A’s bats explode in win over Marlins

Six straight wins for the squad

The Athletics continue rolling. The team beat up on the Miami Marlins tonight on a cold and wet afternoon at the Coliseum, winning 20-4 and pushing their winning streak to six games.

Offensive explosion

The game started quietly as neither team scored in the first inning. The A’s got on the board first in the second inning for a pair of runs thanks to Darell Hernaiz and Esteury Ruiz RBI singles. That was just a taste of things to come in the next inning.

The bottom of the third inning was probably the Athletics’ offense best inning this season. Designated hitter Brent Rooker doubled the club’s lead with a 2-run shot, his seventh of the season:

That won’t be the last you hear from Rooker this inning.

A couple singles set up center fielder JJ Bleday for a chance to add on some extra insurance. He did just that, and then some:

It was suddenly 7-0 before the third inning was even over. And with more to come! The next three hitters reached bases and Abraham Toro brought in two of them with his own RBI single. And that brought Rooker back up to the plate:

His second homer of the inning! That was a bit of history for Rooker as well:

Have a day Brent Rooker. He would finish his day with three hits, a walk and five RBI’s on the day before eventually making way for Kyle McCann.

Though the inning was over the scoring didn’t stop. We had a major league first in the next inning. Rookie third baseman Brett Harris, only called up just yesterday, collected his first major-league hit. It was a memorable one as he pulled the ball over the left field wall for a solo home run:

Hopefully many more of those to come (hint hint). This pushed the lead to 13-0 and the only question was how much the team would win by.

Meanwhile on the pitching side…

Right-hander Paul Blackburn got the ball today and obviously loved the run support. Not that he needed it today as he brought his A-game for today’s start. While the Athletics bats were working over the Miami pitching, Blackburn was having his way with the Marlins’ bats. Coming off a tough start last time out against Baltimore, Blackburn turned in seven dazzling innings for the club, allowing just one run in the sixth inning off a solo home run. Outside of that one blemish, he had Miami off balance all day, allowing just four hits and a walk over seven innings.

More runs!

It wasn’t enough that the club was taking it to the Marlins. And it wasn’t enough for Harris to collect his first hit and home run in the same day. He wanted to double that up with another home run(!):

Harris came up to the club with the perception he was a glove-first player. It’s one game but it’s damn encouraging to see this power surge from Harris. He’s playing himself into more at bats.

They just kept it up the rest of the way. Bleday collected his third hit of the day in the seventh, an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh. Fellow outfielder Lawrence Butler got in on the action off the bench and collected an RBI single in the eighth and catcher Shea Langeliers added the cherry on top with a 3-run home run to make it an even 20:

That would finally be it for the squad. At the end of the day the club collected 21 hits, 6 walks, and six home runs. Save some of it for tomorrow guys!

The team only needed a couple relievers to finish this game off. Righty Dany Jiménez allowed a couple courtesy runs in the eighth inning and lefty Kyle Muller allowed a run in his inning of work in the ninth, finishing the blowout and securing the team’s sixth straight win.

Wow. What a game. If it weren’t for the offense we would be talking about Paul Blackburn’s terrific start. But that offense takes the cake today. What a performance all around as everyone outside of Tyler Nevin collected at least one hit, and Nevin had three walks! Flowers of the game have to go to the rookie Brett Harris though. What a way to collect your first two home runs. Keep it up!

The A’s will go for the sweep (and seventh straight win) tomorrow afternoon. Right-handed rookie Joe Boyle is set for the start and he’ll face off against former top prospect Sixto Sanchez. Keep the streak alive guys!