OAKLAND — As the sun began to set on Friday night at the Oakland Coliseum, a smattering of the 21,060 fans in attendance climbed to the very top of the stadium’s third deck and looked towards the San Francisco Bay. The sky radiated shades of orange and yellow, of purple and blue. At one point, in the opposite direction, a rainbow blossomed. There was no singular element of the sky that stood out. Rather, each hue and shade and texture worked in harmony to inspire awe.
As was the case with the A’s down on the dirt and grass against the Dodgers.
Joey Estes continued his recent stretch of excellence with six innings of two-run ball. Brent Rooker, Shea Langeliers and Seth Brown homered. Miguel Andujar had three hits, Abraham Toro flashed the leather and Austin Adams bested Shohei Ohtani in the evening’s biggest at-bat. Like the sky above, Oakland, fresh off going 15-9 in July, was more than its individual parts, sneaking away with a 6-5 win over the NL West’s finest.
“We obviously had a really good month. Won a lot of games. Played really well,” Rooker said. “Our goal for August is to prove we can go out there and repeat it and do it again, that it wasn’t just a one-time thing. I think everybody in here believes that that’s the case.”
The A’s have done plenty of punching above their weight class in recent weeks. They took two of three from the Phillies right before the All-Star Break. They did the same against the Astros in their second series of the second half. Now, they’re one win away from securing a series victory against the Dodgers, a feat they haven’t accomplished since sweeping them in June 2012.
“It indicates that we’re good. I think it’s pretty simple; I think we’re a good baseball team with good players who can go out and play with and compete with and beat good teams who are going to be in the playoffs this year,” Rooker said. “I think we’re proving that to ourselves and the confidence in that just continues to build.”
Rooker, for his part, is playing the best baseball of his major-league career, coming off a month in which he hit 11 home runs and posted a 1.288 OPS. Langeliers and Brown, whose solo shots in the fourth inning tied the ballgame at two apiece, excelled last month as well. The former hit five homers with a .828 OPS; the latter had four homers with a .969 OPS, a torrid run during an otherwise frigid year. Estes has excelled in his last four appearances (three starts), allowed six earned runs over 20 1/3 innings (1.77 ERA). The 22-year-old’s evening against the Dodgers, though, initially did not have the makeup of the quality variety.
Teoscar Hernández gave Los Angeles a first-inning lead, turning Estes’ elevated fastball into a 2-0 lead for Los Angeles. By the fourth, the A’s had their rebutal. Langeliers sliced the deficit in half with a solo shot that banged off the facade of left field’s second deck. Two batters later, Brown launched the equalizer into the right-field bleachers and invigorated the Friday night crowd.
After tying the game in the fourth, they took the lead in the fifth.
Lawrence Butler, fresh off a month where he hit 10 homers, drew a leadoff walk. Andujar followed with a triple to score Butler, giving the A’s a one-run lead — a lead they’d never relinquish. JJ Bleday’s RBI hustle double expanded the lead to 4-2, driving Gavin Stone from the ballgame. Joe Kelly replaced Stone, then subsequently served up a middle-middle changeup that Rooker sent over the center-field wall, doubling the lead to 6-2.
The highlights weren’t just reserved for the offense. In the top of the sixth, Toro chased down Ohtani’s fly ball to shallow left field and made a basket catch, denying Los Angeles’ $700 million dollar man a hit.
For as well as the A’s played through six, the Dodgers, generally, and Ohtani, specifically, had an opportunity to swing the game’s calculus.
With two outs in the seventh, that same $700 million dollar man stepped to the plate with the bases loaded against Adams. Manager Mark Kotsay had southpaw Scott Alexander warming in the bullpen. Kotsay stuck with Adams. The stage was set.
Adams began the plate appearance with three backdoor sliders — two landing for strikes. After Ohtani fouled off an inside fastball, Adams tossed another backdoor slider, this one being high in the zone. It was a pitch that Ohtani could’ve very well sent into the left-field bleachers. Instead, he rolled over for an inning-ending groundout.
“Not to give away trade secrets,” Adams said, “you usually just stick to your best pitch, so there you go. And then just pray to God that he doesn’t hit the ball really hard. The guy’s incredible.”
Ohtani eventually made his mark, as he is wont to do, ripping a 116.3 mph, three-run shot over the right-field fences off Tyler Ferguson in the ninth inning and slicing Oakland’s lead to one. Despite the dramatics, Ferguson closed the door on the Dodgers and secured the win.
The saturation in the sky was long gone by the time Ferguson secured their 46th win of the season. But the A’s, beginning the new month 1-0, were more than happy to bask in another latest vibrant win.
