A's Stat of the Day: April 2021

MLB.com is keeping track of a Stat of the Day for the A's this season, highlighting a unique, interesting or fun nugget from each game.

April 30: Orioles 3, A's 2 -- Really, don't run on Ramón
Ramón Laureano unleashed his well-documented cannon of an arm in the ninth inning of Friday game by picking up a bloop single by Pat Valaika in left-center field and firing a laser to third base to nab Ryan Mountcastle as he attempted to go first-to-third. The 8-5 assist was Laureano's third of the season and 24th since making his Major League debut on Aug. 3, 2018, which is the most among all Major League outfielders over that span.

April 29: Athletics 3, Rays 2 -- A's eke out another one-run win
Oakland has thrived in the most heart-pumping moments so far this season, winning six of seven games (.857) that were decided by one run. That's tied with the Royals for the best one-run winning percentage in the Majors. Oakland also has a knack for playing close with Tampa Bay, as these teams have seen 20 of their past 27 games (since July 22, 2016) decided by two or fewer runs.

April 28: Rays 2, Athletics 0 -- Rare result for A's
The A's certainly pitched well enough to win, but a dearth of offense resulted in their first shutout loss of the season, as well as their first loss while allowing two or fewer runs in roughly two and a half seasons. Oakland had won its previous 96 games while holding opponents under three runs, last falling to the Mariners, 2-0, in 12 innings on Aug. 15, 2018. Oddly enough, Mike Zunino -- then with Seattle and now with Tampa Bay -- scored the first run of both that game and this one.

April 27: Rays 4, Athletics 3 -- Murphy goes deep again
Sean Murphy homered for the second straight game on Tuesday, marking the third time in his career he's hit a home run in consecutive games. He homered consecutively Sept. 6-7, 2020 and Sept. 10-11, 2019.

April 26: Athletics 2, Rays 1 -- Canha hit by a pitch
Mark Canha was hit by a pitch from Rich Hill in the third inning on Monday, marking the 59th HBP of his career. He's now tied with Sal Bando for the most hit by pitches in Oakland history.

April 25: Orioles 8, Athletics 1 -- A's winning streak ends at 13
The A's dropped their first game since April 8 on Sunday to snap a 13-game winning streak, which was the longest by any team in the Majors since 2017. That streak now goes down as the third longest in club history since 1968, when the A's moved from Kansas City to Oakland.

April 24: A's 7, Orioles 2 -- No streaks like this since 2017
The A's won their 13th straight game on Saturday, becoming the first team in MLB to win 13 in a row since 2017. That year, Cleveland went on a historic 22-game winning streak in August, followed by a 13-game streak by the D-backs in September.

April 23: Athletics 3, Orioles 1 -- Irvin collects swings and misses
Cole Irvin generated 10 whiffs with his changeup against the Orioles, the most he has ever had with that pitch in a single outing in his career.

April 21: A's 13, Twins 12 (10 innings) -- Reversal of fortunes
After their 0-6 start to the 2021 campaign, the A's extended their Major League-best winning streak to 11 games on Wednesday, becoming the first team in Major League history to start a season 0-6 and win 11 straight games at any point in that same season.

April 20: A's 7, Twins 0 (G1), A's 2, Twins 0 (G2) -- DH zeros
The A's did not allow a run in their doubleheader sweep of the Twins on Tuesday night, marking just the third doubleheader shutout in Oakland history and first since Sept. 9, 1974 against the Royals. That night at the Coliseum, Vida Blue and Catfish Hunter each turned in shutouts. Both of those games were nine-inning contests as opposed to the seven-inning rule for doubleheaders in 2021.

April 18: A's 3, Tigers 2 -- Don't run on Ramón
Ramón Laureano provided a huge assist to A's starter Chris Bassitt in the first inning of Sunday's game when he picked up a blooper hit by Willi Castro and fired a rocket to nab Robbie Grossman at third base. Laureano's first assist of the season was also the first 8-5 fielder's choice by an A's center fielder since Dwayne Murphy, who accomplished the feat in the second game of a doubleheader against the Angels on July 10, 1980.

April 17: A's 7, Tigers 0 -- Masters of the shutout
The A's shut out the Tigers for the second consecutive day on Saturday, marking the first time they have shut out the Tigers in consecutive games since June 9-10, 1973. A two-hit shutout by Ken Holtzman was followed up with a three-hitter by Catfish Hunter over those two games.

