The A’s came out on top in their second game in Las Vegas, getting back into the win column on a hot night in a Triple-A stadium against the Milwaukee Brewers. Five home runs powered the A’s to the victory and now they’ll have a chance at a series win tomorrow evening in the finale.
Predictably, it didn’t take long for the scoring to get started this evening. Right-hander J.T. Ginn got the ball for the home team tonight and allowed a single and then a two-run home run to Jackson Chourio. We were mere
minutes into this game and just two batters in and the A’s were down already.
The A’s didn’t wait around to start their own scoring. Batting second tonight, first baseman Nick Kurtz took the fifth pitch he saw from Brewers starting pitcher Robert Gasser and deposited it over the right field wall for blast #15, a solo shot to halve the Milwaukee lead:
That’s lefty-on-lefty violence right there. Kurtz’s power streak is finally here as he’s hit four home runs in his last three games. And we still have four more games in Las Vegas to go. The league isn’t ready for Kurtz’s finding his power stroke.
The home run derby continued in the bottom of the second. This time it was center fielder Henry Bolte’s turn to get in on the action. With a runner on first the rookie connected on a hanging changeup, hitting his first career home run the other way over the right-center field fence to give the A’s their first lead of the night:
That should be the first of plenty to come from Bolte. Power isn’t his calling card but he’s definitely got some pop in that bat and it finally showed up tonight. Get that man that ball!
Meanwhile Ginn had bounced back from a tough start to retire the side in the second and third innings, including punching out the side in the third. The right-hander did run into trouble in the fourth though, allowing a double and a pair of singles that tied this game back up, but then Ginn came back with another 1-2-3 top of the fifth.
We had a little break there but the derby was not over. A single put a runner on for Tyler Soderstrom in the bottom half of the fifth. With the lefty starter still in the game for Milwaukee Sodey went after the first pitch he saw and crushed it over the wall in right field for a two-run home run, the second left-on-left home run of the evening:
For those counting, that’s three home runs in two games against the Brew Crew for Soderstrom, who is now at 11 long balls on the season. Think he likes hitting in Vegas?
And why not back-to-back shots? This time it was Jonah Heim getting in on the fun, swatting his fifth homer of the season and second in as many nights:
Two nights in a row with back-to-back homers. What was once a 3-3 game was now 6-3 A’s, but with how fast the scoring was happening that three-run lead was not safe just yet.
Now staked to a three-run lead, Ginn went back out there for a sixth inning of work. Mark Kotsay rolled the dice but this time came up on the short end of the stick. His starting pitcher began to lose it as a walk, single, and ground out brought home Milwaukee’s fourth run before another walk and another single brought home their fifth. That single ended up chasing Ginn, ending his day before finishing six full frames.
- J.T. Ginn: 5 2/3 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, 97 pitches
That’s a solid-ish start from the right-hander, but his final line doesn’t look like it. He managed to keep Milwaukee from getting much in the air, collecting seven groundballs compared to three fly outs. He definitely began falling apart at the end and probably needed to be done after five frames but hindsight is 20-20. Ginn is lined up to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates next Monday when the team heads back to Sacramento.
Now it was up to the bullpen to hang onto the one-run lead. First out of the ‘pen was the recently-recalled Elvis Alvarado and he struck out Chourio to end the current threat, stranding two runners in scoring position. Huge punchout for the right-hander.
Then it was the A’s turn again. Milwaukee finally pulled Gasser and brought in former A’s reliever Joel Kuhnel for the bottom of the sixth. His former teammate Zack Gelof greeted him with a leadoff home run to push the lead to 7-5 A’s:
That oppo taco was Gelof’s eighth big blast of the year and he’s now working with a 14-game hitting streak, a career-high for him. That homer also tied the Athletics’ franchise record for most home runs in a two-game span with 12 (!). A’s batters have enjoyed hitting in Las Vegas over these past two games.
Alvarado came out for the seventh and struck out the side in impressive fashion. Next it was Mason Barnett for the eighth and he also had a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of punchouts. Kotsay decided to send him out for the ninth as well and he finished things off with a pair of punchouts and a lineout to end this one, securing the win for the A’s and his first career save as well.
Another home run derby, but this time the A’s came out on top. Homers from Kurtz, Bolte, Soderstrom, Heim, and Gelof were the entirety of the Athletics’ offense tonight but it was more than enough. Ginn had some troubles but overall was fine on a night where the ball was absolutely flying. And three relievers combined to be perfect and let A’s fans enjoy the final frames without much stress. The A’s are now 32-35 and are just a half-game back for the final Wild Card slot, and 3 1/2 games behind the Mariners for the division lead.
We wrap the series up tomorrow evening with the series finale. Righty Jack Perkins will be getting the ball for the Athletics, set to make his second start of the season after shifting to the starting rotation. His first start left plenty to be desired as he got knocked around for five runs in just four innings of work while reaching 75 pitches. He did manage to rack up six strikeouts but he’ll need to show some improvement and hopefully some length tomorrow if he wants to keep getting starting assignments. Meanwhile the Brew Crew have yet to officially announce their starting pitcher for tomorrow’s contest. It could be rookie right-hander Brandon Sproat as he lines up for the start. We’ll have to wait and see what the Brew Crew decide to do.
