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A’s Offense Explodes In Win Over Padres

Published

9 years ago

June 18, 2015

Oakland, CA – It’s rare to have games like this but when your in a zone, it’s pretty spectacular. The A’s outburst against the Padres was one for the history books. They had twenty hits setting a new season-high in runs scored and in hits. Tonight’s 16-2 victory was their fourth straight win despite being in last place in the American League West.

Oakland’s offense got going early against San Diego’s starting pitcher Odrisamer Despaigne. The A’s scored four runs in the first, Billy Burns led off the with a double. Marcus Semien followed with a single, Josh Reddick popped out and Ben Zobrist drove in Burns with a bloop single to center field. Billy Butler cleared the bases when his three-run homer carried into the left field seats making it a 4- game.

“We had 20 hits,” said Butler. “That doesn’t happen too many times, and it was a real good win for us at home.”

The A’s added on another run in the third when Zobrist tripled and Stephen Vogt scored him in on a sacrifice fly. Jesse Chavez was outstanding, he struck out eleven over seven frames and recorded a new career-high. Chavez tossed a shutout through five innings until he surrendered a solo home run to Alexi Amarista to lead off the sixth. He struck out the next two batters before forcing Matt Kemp to ground out to end the frame.

“This was the best changeup we’ve ever seen him throw, and he threw a bunch of them,” Oakland’s manager Bob Melvin said.

“It was awesome especially for Chavez,” said Burns. “He pitches so well all the time, and we just haven’t put up the runs for him. It was nice to pay him back.”

Despaigne got chased off the mound in the seventh and replaced by Frank Garces. The A’s extended their lead 6-1 when Mark Canha led off the inning with a single, followed by Eric Sogard’s free pass. Burns singled loading the bases while Semien’s sacrifice fly scored in Canha. Zobrist cleared the bases with a two-run double and advanced to third on the throw from right field. Vogt’s bloop single made it a 9-1 game.

“At first I just tried to forget about everything and keep the game where it was,” Despaigne said. “I felt good, but it just happened so fast I couldn’t do much about it. I just tried to make pitches.”

The Padres went back to their bullpen which continued to unravel. Oakland scored seven runs in the eighth loading the bases twice. Sogard doubled, Burns singled and Semien walked. Reddick singled and drove in Sogard. Sam Flud singled and drove in both Burns and Semien. Brett Lawrie got in on the action with a two-run double. Canha’s RBI single made it 15-2 while Sogard drove in Lawrie extending the lead to 16-2.

The A’s has won six of their last eight games and have out-scored the opposition 304-266 this season. They improved to 3-0 in interleague play and began their five-game homestand 1-0. Oakland reduced their errors committing four over the last three games. The offense is in a zone, six players had two or more hits tonight.

Burns has hit safely in each of his last eight games while recording his fourth three-hit game and 17th multiple hit contest of the year. Butler went 4-for-5 recording his four-hit contest and his 15th multiple hit game of the season. Canha is batting .345 with two doubles, two home runs and six RBI’s in eight games in June. Flud drove in two runs. Lawrie career average in interleague play with five home runs and 23 RBI’s in 36 games.

San Diego got two home runs off Oakland tonight. Amarista went yard in the sixth while Will Middlebrooks led off the eighth with a solo shot. That was it for the Padres offense who have now lost four in a row. Despaingne gave up six earned runs in six frames in his first career start against the A’s. The first was by far his worst inning. He’s lost four of his last five decisions in eight starts. Despaingne did keep the damage to a minimum before the bullpen took over.

“We couldn’t figure out their guy,” said San Diego’s interim manager Pat Murphy. “Let’s face it, we didn’t have very good at-bats.”