The Oakland Athletics bounced back from a sweep against the Texas Rangers to take two of three from the Baltimore Orioles. Although the A’s did manage six innings of work from their starter each night, the offense had to step up to take care of business. The A’s hitters put together 14 runs over the final two games, both victories for the green and gold.
The A’s have been looking at some of their young talent in preparation for 2012 and appear to have a few players they will expect big things from next year. Jemile Weeks continues to hit well at the top of the order, but the latest revelation is recently acquired Brandon Allen. The A’s acquired Allen in their trade of Brad Ziegler to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Allen hadn’t quite turned his minor league power into major league production, but he’s started to hit the ball with authority in Oakland. In four games filling in for Conor Jackson at first base, Allen is hitting .538/.571/.769. It’s an incredibly small sample size, but it is cause for some optimism. If he can show some consistency the rest of the year he could be a lock to start at first base in 2012.
Kurt Suzuki managed to wrap up the series on a high note. The A’s catcher has struggled in 2011, but he managed a pair of solo home runs on Wednesday. Although Suzuki is consistently solid behind the plate, the A’s will be looking for more consistent at bats from their catcher heading into 2012.
The A’s welcome the Toronto Blue Jays to town for a four-game set. The Blue Jays are 62-60 but sit 12 games back of the wild card-leading Boston Red Sox and 13 back of the first place New York Yankees.