Photo credit: @Athletics

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Monday, April 15, 2019

In the age of the all-or-nothing approach to hitting, the Oakland Athletics are early season beneficiaries so far in 2019.

The Swingin’ A’s have been exactly that of late, setting a franchise record with their seventh consecutive multi-homer game despite losing an 8-7 decision to Texas on Sunday. Stephen Piscotty and Matt Chapman homered for Oakland in the record-setting contest.

Within this streak, the A’s also hit five home runs in back-to-back games at Baltimore — the second time that’s happened in franchise history. Oakland has also hit a total of 21 homers during the streak. That’s more than 19 other clubs have hit so far this season.

Breaking it down further, Oakland has hit 14 home runs in their last four games. That’s more than the San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates have each hit all season.

The biggest bopper has been Khris Davis, who hit five of the A’s 14 homers.

When things like this happen early, it’s always fun to project how this would play out over the course of a season. It’s been calculated that if the A’s maintain this pace, they’ll hit 307 round-trippers, which would obliterate the MLB mark of 267 hit by the New York Yankees last season.

A couple more notes on this: Davis leads MLB with 10 home runs, more than the Tigers as a team, and he’s also tied with Colorado. And, the A’s are second as a team so far; Seattle leads MLB with 39 homers.

The Houston Astros visit the Coliseum for a two-game set on Tuesday and Wednesday. Collin McHugh (2-2) will start for the Astros on Tuesday night, facing Marco Estrada (0-2).

It’s Jackie Robinson Day, so the all players, coaches, umpires and on-field personnel will wear No. 42. It’s also Free Parking Tuesday.