On This Day, the Athletics Offense is Anything But Offensive

With Matt Olson getting three hits and Jonah Heim collecting his first two career RBI, the Oakland Athletics suddenly came to life Saturday in beating San Diego.

The A’s don’t have the best offense in baseball. They don’t hit for much of an average and they strike out a bunch.

Offsetting that are the home runs they hit and the walks they generate and the slightly inexplicable fact that they are better hitting in the clutch than most.

Even so, having the A’s come into Saturday’s game without a have led at the end of an inning for three games covering 23 innings was a bit much.

So, when Matt Olson tripled home two runs in the first inning Saturday, and then starter Sean Manaea had a quick shutdown inning, it was a big deal. The A’s would go on to score two more runs in the second inning and ultimately rolled out 11 hits in an 8-4 win over San Diego, it was a bit of a big deal.

“That’s huge, when you have Matt Olson hitting triples and homers, it’s scary,” catcher Jonah Heim said. “He put some really good swings together, he’s barreling up some balls.”

Heim, a rookie switch-hitter, did some barreling up himself. It was his single batting left-handed in the second produced a run, and a single as a right-handed hitter in the seventh brought home another. Those were the first two RBI of his career.

Olson, who came into the game with a .168 batting average, finished with three hits, in the process getting his average up to .186. Heim, called up on Aug. 24, had just one big league hit before Saturday. And his third-inning hit was the only one that didn’t come with two out.

“Jonah has done a really nice job for us,” manager Bob Melvin said. “To come through in a big situation like that is huge. Then the catch the win today just makes you feel more and more confident.”

As for scoring seven runs with two-out hits, the manager said “those are really good at-bats.”

“To do it right from the get-go, it gets contagious,” Melvin said. “Today was an important day for us. We don’t want to put too much on one game, but after the layoff and the rough showing last night, it was important that we played a good game today, and the at-bats were good across the board.”

Seeing Olson, whose .168 average coming in was the lowest of any Major League with enough at-bats to qualify, get three hits was a builder of confidence as well. Olson, who came into the game with more homers than singles, didn’t hit the ball in the air, but he pulled the ball a couple of times and had an off-the-end-of-the-bat single.

Melvin said there was mention made of the Olson triple, the first of his career, in the dugout.

“Dusty Baker used to tell us what do you want to do – lead the league in doubles or hit two triples,” Melvin said of his longtime pal, who is currently the Houston manager. “Ole gets a lot of doubles. But just to get one in and check that box off and have a triple, and end up doing your thing.”

The A’s had just one homer Saturday, a two-run shot from Ramón Laureano that immediately followed Heim’s RBI single in the sixth. But the 11 hits ended a streak of 13 consecutive games without having reach double digits in hits.

“It was a nice confidence builder,” Melvin said. And he said it even after third baseman Matt Chapman struck out five times. He has struck out eight times in nine at-bats over the last two days.

“It’s going to happen sometimes,” Melvin said. “When you look at his offensive numbers, homers and RBIs, he’s doing a nice job. ... I don’t think at this point it’s a concern.”

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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