*Photo from AM 1440 KYCR*
Lawrence Butler drove in 3 runs with one swing, Brent Rooker homered, and the Oakland Athletics defeated the Los Angeles Angels with an 8-2 victory Saturday in Oakland.
The A's are seeing some winning as of late, having won their last 3 games and 6 of their last 10, albeit still a bad team as evidenced by their 39-61 record. They've had plenty of success at home against the Angels, currently on an 8 game home winning streak against their division rival.
However, the fireworks came from Rooker early in this one. With his home run, he continues his hot month of July. Not voted an all star after making the team in 2023, Rooker leads AL qualified hitters in batting average, slugging percentage, on base percentage, and OPS. He's also reached base safely every game this month.
Oakland starting pitcher Mitch Spence said of Rooker "He's extremely impressive. When he’s not just on an absolute tear, he doesn’t lose confidence. He’s still putting together great at-bats. That’s what makes a great hitter. When he’s doing what he’s doing right now, it’s just unbelievably fun to watch."
Rooker got the scoring started right away for the A's, hitting a 3 run home run to left field in the first inning to make it a 3-0 game on his 22nd home run of the season. In the 3rd, Anthony Rendon got the Angels on the board with a sac fly to make it 3-1. In the 4th, Rooker scored on a bases loaded walk to make it 4-1 A's.
Up next was Butler, who broke the game open with a double down the right field line, scoring all 3 runs before being tagged out trying to stretch it into a triple. The score, however, became 7-1 in favor of the A's. In the 6th, an RBI double from Zach Neto scored Taylor Ward to make it 7-2. A Miguel Andujar RBI single in the 7th made it 8-2 A's.
Spence was the starter for the A's, allowing two runs on 5 hits and 3 walks in 5 1/3 innings of work. Scott Alexander got out of the 6th inning before Austin Adams pitched a scoreless 7th and Tyler Ferguson added two more scoreless innings.
Making his second major league start for the Angels was Jack Kochanowicz, who was hit hard again. He gave up 7 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks while lasting 4 innings, one more than his first start. Kenny Rosenberg allowed one run in 4 innings of long relief work, striking out 3 hitters.
Kochanowicz said after his second rough start "Obviously, I'm trying to work down in the zone. Good Major League hitters, sometimes they make adjustments. So I can't be too mad about that. I just told myself, 'Keep trusting what you do.' I feel like if I make mistakes, they hit it. But as long as I make my pitches, I’ll be all right. I was able to do that a little bit for a few innings and then it just kind of got away. So it’s stuff to build on."
The series finale in this one is set for Sunday afternoon. Joey Estes gets the start for the A's as they go for their 4th win in a row and the sweep of the Angels. Carson Fulmer takes the mound for the Angels as they try to avoid the sweep.
Comments
Post a Comment