The Oakland Athletics dropped their second straight game to the St. Louis Cardinals last night, losing by a score of 3-2. Cardinals starter Lance Lynn stymied the A's hitters all night, holding them to just 2 runs on 5 hits in 7 innings.
Rookie catcher Kyle McCann blasted his first big league homer off Lynn in the bottom of the 5th that gave the A's a 2-1 lead at the time. McCann's blast was a moonshot, coming off the bat at 106 mph and with a 42 degree launch angle.
Of the 539 homers that have been hit across the league thus far, only 7 have been hit with a launch angle that steep.
Only 7 MLB home runs this season have been hit at a 42-degree launch angle or higher ...
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 17, 2024
And @Athletics rookie Kyle McCann has one of them for his first big league roundtripper! pic.twitter.com/Eugy5iKJMR
McCann has seen limited playing time getting reps behind starter Shea Langeliers, but he's made the most of his plate appearances. The young lefty is now up to .300/.462/.600 with the homer, 3 RBI, and a 3:3 strikeout to walk ratio.
Though he doesn't have the veteran leadership that Carlos Perez brought to the clubhouse last year, he has a much more legitimate chance at a future with the club than the aging Perez. He should continue to get reps throughout the year, barring a combination of a complete collapse and an extended hot streak from Tyler Soderstrom down in Triple-A.
On the pitching side, A's lefty JP Sears put together his second consecutive impressive outing. Sears went 5 innings while allowing just 2 hits, 3 walks, and 2 strikeouts, with the lone run allowed coming on a sharply hit ground out from Brendan Donovan that scored Masyn Winn from third.
The A's took a 2-1 lead into the 6th inning but reliever Dany Jimenez promptly gave it right back. He allowed a single to Nolan Arenado before walking Ivan Herrera and Lars Nootbar to load the bases. Back to back sacrifice flies from Masyn Winn and Jordan Walker gave the Cardinals a 3-2 lead and the A's failed to get anything going offensively after that.
The two teams will get back to it in the final game of the series in Wednesday's matinee. First pitch is scheduled for 12:37 pm PDT, with Paul Blackburn set to face off against Steven Matz.