He is a big reason the A’s are rarely out of games even when down by a couple of runs.
The Oakland second baseman delivered his 12th game-winning RBI after filling in beautifully at third base during Matt Chapman’s absence, hitting a three-run double in the decisive sixth to help rally the Athletics past the San Diego Padres 6-2 on Tuesday night.
If that’s not enough to make Lowrie an All-Star for the first time in an 11-year career and at age 34, manager Bob Melvin might just throw his hands up in disbelief.
”It would be the icing on the cake. I feel like I’ve been close a couple times and haven’t been there,” Lowrie said. ”So that would be something I would always be able to say.”
Mark Canha added a solo homer in the sixth and Chad Pinder connected in the seventh.
The A’s finally got to San Diego starter Clayton Richard (7-8). Pinder walked to start the sixth as the first five hitters reached base. Khris Davis followed Lowrie’s double with a run-scoring single before Canha’s 11th home run, after a double play.
Emilio Pagan (2-0) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win in relief of A’s starter Chris Bassitt.
Chapman went 0 for 3 in his return from the disabled list after missing 16 games with a recurring right hand injury that began bothering him during the offseason. He had played in 149 straight games before the DL stint.
Wil Myers hit a run-scoring double in the fifth right after Eric Hosmer’s RBI groundout got the Padres on the board.
Bassitt, who has just one win in five starts since being called up last month, escaped jams in the first and third innings as the Padres stranded five baserunners. The A’s made a pair of forceouts at home in the third, including first baseman Matt Olson’s nifty throw after a backhanded stop.
Myers’ double chased Bassitt. He was tagged for two runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings, struck out six and walked three.
Richard allowed five runs and six hits, walked a season-high five batters over six innings and struck out two in his second straight defeat.
”Defense picked me up early in the game but that’s the story of it was just too many three-ball counts and then put too many guys on with the walk,” Richard said.
Oakland, which had its six-game winning streak snapped Sunday by Cleveland, won for the 13th time in 16 games despite grounding into five double plays.
”As much as any team I’ve ever had, at least at this point, there’s no panic when we’re down,” the skipper said.
Leadoff hitter Travis Jankowski had three hits for San Diego, which will conclude the short two-game series Wednesday having played 23 of its last 28 away from Petco Park.
BIG MAC HONORED
Padres bench coach Mark McGwire Al Woods Jersey , a former A’s slugger who spent his first 11 1/2 big league seasons in the East Bay before being traded to the Cardinals in 1997, was honored before the game as part of Oakland’s 50th anniversary season festivities in a ceremony at home plate with team President Dave Kaval. Big Mac received his green No. 25 commemorative A’s jersey and the Bash Brother tipped his cap to the cheering crowd.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: RHP Jordan Lyles, scratched in the bottom of the first inning June 23 just before his scheduled start and on the DL with inflammation in his pitching elbow, played catch with the relievers and depending how he felt afterward the Padres would decide when he is ready to throw off a mound. … The Padres placed RHP Kirby Yates on the paternity list and recalled RHP Colten Brewer from Triple-A El Paso.
Athletics: RHP Trevor Cahill, who has an impingement in his throwing elbow, pitched in the Arizona League and is likely to make another rehab appearance Sunday or Monday before potentially joining the A’s in Houston early next week. … RHP Daniel Mengden (sprained right foot) threw a bullpen session and if all was OK by Wednesday the A’s planned to send him to Triple-A Nashville for a rehab assignment. … Oakland optioned INF Franklin Barreto to Nashville to clear roster room for Chapman’s return.
UP NEXT
Padres: RHP Luis Perdomo (1-2, 8.36 ERA), a taxi squad player, will be called up Wednesday to make his fifth start of 2018.
Athletics: LHP Sean Manaea (8-6, 3.38) is coming off a masterful June during which he went 3-0 with a 2.84 ERA in five starts.
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Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera, former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Mularkey, and Atlanta Falcons receiver Andre Roberts are the finalists for the NFL’s Salute to Service Award.
The recipient of the award, presented by USAA, will be revealed at the NFL Honors show on Feb. 3, when The Associated Press announces its individual NFL awards.
Roberts, Rivera and Mularkey were selected for their exceptional efforts to honor and support members of the military community. USAA, which provides insurance and other services to U.S. military members Erik Swoope Jersey , veterans and their families, will contribute $25,000 in the award recipient’s honor to the official aid societies representing all five military branches.
”Each having grown up in a military family, all three finalists for the `Salute to Service Award’ … share a common understanding of the sacrifices that our service members and their families face in their daily lives,” said Vice Admiral (Ret.) John Bird, USAA Senior Vice President of Military Affairs. ”We thank and salute Andre and coaches Rivera and Mularkey for their continued strong commitment to America’s military community.”
Last October, all 32 NFL teams nominated coaches, active and retired players, and team executives and personnel who best demonstrated support for the military. Those submissions were evaluated by a panel of judges that included last year’s award recipient, Falcons coach Dan Quinn.
Also on the panel were Bird; Rocky Bleier, a U.S. Army veteran and four-time Super Bowl champion; Chad Hennings, an Air Force Academy graduate and three-time Super Bowl champion; Tod Leiweke, NFL chief operating officer; Jim Mora, a Marine Corps veteran and former NFL head coach; and Roger Staubach, a Naval Academy graduate, Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback and Super Bowl MVP.
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