The Athletics made MLB history with their explosive scoring outburst in a 20-4 win over the Miami Marlins on Saturday at the Oakland Coliseum.
In addition to becoming the first team to ecplipse the 20-run threshold during the 2024 MLB season, the A's also scored 10 runs in a single inning, hit five multi-run homers in a game, had a player hit two home runs during the same inning and had a player hit two home runs for their first major league hits.
No team in MLB history had ever accomplished those feats in an entire season -- Oakland managed to do it in one afternoon. (h/t OptaSTATS)
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Brent Rooker led the way with three hits and five RBI, including an unforgettable third inning where he blasted two home runs over the left-field bleachers.
Oakland Athletics
JJ Bleday added a three-run blast of his own during Oakland's third-inning scoring barrage, his fourth homer of the 2024 season.
Brett Harris -- playing in just his second major league game -- recorded his first career hit in the big leagues with a home run in the fourth inning, before doing the unthinkable and following it up with another homer in his very next at-bat in the sixth inning.
Following the game, manager Mark Kotsay detailed how Oakland's offense has been invigorated since its series win over the Baltimore Orioles last weekend.
"The at-bats have gotten better," Kotsay reporters after Saturday's win. "You've heard me say this, it becomes contagious. The at-bats with runners in scoring position, I think really since the Baltimore series have gotten better, and today we got the results."
The A's have been red-hot of late, winning six consecutive games to get back to .500 at 17-17 after a slow start out of the gate. Oakland sits just 1.5 games behind the AL West-leading Seattle Mariners, and if they continue to score runs at this rate, the A's quickly will go from a feel-good story to a bonafide contender in the MLB playoff race.
