A’s ‘duke up’ against MLB’s best, earn 6th straight win
OAKLAND – The staff that owns the Majors’ worst document is taking part in with a swagger that’s 100% justified. The A’s are rolling, and even the squad with MLB’s finest document couldn’t cease them Monday night time.
The A’s rode a five-game win streak again to Oakland after which made it six in a row with a 4-3 victory over the Rays, who high the Majors with a 48-21 mark.
Such an end result might need appeared unthinkable two months in the past when the A’s obtained swept on the street in opposition to the Rays by a mixed 31-5, together with two shutouts, which helped propel each groups to their divergent trajectories.
“We played them early, and, for lack of a better word, I think we were somewhat embarrassed,” A’s supervisor Mark Kotsay mentioned. “We played really bad baseball. We failed in every aspect in Tampa: pitching, defense, situational hitting.”
Asked earlier than Monday’s recreation if he thought the 5-1 journey to Pittsburgh and Milwaukee raised his gamers’ confidence heading into the three-game rematch in opposition to the Rays, Kotsay mentioned, “I think it helps, no question.”
The A’s then performed like a first-place staff to earn the membership’s longest win streak since 2021.
Shea Langeliers broke a scoreless tie within the fifth inning with a one-out, three-run double in opposition to eight-game winner Zach Eflin. Ryan Noda singled Langeliers residence for a 4-0 lead, enabling the A’s to resist Jose Siri’s three-run homer within the sixth in opposition to starter James Kaprielian.
Rookie Ken Waldichuk relieved Kaprielian and completed the sport. He not solely allowed the remainder of a weary bullpen an evening off, he earned a relatively historic first Major League save, changing into the primary A’s pitcher since Elias Sosa in 1978 to save lots of a one-run recreation with three or extra innings pitched.
Had the A’s continued shedding in Pittsburgh and Milwaukee as an alternative of dominating the highest two groups within the National League Central, they may have tiptoed into their collection in opposition to Tampa Bay apprehensively.
Instead, they squared their shoulders and welcomed the problem
“When you’re hot, it’s exciting to duke up against guys who are good and guys who are winning games,” Kaprielian mentioned. “You want to beat the best at all times.”
Langeliers mentioned the aura surrounding the staff is totally completely different than it was in St. Petersburg in April.
“When we went to Tampa, we were in a rough stretch and struggling,” he mentioned. “It’s hard to show up every day and keep going when it feels like everything is going against you, nothing’s going your way.”
Now, Langeliers mentioned: “I think the team chemistry, the camaraderie, is off the charts. We’re having fun playing. And when you’re having fun playing baseball, for the most part, you’re going to have success doing it, too.”
Kotsay hoped to get the ultimate three innings from Waldichuk, who opened the season as a starter, however the supervisor additionally was ready to make use of a pair of brief relievers. The lefty earned his first save since he pitched for close by St. Mary’s College, in opposition to UC Santa Barbara.
“I came into a one-run game and we put up nine runs, so it was a 10-run save,” Waldichuk recalled, smiling.
This save obtained powerful when Waldichuk put the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base within the seventh inning. But he struck out Randy Arozarena, one of many Majors’ most harmful hitters, to protect the 4-3 lead. The pitcher was pumped, and so had been his mates.
“That was big,” Waldichuk mentioned. “You felt the team kind of rise, and their energy kind of carried me through the rest of that outing.”
Waldichuk retired all six hitters he confronted within the eighth and ninth, together with consecutive strikeouts of Manuel Margot, Siri and Taylor Walls.
The A’s thus earned their sixth win in June, yet one more than they’d in April and matching their complete for May.
