Comeback stalls, but A's youth movement shines

OAKLAND -- Midway through the third inning of the A's 10-7 loss to the Twins on Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum, the result almost felt like a foregone conclusion.

At that point, Oakland already trailed by six runs, and Twins All-Star Pablo López had cruised through his first two frames on the mound. But the A's made things interesting, and thanks in no small part to their youth movement, they were able to turn it into a new ballgame a few innings later -- despite ultimately falling short in the end.

"Offensively, I thought there were a lot of good signs today, a lot of good at-bats," manager Mark Kotsay said. "Any time you can put up seven runs in a game, especially against that type of starter, you're generally going to have a good chance to win."

All seven of Oakland's runs were charged to López, the most he's allowed in 19 starts this season. The shift in momentum began when Zack Gelof, the A's No. 3 prospect per MLB Pipeline, led off the third inning by launching a 2-2 changeup to right field, where it dropped in front of a diving Max Kepler. Gelof's helmet flew off as he rounded second base for his first career triple.

Nick Allen then followed with a soft grounder that had just enough on it to bring Gelof home. That was the only run the A's plated in the third, but it kicked off a string of four straight scoring innings, all powered in some way by Oakland's up-and-comers.

Fittingly, Gelof and Allen were again at the center of the action when Oakland came all the way back to tie the game at 7 in the sixth inning. After reaching on a fielder's choice, Gelof checked another career first off the list by swiping two bags, putting him in position to race home when Allen lifted a sacrifice fly to deep center.

"I think Nick took advantage today of his game," Kotsay said. "Those are the things and signs that we want to see. We want to see Nick doing those small things to get on base, and both of those bunt attempts were signs of him maturing and understanding what he's got to do to be successful at this level."

Once the game was tied, the momentum swung in the opposite direction, as Minnesota scored three unanswered runs to put Oakland's comeback bid to bed. But the A's mentality as they surged back from their early deficit was a welcome takeaway from yet another series loss.

"Honestly, you see it every day so far," said Hogan Harris, who followed opener Austin Pruitt and allowed five runs across four innings. "I mean, the bats are working. Everybody's hitting well. It's just, you know, we keep falling short.

"It's really promising; it helps us. Pitching, we always feel confident. We know that we'll always have someone behind us even when we're not having our best game."

The infusion of youth that has most recently seen Gelof and top prospect Tyler Soderstrom get the call to The Show had its fingerprints all over the comeback attempt.

Allen, 24, drove in two runs and scored another as part of a 2-for-3 showing. In the first two games of the second half, the second-year shortstop has doubled his season RBI tally after plating just three runs in 44 games before the All-Star break.

"It's just being comfortable," Allen said. "Taking a deep breath and just kind of understanding what you want to do, and not try to expand."

Gelof, 23, reached base three times and scored a pair of runs. He wasn't the only A's player to log a career first in the loss, as 21-year-old Soderstrom started behind the dish for the first time in the Majors and notched a pair of base hits after going 0-for-3 in his big league debut Friday.

"They're coming up, and I mean, you've seen what they're doing," Allen said. "I think there's always been a great group here, but … adding them to the mix, I mean, it's even better."