Well that was a wild ride. The Oakland A's offense finally decided to show up, and they did so in jarring fashion. They beat the Marlins 20-4 on Saturday evening, led by a 10-run 3rd inning in which the A's offense collected 8 hits and had 12 total baserunners, and saw Brent Rooker homer twice in the inning.
Rooker is the first Athletics hitter to homer twice in one inning since Mark McGwire did so in 1996. It's interesting to note that both Rooker and McGwire wore number 25.
Athletics infield prospect Brett Harris went hitless in his debut on Friday night but came through in a big way on Saturday. He went 2-5 with 2 homers, 3 RBI, 3 runs scored, and he drew a walk. It'll be tough for him to improve on that line but it's an incredible start for the young third baseman.
uhhh yeah could I get a 20-piece📽️🎞️ pic.twitter.com/HHDuIqaQLX
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) May 5, 2024
In all, the Athletics scored 20 runs on 21 hits and drew 6 walks, 3 of them by Tyler Nevin. Coming into the matchup, they were 29th in runs scored and RBI. After the offensive outburst, they're 24th in runs scored and 23rd in RBI.
The win puts them at 17-17 for the year, reaching .500 for the first time since March 30, 2023. They now have a -14 run differential which is still not ideal, but good for 19th in baseball. It's a far cry from the -40 mark they found themselves at just a week ago.
The offense was the star of the show but it overshadowed a great start from righty Paul Blackburn last night. Blackburn went 7 innings, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits and a walk, and striking out 3. He lowered his ERA to 3.00 on the year and is 3-1 after recording the victory last night.
The A's are back at it on Sunday afternoon as they look to capture their second consecutive sweep and jump over the .500 mark for the first time in over 2 years.