It was a great Saturday night at O.Co Coliseum for everyone in Oakland, everyone except the members of the Los Angeles Angels. The Oakland A’s beat the Angels by a score of 11-3. The star of the game? Cuban slugger and reigning Home Run Derby champion Yoenis Cespedes.
Cespedes, who was a single short of the cycle, went 3-5 on the night adding almost half of the runs to the A’s score. He got the A’s first hit of the game. It was a double to deep left field in the fourth inning when the Angels were already ahead 3-0, thanks to a three-run shot from Collin Cowgill off of A’s starter Tommy Milone. Cespedes’ double helped moved Josh Donaldson from first to third who eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by catcher Derek Norris.
His second hit came in the bottom of the seventh with the game tied at 3-3 thanks to a solo shot by the newest member of the Athletics, recently acquired from the San Diego Padres, Kyle Blanks and a choice hit by Coco Crisp. Crisp later scored on a ground out to second by Josh Donaldson. With Jed Lowrie on second and Nick Punto on third Cespedes hit a ball to deep right center field for a triple, shooting the A’s ahead of the Angels by a score of 5-3.
By the bottom of the eighth inning the A’s had already scored three more runs with RBI from Alberto Callaspo and Craig Gentry. Cespedes walked to the plate with runners on first and third. He then hit a drive deep to left for a three-run home run bringing his RBI total for the night to five.
It wasn’t just Cespedes’ offense that helped the A’s to their 11-3 victory over the Angels. He threw out two runners at the plate from left field showing off his cannon for an arm. The three run shot by Cowgill in the fourth was all the offense the Angels’ could muster, thanks to those amazingly accurate throws by Cespedes.
On a night where the A’s were honoring the 40th Anniversary of winning their third straight World Championship in 1974 and now deceased pitcher Catfish Hunter with a bobble head in his likeness, the game was really all about Yoenis Cespedes.