The Athletics are not having a great season. But even in the midst of a rebuilding year, there are positive moments and glimpses of the future.
For the first time in a month, the A’s won a series after beating the Kansas City Royals 5-3 on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium to take two out of three games. Oakland’s last series win was May 23-25 when it took two out of three games from the Seattle Mariners on the road, and it was also the last time the A’s won back-to-back games.
On Sunday, the A’s prevailed in the rubber match behind late-inning contributions from Nick Allen and Cristian Pache, two youngster who they hope are just getting started.
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Allen, just a couple months into his rookie season, had the eventual game-winning hit in the seventh when he looped a single into center field with two outs. That scored two runs and turned a one-run deficit into a one-run lead.
“For Nicky to drop one into center field like that, we haven’t been getting many of those type of hits,” manager Mark Kotsay said to reporters. “That was good to see a ball fall in for us and give us a lead there.”
Allen is hitting .211 in 38 at-bats, and made his fifth start in six games on Sunday. A third-round draft pick of the A’s in 2017, Allen has risen through the minor league system and hopes to stick in the big leagues. He has got a great opportunity this year, with the A’s giving more playing time to younger players looking to prove themselves at the big league level.
“I worked my butt off every step of the way,” Allen said on "A’s Postgame Live" after the win. “Things weren’t handed to me, but I just made sure I kept working and showing what I could do on the field.”
Pache added an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning with a sharp single to right field. The key return from the Atlanta Braves in the Matt Olson trade, Pache has been stellar defensively in the outfield but has struggled with the bat so far.
For Kotsay, seeing young players come through in the clutch and his team win a close game was a sight for sore eyes.
“Great to see these guys battling,” Kotsay said. “I think the fight was there again today. We got behind, we lost the lead, we came back. We haven’t seen a ton of that to where we’ve been able to come back and get ahead.”
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Despite the win, A’s starting pitcher James Kaprielian’s winless streak to start the season stretched to 11 games. Kaprielian allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings and the A’s had a 2-0 lead going into the sixth. But he was taken out of the game in the sixth after loading the bases with one out. The Royals then scored three runs off reliever Sam Moll.
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Fortunately for Kaprielian, the offense came back to take him off the hook for what would’ve been a tough loss. And to him, the only thing that mattered was the team W.
“That’s what’s most important today is we won a series and that’s something we need to continue to build off of,” Kaprielian told reporters.