Pinch hitting Maxx Crosby Jersey , Martini drove in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning with full-count single up the middle and the Oakland Athletics came back from an early five-run deficit to edge the Chicago White Sox 7-6 on Saturday.
Martini, recalled from Triple-A before the game, battled through the eight-pitch at-bat and lined his hit off Juan Minaya (0-2) with two outs to center to score Stephen Piscotty from second. Piscotty reached on a double when right fielder Avisail Garcia lost his routine fly in the sun.
Martini is from Crystal Lake, Illinois, a Chicago suburb about 45 miles northwest of Guaranteed Rate Field. Although the 27-year-old outfielder says he followed the crosstown Cubs as a kid, coming through on the South Side suited him just fine.
”It’s hard to describe,” said Martini who played in front of a contingent of family members and friends. ”To get it here in my backyard was definitely special and I was super excited.”
Martini was called up by the A’s for three games earlier this month, but the 27-year-old outfielder was hitless in nine at-bats.
Piscotty launched a two-run drive and Matt Olson hit a solo shot as the Athletics homered in their 24th consecutive road game, tying a modern day record set by Baltimore in 1996. Olson’s homer was his 17th and third in four games.
”Who knows why, but we’re definitely in a groove right now,” Piscotty said. ”I felt like the way our offense has been, (coming back) wasn’t too daunting a task.”
Lou Trivino (5-1), the A’s fourth reliever, pitched 1 2/3 innings and struck out four. Blake Treinen got the last five outs for his 17th save as Oakland hung on for its sixth victory in seven games despite committing two errors in the ninth.
Tim Anderson hit his 13th homer Foster Moreau Jersey , a three-run shot on his 25th birthday, that capped Chicago’s five-run first inning burst. The White Sox have lost nine of 10.
Both starters exited early with injuries.
Oakland’s Daniel Mengden was roughed up for the fourth straight outing, allowing five runs and five hits before a sprained right foot forced him to leave after two innings. The right-hander, who is 0-2 with an 11.57 ERA over 16 1/3 innings in June, said the foot has bothered him over his past few starts.
Although he appeared to be cruising with a 5-2 lead, White Sox starter Dylan Covey was pulled due to right hip soreness with no outs in the fifth when Oakland scored three times to tie it at 5. Manager Rick Renteria called the move precautionary and said the team would know more on Sunday.
Coved said his hip ”felt funny” as he left the field after four innings.
”I could feel it in my (fifth inning) warmups,” Covey said ”My drag leg was not really painful, but nagging me. I was bracing every pitch for something. It was affecting the quality of my pitches.”
Covey, who was charged with four runs, left after walking Matt Joyce to start the inning and reaching a 2-1 count on Jonathan Lucroy. Chris Volstad completed the walk to Lucroy, then gave up a single to Franklin Barreto, a sacrifice fly to Dustin Fowler and Jed Lowrie’s two-run double.
Piscotty’s homer in the second made it 5-2. After Oakland tied it, Olson’s homer leading off the sixth put the A’s ahead 6-5.
Yoan Moncada grounded into a force at second with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth to push in a run to tie it at 6.
ROSTER MOVES
Martini was recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Saturday, and right-handed pitcher Chris Bassitt and left-hander Danny Coulombe were optioned.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Athletics: Manager Bob Melvin said LHP Ryan Buchter (strained left shoulder) will be activated on Monday at Detroit. . Melvin had no timetable or plan for Mengden Joey Bosa Jersey , but said the right-hander’s current injury isn’t related to previous surgery.
White Sox: RHP Miguel Gonzalez (right rotator cuff inflammation) is expected to throw three innings in a rehab start Sunday at Triple-A Charlotte. Gonzalez, who was 0-3 with a 12.41 in three starts in April, said he expects to make three or four starts on the rehab assignment. . Renteria said OF Nicky Delmonico (broken finger on right hand) is getting ready to start hitting off a tee.
UP NEXT
Athletics RHP Paul Blackburn (1-1, 8.03) faces White Sox LHP Carlos Rodon (0-2, 4.41) on Sunday in the series finale. Both Blackburn and Rodon will make their fourth starts since returning from the DL.
The Minnesota Twins signed first-round draft pick Trevor Larnach just one day before Major League Baseball’s deadline.
For both sides, the delay was well worth the wait. There were no contentious contract negotiations in the way, only a College World Series championship for Larnach with Oregon State.
”We figured it would go to the end, because I thought Oregon State was the best team I saw all spring,” Twins scouting director Sean Johnson said. ”They were really built to win that series, so we knew it would take a while.”
Larnach’s standard minor league deal, signed on Thursday afternoon, came with a $2.55 million signing bonus. The slot value set by MLB for the 20th overall selection was $3.12 million, so the Twins put some of that savings toward signing other players in their draft class.
Larnach, a corner outfielder who hit .327 with 17 home runs and 65 RBIs this season for the Beavers Tony Pollard Jersey , batted .417 with five doubles, nine RBIs and 10 runs scored in eight games at the College World Series. His two-run homer in the ninth inning against Arkansas helped Oregon State stave off elimination in the second game of the finals , and the Beavers went on to win the decisive third game the following night.
”I would say it’s probably the closest thing you are going to get to playing here in the big leagues,” Larnach said as he toured Target Field for the first time before the Twins played Baltimore on Thursday night. ”There are a lot of people at every game. You start playing some SEC teams, and you start hearing them pretty well. It’s all part of it. It’s a wonderful experience, and I wish I could re-live some of it, but you know there are better times ahead.”
The Twins said the 21-year-old Larnach will report to rookie-level Elizabethton of the Appalachian League.
”It’s good to have him in the fold,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. ”I told him to enjoy the experience. I couldn’t really relate to him what it was like to sign at this particular point in my life because it was 40-some years ago, but it was nice for him and his parents to come in and have a chance to talk with them.”
Johnson was on a scouting trip in North Carolina, dining at The Cheesecake Factory restaurant with Twins vice president of player personnel Mike Radcliff, when they saw Larnach’s dramatic home run. They weren’t exactly sweating the timing of the signing.
”Twenty seconds before he hit the home run, I’m like, `If he hits a home run here to give them the lead, we can wait another day Noah Fant Jersey ,”’ Johnson recalled. ”Right on cue, he hit it. That was the first time I celebrated in a Cheesecake Factory. That was pretty cool. That was a fun moment to watch.”
For Larnach, too, of course.
”My experience at Oregon State, man, it’s pretty unbelievable. I can’t put that into words,” he said. ”I can’t thank my family at Oregon State enough for what they’ve done for me. I’m always going to come back to them and say hi and give them my love and just give back to them as much as I can, because they’ve developed me not only as ballplayer but as a person, and that’s what they promised when I got there.”
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