Athletics' Green Machine Stretches Home Win Streak to Nine Games

The Oakland Athletics have won nine consecutive home games, and in each of the time they've won their Kelly Green uniforms. The A's, now an American League-best 19-8 after a three-RBI night from Stephen Piscotty, will be wearing Kelly Green again Saturday as they attempt to become the AL's first 20-win team of 2020.

Some teams look at the A’s and their 19-8 record and are green with envy.

The A’s are just green with victory.

Oakland has won nine consecutive home games after Friday night’s 5-3 victory over the Angels buoyed by three more RBI from Stephen Piscotty, who has 20 RBI while batting in the bottom third of the lineup, a total that ties him for the team lead with third baseman Matt Chapman.

The secret? Maybe it is that in all nine of those games, the A’s have worn their Kelly Green uniforms, uniforms normally held out only for Friday nights.

It’s a lock that the A’s will be wearing the same Kelly Greens Saturday afternoon when they attempt to become the first American League team to get to 20 wins in the 60-game 2020 season. The Dodgers became the first National League team to do it with a win over the Rockies Friday night.

Beyond that, the A’s don’t have any solid explanation for their success at home, save for the fact that they believe in themselves as a contender.

“We love playing in the Coliseum,” said Piscotty, who used the four months of baseball’s downtime to heal from an oblique injury and who is hitting up a storm. He has four games with three or more RBI already this season in his 22 games. He had just five of those last year in 93 games.

“Obviously we wish there were some fans, but we do feel good playing here,” he added. “Sometimes these streaks are just hard to explain.”

Mike Fiers, who started and allowed just one run in the first five innings before getting knocked out of the game in the sixth, looked at things from a more pragmatic angle.

“We’re really good at home; we’re a great team,” Fiers (3-1) said after becoming the first A’s pitcher with three wins. He also has pitched into the sixth inning in three of his last four starts. “If that other team is not on point, it is going to be tough on them.”

Marcus Semien got the A’s off to a quick lead with a solo homer to open the bottom of the first. Later in the inning the A’s put men on first and second for Piscotty with two out. He delivered a double and two runs scored, including Mark Canha in a furious sprint all the way from first base.

After the Angels got a run in the top of the fifth on the third of four singles by Anthony Rendon, Oakland staged another two-out rally. Canha doubled, Matt Olson doubled and Piscotty singled.

“You’re down a lot of times to two outs and with one pitch they’re out of the inning,” manager Bob Melvin said. “If it’s a base hit, you score a run.

“We tend to win a lot of games hitting home runs. But you’re going to have to, especially against good pitching, be able to do some things different. We’ve been good with the bases loaded. We’ve been maybe not so good at time with runners in scoring position and two outs. And we got some big hits tonight.”

For Melvin, this is the closest yet that Piscotty, who was injured much of 2019, has looked to being the kind of productive player he was in 2018, when, in his first year with the A’s, he hit 27 homers and drove in 88 runs.

”When he’s healthy, he’s a force.” Melvin said. “He makes our lineup that much deeper; a guy who can also hit home runs comes up with big hits. The time off (during the shutdown) was key for him because he wouldn’t have been able to start the season with us in April. The time off served him well, and he’s doing what Stephen Piscotty does when he’s healthy.”

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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