The Oakland Athletics picked up in August where they left off in July, parlaying three home runs and steady pitching from Joey Estes into a 6-5 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a three-game series on Friday.
Shea Langeliers, Seth Brown and Brent Rooker went deep for the A’s, who won for the 10th time in their last 14 games but had to survive a two-out, three-run homer by Shohei Ohtani in the ninth.
Tyler Ferguson retired Will Smith, representing the tying run, on a grounder to shortstop to end it. Estes (5-4) got the victory at the expense of the Dodgers’ top winner, rookie Gavin Stone (9-5).
The Dodgers, who lost for the fifth time in six games, got the early jump on Estes when Gavin Lux singled with two outs in the first before Teoscar Hernandez launched his 23rd homer to left field for a 2-0 lead.
That was the last hit and run allowed by Estes in six innings. The rookie struck out six and walked two.
In the meantime, the A’s rallied into a 2-2 tie in the fourth when Langeliers smacked his 21st homer, and two batters later, Brown hit his 10th.
The hosts took command in the fifth when Lawrence Butler walked, Miguel Andujar sliced an RBI triple and JJ Bleday lined an RBI double, ending Stone’s outing. Rooker greeted reliever Joe Kelly with his 27th homer, a two-run shot to straightaway center field.
The three homers continued a long-ball rampage that saw Oakland lead the majors in July.
Stone was charged with five runs on eight hits in four-plus innings. He struck out five and walked one.
There was no further scoring until the ninth, when Ohtani’s 33rd homer followed a one-out single by Enrique Hernandez and two-out walk drawn by James Outman.
Andujar had two singles to complement his triple for the A’s, who out-hit the Dodgers 11-6. Bleday and Max Schuemann added two hits apiece.
Teoscar Hernandez collected two hits for the Dodgers.
–Field Level Media