New guys have big impact in win over Angels
By Shayna Rubin srubin@bayareanewsgroup.com The A’s added three offensive players before last week’s trade deadline to help boost their struggling offense. In an 8-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday afternoon in Anaheim, the new guys showed that they just might do the trick.
Yan Gomes, Starling Marte and Josh Harrison, the newest A’s, were penciled into the lineup all together for the first time and made their presence felt, combining for six hits, three RBIs and three stolen bases.
“All of them had big impacts today and all bring energy and some different facets as well,” manager Bob Melvin said.
The A’s brass coveted Gomes because he hits left-handed pitching.
With three RBI, Gomes upped his .365 average and 1.032 OPS against left-handers when he smashed a tworun home run in the third inning off Reid Detmers, the Angels’ No. 1 prospect making his big-league debut. The home run snapped a 3-3 tie and was Oakland’s second multi-run homer of the game.
“You want to come in and make a good impression, so that obviously helps,” Gomes said. “This is an exciting team to be on, but it was a matter of getting that first game in and
today was a good day all around.”
It capped a wild 72 hours for Gomes, who heard hours before the trade deadline that he might be shipped to either the Toronto Blue Jays or to the A’s from the Washington Nationals. He spent most of Saturday on a cross-country flight, arrived at the A’s dugout during their shutout loss that day and learned he’d be catching an unfamiliar pitcher Sunday.
The A’s sent Gomes film on their pitchers before his arrival, and Gomes noted the staff reminded him of the one he caught in Cleveland.
The A’s have batted a below-average .241 with runners in scoring position since June 21 and made a habit of hitting mostly solo home runs, both symptoms of their lackluster offense. Added depth with some veteran bats, the front office decided, could be the cure.
It felt momentous, then, when Matt Olson’s wasn’t rounding the bases alone for once when he homered a few at-bats prior to Gomes’ big swing in the third. Olson’s 28th home run of the year, his American League-leading 16th off left-handed pitching, scored Elvis Andrus and Marte, who both had singled. It erased the Angels’ early three-run lead and springboarded Oakland to a comfortable win, and wasn’t the only scoring opportunity Marte helped generate.
Coveted in part for his .407 on-base percentage, Marte reached base four times — three on hits and once on a walk — and stole three bases.
In the sixth with the A’s up 6-3, Mark Canha singled, Marte collected his second hit of the game and stole second base. Jed Lowrie, the A’s best hitter with runners in scoring position, knocked a two-run single.
DAULTON JEFFERIES’ FIRST BIG LEAGUE WIN >>
The trade acquisitions weren’t the only ones making their first appearance with the A’s this year.
With James Kaprielian on the injured list with shoulder impingement, Daulton Jefferies was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas Sunday morning to take the afternoon start. Bounding back from a biceps injury that sidelined him early this year, Jefferies earned his first big league win with a little help from veteran catcher and virtual stranger Gomes.
Jefferies was calm mentally, but he raced through his process and made the first few innings tumultuous. He left a hanging curveball up in the first inning for Max Stassi, who launched it for a two-run home run after Jefferies issued a rare walk. After giving up a third run in the second inning, Gomes approached his new teammate to temper nerves.
“He said ‘Your stuff is good, just take more time between pitches and breathe,’” Jefferies said of Gomes.
HARRISON’S IMPACT >> Harrison made plenty of hard contact -- he hit two outs over 100 mph off the bat -- but had one hit to show for his quality at-bats.