Ramón Laureano destroys water cooler as White Sox hammer A’s in 10-2 loss

2022-09-24 09:20:36 By : Ms. Wang Jing

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Oakland Athletics' Ramon Laureano (22) reacts after striking out during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Oakland, Calif., Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Chicago White Sox's Elvis Andrus (1) is congratulated by third base coach Joe McEwing after hitting a three-run home run off of Oakland Athletics pitcher Adrian Martinez, rear, during the second inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Ramón Laureano skied a shallow flyball and threw his bat to the ground as he jogged toward first base. It was not his final display of frustration.

That swing, with the bases loaded and no outs, yielded no runs. Back in the Oakland Athletics’ dugout, Laureano delivered four more swings to a hapless water cooler, sending its broken lid flying out of the dugout as some teammates turned to watch and others averted their gaze.

“I wear my emotions on my face, you can see it right away,” Laureano said after the A’s lost 10-2 to the White Sox on Saturday. “I think it’s just like a 50-50 of myself — I haven’t been able to help the team this whole year, my expectations of myself are way higher than what is happening right now.

“At the same time, I mean, it’s sad, you know? The way we’re playing. We’re getting beat. We can’t do any aspects of the game the right way. And that’s sad. I really want to win — really, really, really bad. And yeah, sometimes it’s the business of the game. It’s just a sad moment right now.”

Ramón Laureano is not happy right about nowpic.twitter.com/gikyCHIuMu

Some exasperation must be expected as the torn-down A’s hurtle toward the likeliness of a 100-loss season. This series with the White Sox has offered new reasons at every turn. The A’s endured their most lopsided loss of the season Thursday. They blew a three-run, ninth-inning lead Friday.

Saturday, then, featured some unwanted history.

The White Sox, who entered tied for the majors’ highest team batting average, tagged Adrián Martínez, the rookie right-hander trying to win a rotation spot, for 14 hits and seven runs over 3 ⅔ innings.

No previous A’s pitcher had allowed 14 or more hits in an outing of fewer than four full innings, per baseball-reference.com. Brandon McCarthy in 2011 was the last A’s pitcher to give up 14 hits in any appearance.

The White Sox finished with 20 hits — after totaling 21 on Thursday. The last time the A’s allowed 20-plus hits multiple times in a series was 1919, when the Philadelphia A’s did so against Boston.

Martínez gave up 12 singles, one more than the number of outs he got. Elvis Andrus, the A’s shortstop until last month, drove a three-run homer off Martínez in the second inning. Andrew Vaughn pulled a two-run double that, at last, ended Martínez’s outing with two outs in the fourth.

“He was kind of coming off the ball from a mechanics standpoint, which led to the lack of location,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “We’re trying to keep him down the lane, a little bit more centered, so he has a little better command of the baseball where he wants to throw it.”

The A’s want Martínez to continue to develop his slider, a third pitch behind his sinking fastball and changeup. His changeup has more vertical break than most, allowing him to throw it against right-handed hitters, but the slider would offer another weapon against righties. Even facing a lineup with six right-handed hitters Saturday, Martínez threw just 12 sliders on 93 pitches, inducing no missed swings.

In a jarring moment, Martínez was struck in the left shoulder by a 106.7 mph liner off the bat of Gavin Sheets in the second inning. Martínez was checked by a trainer but appeared OK and kept pitching.

“I was struggling with my pitches today and I wasn’t able to do the mechanics the way I’ve wanted,” Martínez said through an interpreter. “I wasn’t able to accomplish what I wanted to do today and I just have to keep on working.”

On Elvis: Andrus is having a huge series against the A’s, who released him Aug. 17 after reducing his playing time (to his frustration). He led off Thursday with a home run and struck the go-ahead, two-run double against A.J. Puk in Friday’s ninth inning. He has seven RBIs across the last three games.

Andrus’ first game after signing with Chicago was against a Cleveland team the White Sox are battling for the division. As Andrus recalled Thursday: “I went from just playing games (with the A’s) to kind of like a playoff atmosphere and the rivalry. It took me three or four innings to actually, like, wake up.”

In 106 games with Oakland this season, Andrus totaled eight homers and 30 RBIs. In 21 games for the White Sox, Andrus has five homers and 20 RBIs. He has hit as many homers (two) in this series as he did in 126 home games at the Coliseum as a member of the A’s.

Untimely hitting: Laureano’s outburst occurred in the fourth inning, when the A’s offense built its first rally against White Sox starter Lance Lynn. An error, a walk and a single loaded the bases with no outs. Laureano’s flyout to right proved too shallow to score Vimael Machin from first base.

It continued one of the most confounding trends for this A’s offense. In 16 plate appearances with the bases loaded and no outs, their hitters are 0-for-13 with six RBIs and three sacrifice flies.

Oakland got one run out of the inning, on a Stephen Vogt sacrifice fly. Josh Harrison’s throwing error in the sixth inning gifted the A’s their other run. The A’s have been outhit 48-15 in these three games.

Matt Kawahara covers the A’s for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: mkawahara@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matthewkawahara