Brent Rooker and Zack Gelof each homered and drove in three runs and J.T. Ginn tossed eight stellar innings on Thursday night as the visiting Athletics posted a 12-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Ginn (1-1) allowed just one run on four hits, striking out eight and walking one for the A’s, who salvaged the series finale after dropping the first two games. Shea Langeliers and Jacob Wilson also went deep in the win.
Andrew Painter (1-4) surrendered eight runs on seven hits across 3 2/3 frames, walking three and striking out a pair for the Phillies, whose four-game winning streak ended. Kyle Schwarber went 2-for-4 with a homer for Philadelphia, which has won eight of 10 games since the firing of manager Rob Thomson.
After Nick Kurtz began the game with a walk, Langeliers belted his 11th homer of the season to give the Athletics an early 2-0 lead. Painter then walked Tyler Soderstrom before Rooker’s fourth home run of the year put the visitors ahead by four runs before an out was recorded.
Soderstrom began the third with a walk, advanced on a flyout and scored on Carlos Cortes’ single. Wilson followed with a two-run blast, pushing the lead to 7-0.
Following Langeliers’ two-out single in the fourth, Tanner Banks replaced Painter. From there, Soderstrom’s single and Rooker’s RBI single gave the A’s an 8-0 edge.
Philadelphia cracked the scoring column in the bottom of the fourth. Schwarber belted a solo homer, his 12th long ball of the year, pulling the Phillies within seven.
Lawrence Butler’s one-out walk in the fifth was followed by Gelof’s run-scoring triple to extend the Athletics’ lead to 9-1. Two batters later, Kurtz delivered an RBI single.
Against Philadelphia reliever Chase Shugart in the seventh, Gelof connected on his third home run of the season, a two-run shot.
