Kansas City This season, the A’s formula for scoring runs has been very straightforward. Hitting home runs and Abraham Toro are the only two components. When it comes to quickly putting runs on the board, home runs are the most crucial component of the equation, but they have been few during the Athletics’ current seven-game losing streak. Seth Brown contributed to the Oakland Athletics’ 5-3 loss to the Royals on Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium with a two-run home run, but the game raised an all-too-familiar topic. Without the long ball, how can the A’s score? Actually, they don’t most of the time. With 51.4% of their runs coming from home runs as of Saturday, the Athletics lead baseball, much exceeding the league average of 37.9%. With 10 home runs apiece, sluggers Brent Rooker and Shea Langeliers, who lead the A’s in scoring, put runners in position to score, and for the most part, it has worked. Oakland’s home run total is third in the American League and fifth overall in MLB. But what happens if they are unable to hit a home run? The A’s stand at 2–13. “Our offense isn’t always able to string together an inning with multiple hits, but we’ve had success with the long ball; we talked about that before we left for this road trip,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay stated. However, we are able to hit a long ball and put men on base. Thus, regrettably, we were unable to obtain that second [homer] tonight. We put up some innings, but we were unable to take advantage of the opportunity to keep putting up innings and adding to gain some momentum. All they have to do is strike. That’s how easy it is. With 11 hits, the A’s matched their highest total since the second game of a doubleheader against the Rangers on May 8. However, the A’s failed to score more than three runs for the eighth time in nine games while on this road trip. In only two swings this series, the A’s have scored four of their five runs against the Royals. Kotsay remarked, “We just didn’t get the big hit.” However, in the end, I believe that the offense—there are stronger indicators. There is a great deal of hope that we can escape this situation if we can launch the offensive. “The day was better. A total of eleven hits. That is encouraging. It had been a long time since we had a game like that. Although it’s disappointing to lose, it’s promising for an offense that has Toro on the rise and is getting stronger at-bats. Since May, Toro’s run since May has been the only run the A’s have scored against the Royals without going deep. Although the A’s recognize the value of producing runs in other ways, they still intend to and will continue to hit home runs. Toro, who is hitting.356/.405,.507 with a.912 OPS in May, won a nine-pitch at-bat against John Schreiber in the seventh inning by singling to right field. This sparked a two-out rally. After Brent Rooker delivered an RBI single to left, JJ Bleday reached on a hard-hit infield single, bringing the A’s closer to one run. With Toro leading the lineup, it was a demonstration of what the A’s are capable of and what they want to do more of. After throwing more than five innings of four-run ball, Ross Stripling said, “[Toro] is just locked in right now.” “Toro is always on base, but it looks like we’ve got a few people locked in at different points. He is hitting the ball pretty well, so we will continue to put him out there early in the lineup and count on him to deliver. The squad isn’t actively attempting to use the home-run strategy either. This homerun-happy result in the first month and a half has been brought about by each player’s strength, but the A’s aim to score runs in whatever manner they can. Toro stated, “We have been hitting a lot of home runs, but that’s not our approach most of the time.” That is something that has recently occurred. The only outcome of our attempts to manage the strike zone is home runs. However, we’re not actually aiming to hit any. Toro has demonstrated his ability to reach base, leading the club with 24 runs scored. Maintaining the line of communication is the next task for this A’s crew. “My responsibility is to enter the base so that individuals who can drive people in, like Rooker and Langeliers, can do so,” stated Toro. At that point, we typically win games. And that’s what our team wants to achieve.
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