Phegley (8 RBIs) leads A's breakout at plate

PITTSBURGH -- It all started with an error.

After Khris Davis reached leading off the second inning on an errant throw by Pirates third baseman Josh Bell, the A’s rallied for five runs. They scored two more in the third and four more in the fourth. By the end of the night, it all added up to an offensive breakout for Oakland, as the A’s beat the Bucs, 14-1, at PNC Park to snap a six-game losing skid.

• Box score

The confidence-boosting win wasn’t fueled by the usual suspects, such as Matt Chapman or Davis. It came from the eighth spot in the batting order, where catcher Josh Phegley had an historic night.

Phegley racked up eight RBIs on the night, the most by a catcher in A’s franchise history. He hit a bases-clearing double in the second inning, singled in a run in the third, then emptied the bases once more with a double in the fourth. He capped off his tear with a frozen-rope homer to left field in the ninth.

“I asked him if that was one of his higher RBI nights in the big leagues. He said, ‘Like, times three,’” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “That’s a pretty amazing night. That’s a night that you obviously never forget. For some guys, that’s a month [of RBIs] or more.

“The first [double] was huge, [then we] just kept adding on. We needed a game like that, where we could score some runs and get some distance and get a losing streak behind us. So he played a big part today.”

This year had already been solid by Phegley’s standards before Friday. His .738 OPS entering the night was close to his career-high mark of .749, set in 2015. After this four-hit effort, it was up to .864.

“I’ve always felt like I’m a good hitter,” Phegley said. “And just to get consistent at-bats, I feel like I’m getting some of that consistent production back.”

Phegley did the most damage, but he wasn’t the only one. The A’s notched 16 hits against the Pirates, including three-hit nights for Chapman, who homered in the seventh inning, and Kendrys Morales, who scored three runs himself.

“I feel like you can’t do something like that when the guys in front of you aren’t getting on base,” said Phegley. “I’ve had games where I’ve had three or four hits, but not with that many guys on. I think the timing was good.”

Had Phegley not cleared the bases repeatedly, the guy behind him -- starting pitcher Brett Anderson -- might have had some RBIs. In addition to throwing six innings of one-run ball, Anderson reached base three times on two singles and an error he induced with a bunt. His two-hit night was only the third by a pitcher in A’s franchise history since the DH was introduced in 1973.

“He showed us last year he can hit,” Phegley said. “I didn’t put it past him tonight. I knew he could swing it, and I think we were all excited to watch him at the plate. He didn’t disappoint.”

Though he admitted that “running the bases is still terrifying” for him, Anderson was up to the infrequent challenge of hitting as an American League pitcher.

“I’m just trying to put it in play,” Anderson said. “Luckily, other than the bunt -- the bunt was terrible -- the other two found holes, and I actually hit the second one decently hard.” (It went 97.3 mph off the bat, according to Statcast.)

Even the players who didn’t hit contributed in big ways. Davis tends to add a spark with the long ball, but he didn’t record a hit on Friday night. However, he reached base four times on three walks and an error, and scored three runs.

Though the cameras were focused on Phegley and his history-making effort, he recognized that the win was a team effort.

“We needed a win, and everyone just kind of exploded offensively,” Phegley said. “I just happened to be the guy coming up in the bases-loaded spot and getting some big hits.”