Four home runs help Athletics beat Reds

Sets up the chance at a sweep tomorrow

The Athletics came out on top for the third straight contest on Wednesday evening, beating the Cincinnati Reds in the second of three and setting up a chance for a sweep in tomorrow’s series finale.

Trio of homers puts Oakland in front early

It didn’t take long for the action to get started in this one. Leadoff man Lawrence Butler got a hold of the third pitch from Reds starter Fernando Cruz and sent it over the right center field fence for his 16th homer of the season:

Can’t leave a ball down the middle for Law! Early lead: check.

Next up was lefty Seth Brown who wanted in on the action. He followed up Butler’s blast with his own solo shot a couple innings later, doubling Oakland’s lead over the Reds with his 11th blast of the season:

And against a lefty too! It’s been a tough season overall for Brownie and who knows if he’ll be on the roster next year. Unlikely but who knows? He’s been getting hot at the plate in recent weeks and has gotten hotter over the past week, slashing .278/.435/.444 with a home run. The more impressive thing is the fact that he’s drawn nearly as many walks (5) as strikeouts (6). And he wasn’t even done today! Would a hot September cause the A’s to rethink possibly moving on from the 32-year old this offseason?

That wasn’t all from the A’s offense tonight though! With only a 2-run lead and playing in the hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark, a 2-run lead isn’t safe, and the Reds have some studs in that lineup. So, an extra run wouldn’t hurt. Enter (snubbed All-Star) Brent Rooker setting some personal records:

That’s a personal-best 31st homer for the former waiver claim. It’s still baffling how one of the best hitters in all of baseball wasn’t selected to the All-Star game, instead losing out to a guy like David Fry (no offense if you’re reading this, Mr. Fry). Whatever, baseball’s loss. Now the question will be how close to 40 bombs Rooker can get. Or better yet, can he actually get to that 40 mark?

Bido continues to roll

Oakland’s starter in tonight’s contest was righty rookie Osvaldo Bido, who was making just his 8th start for the club here in ‘24. He’s been on an absolute roll in recent starts and looks like he’s getting more and more comfortable as a big league pitcher. Well, he continued that tonight against the Reds, shutting down the Cincy offense for six full innings in this one. During those six frames Bido allowed just a single hit, a 1-out single in the bottom of the fifth that was ultimately stranded. He also collected five strikeouts and walked no one, an incredibly impressive effort from the 28-year old right-hander. And at this point he was only at 80 pitches, so another inning or two wasn’t out of the question for Bido in his latest stellar outing, though he’d never pitched that deep into a major league game.

Extra insurance for the Athletics

Even with a 3-run lead and Bido dominating the opposing offense, the club didn’t take anything for granted. Oakland got a couple extra runs in the top of the seventh courtesy of a Max Shuemann RBI sacrifice fly for the first run and Butler brought in the second run on a groundout that brought in second baseman Zack Gelof from third base. It was a 5-0 game and with just nine outs to go this one seemed closer and closer to looking over.

And speaking of Gelof, the sophomore second baseman now has 16 home runs to go along with 17 stolen bases. A strong September could make him the first 20-20 Athletic since Coco Crisp did it way back in 2013. It’s been too long.

Bido falters late, bullpen implodes

It’s always a tall task to shutout a major league offense. Still at just 80 pitches and still rolling, manager Mark Kotsay decided to let it ride with Bido for at least one more frame. He’d never pitched into the seventh before so now was as good a time as any to give Bido that experience of facing the lineup a third time through. Welp, that decision backfired in a major way for the good guys. The first two Reds batters of the bottom of the seventh collected Cincy’s second and third hits of the evening, finally chasing Bido from this contest.

–Osvaldo Bido: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0BB, 5 K, 84 pitches

If his manager had pulled him from the game just two batters earlier his stat line from tonight’s start would look even better. Alas, both of the runners would score and put Cincy on the board. Bido’s season ERA now stands at 2.89 but the righty has an even better 1.17 mark here in the month of August. He’s been objectively one of the best pitchers in baseball for the past month.

Taking over for Bido was veteran lefty TJ McFarland. He came out of the ‘pen firing, getting the first two batters he faced to groundout and popout. It looked for a moment like the Reds would strand both of their leadoff hits but the third batter McFarland faced got to him. A 2-run double chased him and turned a 5-0 game on the verge of a blowout into a sudden 5-3 close game late. Right-hander Michel Otañez followed McFarland and had a rough time. Two singles and a 3-run home run put the finishing touches on Cincinnati’s rally. When all was said and done the Reds had scored six times and taken the lead. Yuck.

Fighting back

You would be forgiven for feeling dejected about the situation. The club had just blown a massive lead and only had six outs to play with. This A’s squad has resiliency though. Now facing a defeat the club rallied, nearly matching the Reds’ seventh with a 4-run rally of their own in the top of the eighth. Center fielder JJ Bleday got the rally started with a leadoff single, catcher Shea Langeliers followed with a ground-rule double and then it was Seth Brown’s chance to give the A’s the lead. And for the second time tonight, Brownie delivered in a big way, hitting his second home run of the evening, retaking the lead for the Athletics:

Do not let him get hot!!! That’s #12 on the year for Brownie. It’s going to be hard to take him out and get a look at younger players in September if he keeps hitting like he has been recently. Oakland added another run later in the frame when Jacob Wilson collected his first career RBI off a sac fly that brought in Gelof for the second time tonight.

Given another chance, the bullpen redeems itself

Back in front, the eighth inning belonged to rookie right-hander Tyler Ferguson, who posted a perfect frame along with a strikeout. That set up the save chance, but who would it be? Star closer Mason Miller just threw 31 pitches the day before so it wouldn’t be shocking if Kotsay went with someone else for the e save opportunity.

Nope. Not tonight. Miller came on for the ninth and looked like the guy we’ve seen blow batters away all season. The righty rookie locked down the save for the club, securing Oakland’s 58th win of the season and Miller’s 23rd career save.

Whew! What a game! Five home runs, 15 runs and 21 hits later and the A’s came out on top. Bido continues to look like a steal, Butler continues to show out here in the second half and Brownie put himself back on the map with a couple key home runs that the team needed to win this one.

Now we’ll have a chance to get our first sweep since taking three straight from the Angels at the start of July. Oakland will have a first timer going for them tomorrow as rookie JT Ginn will get the ball for his first career start after just two career relief appearances. Cincy will counter with their own rookie who also only has two career major league appearances in Julian Aguilar. What a coincidence!