Rooker swats 34th, 35th HRs in pursuit of making A's hitting history

OAKLAND -- Not since Miguel Tejada’s 2002 American League MVP campaign has an A’s player finished a season with a batting average of at least .290, 30-plus home runs and 100 or more RBIs.

With 21 games remaining, Brent Rooker is firmly on pace to end that 22-year drought.

In Thursday afternoon’s 6-4 series-finale loss to the Mariners at the Coliseum, Rooker bashed his 34th and 35th home runs to extend his career-best hitting streak to nine games. It was his second two-homer effort over the past week, bringing his overall batting average to .298 and RBI total to 97.

“I’d love to [reach 100 RBIs],” Rooker said. “That’s a big benchmark. We’re getting close. I’m just looking to continue to go up there and put good, productive at-bats together. If I do that, I’ll get there.”

After Rooker struck out in his first two at-bats against Mariners starter Bryan Woo, who entered the day on a scoreless streak of 21 1/3 innings in his first four career starts against the A’s, manager Mark Kotsay sensed a hint of frustration from the designated hitter.

By the end of the afternoon, Rooker ended up with a 385-foot solo blast off Woo and a booming 412-foot two-run jack to straightaway center against Mariners closer Andres Muñoz in the ninth.

“To turn the day around like he did, that shows the professionalism and the type of hitter he is,” Kotsay said. “That’s when you know a guy has kind of just proven himself at that point.”

Thursday was a prime example of Rooker’s ability to make in-game adjustments based on what he’s seeing from an opposing pitcher.

While dissecting his first two at-bats on video, Rooker noticed the steady dosage of sweepers and sliders he was being fed from Woo, which was a contrast from his previous encounters against the right-hander.

Feeling better prepared for his at-bat in the fifth inning, Rooker got another slider from Woo – this time on a 1-0 count – and sent it over the out-of-town scoreboard in left.

“I had to tweak my approach a little bit and tweak my plan to have a chance against what he was trying to do,” Rooker said. “I put a good swing on that slider, which really wasn’t a bad pitch. That was a product of, he had thrown me a bunch the previous two at-bats when he normally throws me a lot of fastballs. I made that adjustment to look for it a little bit more.”

Despite Rooker being an All-Star in 2023, he has taken his overall offensive game to another level. On Sept. 5 of last season, his batting average sat at .242 with 143 strikeouts. One year later, Rooker’s average is nearly 60 points higher, and though he’s struck out more (152) at this point than he did last year, he is limiting his slumps at the plate by finding a way to collect hits even when the power stroke might not be there.

“Similar to last year, my homers always tend to come in bunches,” Rooker said. “That’s been a constant throughout my entire career. What I’ve done a better job this year is in between those spurts of slugging, I’ve done a good job of being able to piece hits together and take some walks. …

“ I’ve been able to tweak approaches and give myself a chance to get some hits between those spurts.”

For over two months now, Rooker and Lawrence Butler have carried the A’s offense to one of the best records (31-24) in baseball since July 1. During that span, Butler -- who extended his own career-best hitting streak to 15 games on Thursday -- and Rooker have combined for 39 home runs and 96 RBIs while primarily hitting first and second in the batting order.

The duo has certainly been at the forefront of Oakland’s recent success, though Rooker was quick to point out the other hitters at the top of the order such as JJ Bleday and Shea Langeliers, both of whom have 20 or more home runs this season.

“It’s been fun,” Rooker said. “We’ve been productive. It’s also a huge credit to [Seth Brown], JJ and Shea being behind us and also doing damage. We continue to get good pitches to hit because the guys behind us are all really playing at a high level.

“It’s been fun to be productive like we have been and we’ll keep rolling forward.”