A's Rough Road Trip Ends With A Win
MINNEAPOLIS (CBS SF) -- The A's offense snapped out of its funk to beat the Twins 8-5 and avoid being swept.
Santiago Casilla struck out Twins slugger Miguel Sano for the final out to escape a bases loaded jam.
Oakland pounded out a season-high 14 hits and 8 runs to salvage a disappointing road trip. The A's dropped seven of nine games and return home with a 12-16 record.
5 Takeaways:
Joyce Sets The Tone
It's usually not a good idea to have someone hitting .181 to be your leadoff hitter, but the move paid off for Bob Melvin as he tried to jump-start the offense. Matt Joyce started the game with a single and came around to score on a double by Khris Davis. Joyce had two hits, reached base four times and scored two runs. For the series, Joyce reached base eight times and while he won't be confused for Rickey Henderson anytime soon, Joyce did raise his batting average to .197 for the season.
Cotton Bounces Back
Jharel Cotton has been consistently inconsistent to start 2017. Fortunately for the A's, "Good Cotton" showed up Thursday, holding the Twins to three runs (two earned) over six innings and setting a career high with nine strikeouts. He's now 3-3 this season, alternating wins and losses in his six starts. Cotton will try and buck that trend next week in a home start against the Angels.
Healy Snaps Out Of It
Ryon Healy might be the first one on the plane to come back to Oakland. Healy was 4-for-35 on the road trip until reaching on a bunt single. He followed that up with a solo shot to left, (off former A's reliever Craig Breslow) his fourth home run of the season. But the momentum would end there. Healy struck out looking with the bases loaded in the 8th inning and was ejected for arguing balls and strikes.
Another Day, Another Injury
The A's just can't seem to play with the same 25-man roster for more than a day or two. Wednesday it was Sean Doolittle going on the disabled list, Thursday it was catcher Josh Phegley placed on the 7-day disabled list with a concussion after being hit by a foul ball. Bruce Maxwell was recalled from Nashville.
Sean Manaea Suffers Setback
Sean Manaea won't be returning to the rotation on Sunday, the first day he's eligible to be activated from the disabled list. Manaea continues to feel soreness in his left shoulder and had to cancel his bullpen session before Thursday's game. Clearly the injury is worse than Manaea let on after being pulled from his start at the end of April.
Up Next: The A's return home for a six-game homestand, beginning with three games against the Tigers this weekend. Andrew Triggs will start Friday night.
