starter Griffin Canning doesn’t throw too hard, and the A’s found a few ways to take advantage of the low90s fastballs and hanging breaking balls the righthander was offering up.
Matt Olson went first, launching his sixth home run of the season 111 mph off a hanging slider. It went 454 feet, which somehow fell short of the A’s home run distance record this season. Sean Murphy hit one 455 feet in Oakland.
Robbie Grossman hit a 3-1 fastball into the seats for a two-run homer. And Stephen Piscotty homered to left field off a hanging curveball.