Trio of homers lead A's as Spence, Miller hold Reds at bay

CINCINNATI -- The long ball rescued the A’s again Tuesday night.

Trailing by one run in a game in which the A’s didn’t have a baserunner until the fifth inning, Oakland took the lead on Max Schuemann’s first-pitch homer off reliever Tony Santillan that sent the A’s to a 5-4 win in the series opener at Great American Ball Park.

While Schuemann’s opposite-field fly just cleared the wall into the A’s bullpen down the right-field line, there was no doubt about the second two-run homer of the inning, a Statcast-projected 444-foot clout off the bat of Lawrence Butler to right-center.

Zack Gelof added a solo shot in the eighth to round out the homer barrage and give the A’s 162 homers this season.

“We've been able to hit the ball out of the ballpark this year, and it was nice to see these guys get some pitches they could handle and put some good swings on them,” A’s skipper Mark Kotsay said.

What made Tuesday all the more gratifying for the A’s is who jump-started the powerball machine. Schuemann entered the game batting just .123 (7-for-57) with two RBIs in August after batting .308 with three homers and 11 RBIs in 24 games in July.

“It's been a grind,” Schuemann admitted. “It’s hitting that time of the year. So go out there and just trust the process every day. As hard as it is to trust when you're struggling day to day, just go out there and keep competing and ultimately, just trust in your process and then keep putting swings out there. A lot of our guys can slug. Fortunately, I'm one of them today. I know that's not really my game, but it counts, right? So go out there and help the team win. That definitely helps a lot.”

The A's 162 homers have accounted for 264 of the team's 527 runs this season, just over half of its run total in 2024. That percentage would set a new franchise record (48.8 percent in 2017) and puts them in a virtual tie with the Yankees for the MLB lead.

The A’s didn’t register a hit until Schuemann opened the sixth with a clean double to left. The A’s loaded the bases but Santillan fanned Shea Langeliers to end the inning.

Mason Miller allowed two runs in the ninth but held on for his 22nd save of the season, one behind Huston Street for second-most by an A’s rookie and four back of Andrew Bailey’s club record from 2009.

Before the power surge, the A’s had to hold the Reds at bay, and that was the job of starter Mitch Spence.

Spence, charged with just one run and five hits over 5 1/3 innings, worked out of an early jam when TJ Friedl’s Baltimore chop bounded over first baseman Seth Brown’s head and down into the right-field corner for a leadoff triple in the second.

With Friedl holding his ground at third, Spencer Steer grounded to Jacob Wilson at short for the first out. Cincinnati manager David Bell then put the contact play on with one out and Ty France grounded to a drawn-in Wilson, who was playing in just his second Major League game.

Wilson threw home without hesitation and Langeliers made a terrific short-hop grab of the throw in the dirt and tagged out Friedl easily at the plate for the second out. Spence fanned Dominic Smith and the threat was over.

“I think it just goes back to trusting that everything's working well,” Spence said. “It was kind of a weird hit and I kept getting weak contact, and just trust that by getting more weak contact, even if I [allow] the run there, trade that situation so early in the game. If I trade an out for a run, that's fine. And we ended up getting the guy at home.”

Spence surrendered a run on a two-out bloop single to right by France that scored Tyler Stephenson from second base in the fourth inning. Stephenson and Steer both reached on a walk.

Spence was pulled after another Steer walk in the sixth, putting runners at first and second. Michel Otañez worked out of the one-out jam.

“First, Spence did a great job of keeping the game at one run. And, you know, in that sixth inning there, Otañez coming in really kind of changed the game,” Kotsay said. “We kept the score at [1-0] that inning, and then the offense kind of woke up.”