Oakland A’s use big sixth inning to finish homestand in impressive fashion

OAKLAND – Even without having Ramón Laureano at their disposal over the last two-plus weeks, the A’s offense was rounding into form.

Now that Laureano is back and the A’s are close to full strength again, their lineup looks downright scary.

The A’s used six singles and a walk to help score six runs in the sixth inning to come back and beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-4 on Wednesday, completing a three-game series sweep at the Coliseum before an announced crowd of 6,228.

Matt Olson had three hits, including two in the sixth inning as the A’s batted around to erase what had been a 4-2 Angels lead. Matt Chapman, Chad Pinder, Tony Kemp, Mark Canha, and Olson all had RBIs in the rally as the A’s finished with 10 hits.

“We’ve come back from bigger (deficits),” said Laureano, who returned after a 17-game absence with a hip injury. “We feel confident. That inning everybody had great, great at-bats and contributed.”

The A’s went 8-1 on their nine-game homestand and will carry a six-game win streak into Friday when they begin a three-game series in The Bronx against the New York Yankees.

The A’s, now an MLB-best 12-2 in June, came into Wednesday batting .274 and now have 86 runs in 14 games this month.

“Man, it’s just nice to have everyone hitting,” A’s starter Cole Irvin said. “This might be the first time all year where it wasn’t just three or four guys. It feels like it’s the whole lineup.”

The A’s 43-27 record is their best after 70 games since the 1990 season, when Rickey Henderson, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco led the team to 103 wins and an American League pennant.

This A’s lineup, while perhaps lacking some of the bluster and bravado of the Bash Brothers era, could end up just as dangerous one through nine. Entering Wednesday, the A’s were ninth in MLB with 925 total bases and 10th with 310 runs.

“It’s probably not easy to pitch to and they probably would ambush me like the Angels did,” Irvin said of the A’s lineup.

“They’re just doing such a good job and they’ve got disciplined at-bats. You know you’re always going to be in the game and as long as you’re putting up zeros as a starter, and as a reliever, they’re going to do their part and score some runs.”

Irvin gave up four earned runs in the first two innings. The Angels (33-35) struck for three runs in the first inning before Shohei Ohtani blasted a 435-foot solo home run to right field in the second inning, his 19th of the season.

Irvin settled down to some degree as he lasted 5 2/3 innings before he was replaced by Burch Smith with two runners on in the sixth. Smith then struck out Justin Upton on a 95 mph fastball to end the threat.

Laureano helped change the game’s momentum.

Paying his first game since May 27, Laureano robbed Upton of a home run in the top of the fourth inning, timing his jump perfectly as he made a leaping catch over the wall on a long fly ball.

Laureano then followed that up with a solo home run in the bottom of the inning off Angels starter Griffin Canning to cut Los Angeles’ lead to 4-1.

“When he made the catch then came in and hit a home run, all of a sudden we felt like a different team,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said.

“We get spoiled with his play. We see it all the time.”

Laureano was placed on the injured list June 1, retroactive to May 28, with a strained right hip.

Despite the time away, Laureano entered Wednesday still ranked second among MLB center fielders in home runs with 11 and was tied for fifth in RBI with 22.

“I play defense, I catch balls and I hit, and just focus on hitting,” Laureano said. “I really don’t carry them to one another. Just staying present in what I have to do and whatever happens, happens.”

The A’s went 12-5 without Laureano, whose defensive play was one of a handful of web gems made in the early going of Wednesday’s game.

With Laureano back, Canha, in left field, tracked down a deep fly ball by Jared Walsh in the top of the first inning, making the catch before landing shoulder first into the wall.

“There’s no telling where that inning goes without that (catch),” Melvin said of Canha’s play. “That’s as good a play as Ramon made. It kind of shut them down for a minute and kept them from having a really big inning.”

Angels infielder José Iglesias made two unorthodox catches. In the second inning, he leaned back to catch a drifting Mitch Moreland fly ball. In the third, he ran over from the shortstop position and snared a Kemp pop up.