Offense Explodes For 19 Hits As A’s Crush Brewers 10-2
Jun 3, 2013; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Oakland Athletics shortstop Jed Lowrie hits a double to drive in a run in the 5th inning during the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
There’s just no stopping the Oakland A’s right now, and the Milwaukee Brewers found out first hand how badly you can get burned when you come up against a team that’s as red hot as the Athletics.
Oakland had a season-high 19 hits and went 9-for-18 with runners in scoring position, and Oakland’s hitters absolutely blitzed whichever pitcher the Brewers put in front of them in a 10-2 thrashing.
Coco Crisp set the tone with a leadoff home run to right field, and Brandon Moss put the A’s up 2-0 with his own solo shot in the second.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltx4k_HtVAs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wm-w_2_mtw
The A’s threatened again in the third, but Crisp was thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice and Estrada struck out Josh Reddick to end the inning.
Instead they’d have to wait until the fifth inning to effectively put the game away. John Jaso singled to start things off, and he’d move to second on a wild pitch with Yoenis Cespedes at bat. Cespedes then moved Jaso to third on an infield single, and Jed Lowrie hit his 18th double of the year off of the right field wall to bring him home and give Oakland a 3-0 advantage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTYVqhSdvcQ
That’d be it for Milwaukee starter Marco Estrada. Right-hander Burke Badenhop took the mound in relief, and Josh Donaldson welcomed him to the game by hitting a single past Yuniesky Betancourt at first base to bring home Cespedes. Donaldson would be caught trying to steal second base for the first out of the inning, but Reddick kept the onslaught going with a grounder up the middle to make it 5-0.
Moss advanced Reddick to second on a groundout, and it looked like that would be it as Badenhop intentionally walked Eric Sogard to pitch to Tommy Milone. The A’s starter had other ideas, however, and he brought home Reddick on a soft line drive to center field to put his team up 6-0. Crisp then drew a walk to load the bases, and Jaso drove in two runs on a single to shallow left-center in his second at-bat of the inning.
By the time it was all said and done, the A’s were up 8-0 thanks to the seven-hit, six-RBI inning, and they got it done with only one extra base hit.
Milone returned to the mound in the bottom of the fifth and gave up a leadoff single to Carlos Gomez, and he’d surrender his only runs of the evening when Rickie Weeks took him deep to left field to make it 8-2.
Oakland had two more hits in the sixth but couldn’t squeeze any runs out of the inning. The seventh was a different story, as Milone ignited another rally with a one-out single to center field that’d result in two runs on a throwing error by Weeks as he tried to turn a bases loaded double play.
Weeks nearly had a second homer in the seventh off of Milone, and it was initially ruled as such before the umpires took a second look at Bob Melvin’s urging and decided it was a triple that had bounced off the top of the left field wall. It was the fifth hit of the game for the Brewers against Milone, but Weeks was stranded at third when Betancourt struck out to end the inning.
Milone he left-hander finished out the seventh and left the game with four strikeouts and no walks while going 2-for-4 at the plate.
Hideki Okajima and Jesse Chavez closed out the game, and the A’s improved their record in interleague play to 4-1 with the 10-2 victory.
It was the fourth win in a row for Oakland, and they now sit 1 1/2 games back of the Texas Rangers for top spot in the AL West. The A’s are now a season-high 11 games over .500, and they’ll return to Miller Park tomorrow with A.J. Griffin facing off against Kyle Lohse on the mound. Game time is 5:10 PST.