By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, August 29, 2015

PHOENIX, Arizona – Stephen Vogt wasn’t formally designated as the goat of Oakland’s Friday night loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, but he felt like it, with two passed balls and what he considered an overall lackluster performance – offensively and behind the plate.

Wanting to atone, Vogt rebounded in a big way in the Athletics’ 3-2 win over Arizona Saturday at Chase Field.

“I had a rough night and obviously, I was not in a good place last night,” Vogt said. “So I was excited to see I was back in the lineup, and I was ready to go. I had a lot of steam to get off, and it felt pretty good to get off to a good start.”

Vogt was not only back in the lineup, he went 3-for-3 with three runs batted in on a Valley of the Sun-style splash hit home run and the eventual game-winning single.

“For me, it felt like it’s been a while since I got a big hit for us,” Vogt said. “So for me, this was huge.

Oakland Manager Bob Melvin said his catcher “was on a mission.”

“I don’t think he got much sleep last night,” Melvin said. “No one guy is at fault for a particular loss, and (Vogt) takes it pretty hard. His at-bats were very tenacious the whole night.”

“For me, I think it was one of the worst games I’ve had on both sides of the plate in quite a while,” Vogt said.

“Yeah, you want to go out and prove yourself. For me, I had to remember how good I am, and you have to remember how you got here, why you’re here, and it’s easy to lose sight of that going against the best players in the world. You start to doubt yourself sometimes. For me, it was awesome to come through and say to myself, ‘you can play this game and play it well.

“There’s nothing like coming through for your teammates late in the game.”

Facing D-Backs reliever Andrew Chafin (5-1) in the top of the eighth, Mark Canha singled with one out, and Josh Reddick grounded to second, but Arizona second baseman Aaron Hill juggled the ball long enough to allow Canha to advance to second with no chance to turn a double play.

Danny Valencia was intentionally walked, bringing Vogt to the plate.

“I just wanted to have a competitive at-bat,” Vogt said. “When you’re the guy they walk somebody intentionally ahead of, you want to come through, even more so. Fortunately, I wasn’t trying to do anything more than put a base hit out there somewhere.

Vogt hit a Texas Leaguer to shallow left that landed in between left fielder David Peralta and shortstop Nick Ahmed, allowing Canha to score the go-ahead run.

“I wasn’t trying to drive the ball, I wasn’t trying to filet the ball, I just wanted to get the barrel on the ball somehow. I’d never seen (Chafin) before, he’s a tough lefty with a really good slider, and his fastball is pretty explosive. So fortunately, I was able to get just enough of it to get it in there.”

Fernando Rodriguez (4-1), the second A’s pitcher, threw two scoreless innings to get the win. Drew Pomeranz struck out the side in the ninth to earn his third save.

“That was explosive,” Vogt said of Pomeranz. “I haven’t seen his fastball like that in a long time. He looked like he was on a mission tonight with the way he was throwing the ball.”

Melvin added, “It seems like Drew is getting a little more acclimated to the bullpen. That’s as hard as we’ve seen him throw all year. He has the ability to do that; it’s harder to do as a starter.”

After Valencia led off the Oakland third with a double, Vogt sent a line shot into the swimming pool behind the right-center field power alley for his 17th home run of the season, giving the A’s a 2-0 lead.

Arizona tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth. Ahmed hit a leadoff double to left-center, moved to third on Ender Inciarte’s single and scored on A.J. Pollock’s base hit to center. Inciarte scored the tying run when Paul Goldschmidt grounded into a 5-4-3 double play.

In his first start since returning from Triple-A Nashville, Aaron Brooks worked six innings, giving up two earned runs on eight hits with four strike outs and a walk. Brooks worked out of trouble in the first and third innings, and again with double-play pitches to Goldschmidt in the fifth and Hill in the sixth.

“After (Arizona) got the two runs, there could have been more,” Melvin said. “That’s what you’re looking for, someone to be resilient when you have some adversity. (Brooks) had runners on first and second in the first and third innings and handled those situations really well.

“The only reason he was lifted was for a pinch-hitter.”

Inciarte was 3-for-3 and Pollock was 2-for-4 at the top of Arizona’s order. Goldschmidt was 0-for-3 and struck out twice.

“It was huge, what he did,” Vogt said. “He threw the ball well from the get-go. And the top of (Arizona’s) order is not easy to get through. To give up two runs and get one of the best hitters in the world to ground into a double play, I think that was the play of the game.”

Diamondbacks starter Jhoulys Chacin also had a strong start, finishing his seven innings with six strikeouts and two walks while giving up five hits and two earned runs.

“I felt pretty well. I threw two mistakes – one got out (Vogt’s home run) – overall I think I did my job to keep us in the game,” Chacin said. “My slider was good today and my sinker was moving really well. Overall, I felt pretty good.”

The three-game interleague series concludes Sunday. Right-hander Jesse Chavez (7-13, 4.00) goes for Oakland, while the Diamondbacks have not announced their starter. Game time is 1:10 Pacific/Arizona Time.

A’s ACORNS: This was Oakland’s first win at Chase Field since June 17, 2008. … Vogt’s home run was the 52nd hit into the Chase Field swimming pool; the 23rd by a non-Diamondback player. … The Athletics are 2-5 in their last seven games against Arizona, and trail in their all-time series 14-15. … Announced attendance for Saturday was 35,990.

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