April 16: A's 3, Tigers 0 -- From 0-6 to .500 in no time
The A's extended their American League-best winning streak to six games, quickly putting their six-game losing streak to begin the season in the rearview mirror. The last time that the A's had a winning and losing streak of at least six games in the same month was June 2011, when they lost eight in a row from June 1-9 and won six in a row from June 15-21.

April 15: A's 8, Tigers 4 -- Two more hits for Lowrie
Jed Lowrie's 2-for-4 night marked his fifth straight multi-hit game, which matches the longest such streak of his career. The last time he turned in five consecutive multi-hit performances was July 5-9, 2014, during his first stint with the A's.

April 13: A's 7, D-backs 5 -- No ordinary HR for Brown
Seth Brown's second Major League home run provided the game-winning run for the A's in the eighth inning of their comeback against the D-backs on Tuesday. He's the first Oakland player to knock a game-winning homer within his first two career home runs -- and in the eighth inning or later -- since Franklin Barreto on July 4, 2017.

April 12: A's 9, D-backs 5 -- All Canha does is score runs
After scoring a pair of runs on Monday night, Mark Canha now leads the Major Leagues this season with 12. The last A's player to lead the league in runs scored was Rickey Henderson, who tallied 119 in 1990.

April 10: A's 7, Astros 3 -- Quality starts lead to series win
Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas posted nearly identical statlines to propel the A's to their first series victory of the season. Both pitchers allowed just one earned run across six innings of work (with Montas pitching into the seventh) while walking one and allowing six hits. Montas struck out five batters to Manaea's four.

April 9: A's 6, Astros 2 -- Lowrie's first HR in years!
Jed Lowrie's fourth-inning solo home run was his first big fly since Sept. 29, 2018, which came during his previous stint with the A's.

April 8: Astros 6, A's 2 -- A catcher breaks through
Aramis Garcia's pinch-hit single in the ninth inning was the first hit by an A's catcher this season. Garcia and fellow backstop Sean Murphy were a combined 0-for-25 to that point.

April 7: A's 4, Dodgers 3 -- Laureano's stolen bags in first seven games
Ramón Laureano stole two bases during one game for the second time in his career on Wednesday, bringing his total to four steals on the season, which matches the most by an A’s player over the first seven games of the season in the last 23 years. Rajai Davis also stole four bases over the first seven games of the 2010 campaign.

April 6: Dodgers 5, A's 1 -- A's tie franchise-worst start
A rough start to the regular season for the A's reached historic heights with Tuesday's 5-1 loss to the Dodgers. Now with a record of 0-6, they've matched the 1916 Philadelphia A's for the worst start to a season in franchise history. That 1916 club won its seventh game before finishing with a franchise-record 117 defeats.

April 5: Dodgers 10, A's 3 -- A rough start continues
The A's have started this season 0-5, which matches their worst start to a season since moving to Oakland in 1968. The 1979 and 1987 A's also started the regular season 0-5 before winning their sixth game of the season.

April 4: Astros 9, A's 2 -- Bats silent in series sweep
The A’s never led at any point in the 36 innings played against the Astros in their season-opening four-game series, marking the first time they’ve never led in such a series since July 19-22, 2017 ... which also came against the Astros at the Coliseum.

April 3: Astros 9, A's 1 -- Guduan goes wild
Reymin Guduan had three wild pitches in the ninth inning, which tied an Oakland record for most wild pitches in a game by a reliever. Fernando Arroyo threw three wild pitches in a game against the Rangers on July 4, 1982.

April 2: Astros 9, A's 5 -- Taking it for the team
Mark Canha was hit by a pitch for the 54th time in his career, which tied Miguel Tejada for fifth-most in Oakland history. The club record for most hit-by-pitches is 59 by Sal Bando.

April 1: Astros 8, A's 1 -- Another Coliseum Opening Day
The A's were the home team on Opening Day for the 12th straight season, hosting the Astros at Oakland Coliseum. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that sets an American League record for consecutive openers as the home team, breaking the mark of 11 held by the Rangers/Senators (1961-71), Orioles (1996-2006) and Rays (2010-20).