Minneapolis, MN – Stephen Vogt singled and homered as part of a 10-run fourth inning which propelled the Oakland Athletics to an 18-3 rout of the Minnesota Twins in the middle tilt of a three-game set from Target Field.
Daric Barton singled to start the frame and moved to third on Seth Smith's double. Vogt and Eric Sogard slapped consecutive singles, chasing starter Mike Pelfrey (5-12) from the contest. Coco Crisp greeted reliever Josh Roenicke with a single to load the bases before Josh Donaldson plated Vogt with a single of his own.
"I threw balls over the middle of the plate and they hit it," said Pelfrey. "It was an awful night."
Jed Lowrie followed with a controversial double down the first base line. Initially ruled a foul ball, umpire Bill Miller huddled with the rest of the crew for a couple of minutes before reversing his call and awarding Lowrie the base. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was ejected after a prolonged dispute with Miller and crew chief Dale Scott, but the A's continued to pour it on with a Yoenis Cespedes two-RBI double, Barton's RBI single to center and Vogt's two- run homer.
"I think this has been in us all year," said Barton. "We saw the ball pretty well tonight. We were able to put it away early. We're happy with the way things are going right now."
Sonny Gray (3-3) pitched well with the lead, striking out seven batters for his third straight outing. Gray yielded two runs on four hits.
Lowrie finished with four RBI, Vogt and Cespedes each drove in three while Daric Barton had three hits and a pair of RBI in the lopsided victory, the A's fourth in their last five games. Josh Reddick also doubled in the fifth inning in his first at-bat since coming off the disabled list.
Cespedes' first of two doubles plated Brandon Moss in the second inning, giving Oakland an early 1-0 lead.
"All the way around, we didn't pitch very well," said Gardenhire. "Pitching, just the whole package, they dominated us."
The visitors struck again an inning later when Crisp led off with a solo home run to right. Donaldson then got hit with a Pelfrey offering and Moss scored him two batters later. Brian Dozier's RBI single in the third put Minnesota on the board before Oakland pulled away in the fourth.
The onslaught continued in the fifth inning off Cole DeVries. Lowrie blasted a two-run homer to right and Barton plated Reddick with a sac fly to center.
Alex Presley doubled in a run for Minnesota in the fifth inning and Eric Fryer, who made his major league debut in the fifth, hit a home run in his first career plate appearance one inning later .
Moss doubled home a run in the ninth and scored on a Smith infield single to cap the scoring.
Game Notes
The A's brought nine batters to the plate in consecutive innings for the first time in 2013 ... 18 runs are the most Oakland has scored this season ... A's outfielder Michael Choice hit his first career double ... The A's out-hit Minnesota, 22-5 ... Oakland hit 11-of-20 with runners in scoring position ... Pelfrey was stung for seven runs on eight hits in three-plus innings.
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