Last September, A's catcher Beau Taylor was so excited to get his first career major league hit, he tripped over first base on his way to second.
On a chilly night at the Coliseum on Tuesday, Taylor just wanted to avoid doing the same thing on his first career major league home run.
"I kind of blew at it trying to get it to go,” Taylor told The San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser following Oakland's 16-2 rout of the Orioles. “I was thinking, ‘Touch the base. Touch second, touch third. OK, you did good.’ Home plate was easy."
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Taylor successfully completed his trip around the bases after launching a solo homer to center field in the bottom of the third inning off Baltimore starter Gabriel Ynoa. It proved to be the first of many for the A's, who took full advantage of an Orioles staff that has struggled mightily with the long ball.
Ramon Laureano pounded a three-run homer in the fourth. Robbie Grossman's two-run shot in the sixth was followed by three-run bombs from Khris Davis and Stephen Piscotty, respectively, for Oakland's first 10-run inning at the Coliseum in nearly 23 years. And in the seventh, Chad Pinder pinch-hit for Matt Chapman and promptly deposited a two-run homer in the left field bleachers.
The six home runs were the most the A's hit in a single game since June 17, 2008, at Arizona, and their most at the Coliseum since Sept. 11, 2003.
Oakland Athletics
"We’ve got the ability to do that,” Bob Melvin said of his team's penchant for the long ball. “Got some good counts, got some good swings and on a night where early on it didn’t look the ball was going anywhere, we ended up squaring a few up."
It certainly didn't hurt matters that the A's were facing Baltimore, as the Orioles have now given up a league-leading 147 home runs in 73 games this season, well on pace to break the MLB record of 258 given up by the Reds in 2016.
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After struggling against last-place teams as of late, it was a promising sign to see the A's pile on against an inferior opponent Tuesday night. If they can continue hitting homers in bunches, they're bound to open up some breathing room between themselves and the .500 mark.