Oakland Ashes Game #132: Ashes beat Detroit Tigers in 9-3 win

The Oakland Ashes finally put some runners on base for their home runs.

Both teams went deep into Comerica Park on Tuesday night, but two of the Oaklands dingers came with runners while the Detroit Tigers settled for three solo shots. The As also added a few rallies to their display of power, finishing in the top 9-3 in the opener of a three-game run.

*** Click here to rewatch tonight’s Game Thread! ***

Today, 20 of Oaklands’ last 22 home runs came in and no one on base, a particularly painful inefficiency considering how many close games they’ve played lately. They got to work early on to change that trend.

In the 3rd inning, back-to-back doubles accounted for one run, then Matt Chapman followed with a two-run homer to give the Ashes a 3-1 lead. Chapmans’ last eight long balls had been solo, dating back to the end of July, as had 18 of his first 21 of the year.

In the 5th, they struck again. A pair of hits and a sac-fly brought home one run, then with a runner on first base Mark Canha went yard for two runs. That’s Canhas 13th dinger of the year, and 11 of them have been solo. The only other time someone was on base for a Canha homerun all season was in early April. It was also just Canha’s second long ball since early June.

Canhas’ blast put Oakland at 6-1 and they rode on from there. The Tigers hit a few solo homeruns in the bottom of the fifth, but that wasn’t enough to keep pace, and anyway, the Ashes added some insurance in the late innings. Chapman capped it off with another tater in the 9th, this time with no one on base, so make 19 of his 23 home runs for the season that were solo.

It was almost a triathlon for Chapman. In the 5th inning, he sent one 424 feet into midfield, which was actually his second furthest of the evening. But in Comericas’ cavernous dimensions, the net came up short for an out, and a few pitches later, Canha hit his two-run dinger. Chapman’s two home runs that did clearly the wall went 426 and 423 feet.

Oaklands’ offense wasn’t all long balls, though. The 3rd inning started with starling march did his job as a table-setter, doubled an opposite square against the wall, and then it went on with Matt Olson does his job as a run producer, passing an opposite field double along the LF line to drive into Marte. Chapman followed with his first dinger.

In the 5th, Marte’s speed impacted the game as it has all month. He led off the inning by grounding out for an infield single, then started to steal, but ended up on third base when Olson singled to the field. Yan gomes delivered a sac to bring Marte home, then Chapman nearly homered, then Canha followed with his dinger. If Marte doesn’t pull out that infield hit, will the Ash score in that frame at all?

On the other side of the ball, Detroit made loud contact with starter Cole Irvin but didn’t get many points for it. A solo homerun in the 1st gave them an early lead, but they stranded a double in the 3rd, then loaded the bases in the 4th and stranded that too thanks to a Platinum Glove double play in the defense of Chapman. In the 5th, they homered twice, and then set two runners and that was enough to chase Irvin, but only put a small dent on the scoreboard.

• irvin: 4 ip, 3 runs, 2 Ks, 2 BB, 3 HR, 7 hits, 84 pitches, 90.3 mph EV

That’s his second straight short start, though Oaklands’ attack exploded tonight for enough damage that it didn’t matter. Two of the Tigers home runs came from former As Robbie Grossman and Dustin Garneau.

The score was 6-3 when Irvin left, and relievers Deolis War and Yusmeiro Klein kept it that way until the end of the 7th.

In the 8th, the Ash added some cushion. They put runners on second and third, and Josh Harrison scored a hit to score them both and pushed it to 8-3. Harrison had three basehits tonight, including a double to put the game ahead, and he also stole a base.

Even with the bigger lead, setup man (commission closer?) Andrew Chafino came in before the 8th, then, after Chapman’s second homerun in the top of the ninth, lefty AJ Puk took it the rest of the way.

Today’s moral? Put runners on base and then hit homers, as the Ashes did, instead of hitting homers and then put runners on base to strand, as the Tigers did and the Ashes did all month. Throwing out a dozen punches, seven of which are for extra-bases, also helps. And also Matt Chapman is really really good.

Win streak!

That’s three in a row for Oakland. It’s a winning streak! And suddenly the Ashes are just one game behind the Red Sox for the Second Wild Card.