Brown's turnaround fuels big weekend, series win

KANSAS CITY -- Seth Brown will always have a special affection for Kauffman Stadium. It’s the site where his Major League debut took place in 2019. Three years later, it continues to be his own hitting paradise.

Brown capped a hot series at the plate with a double and a home run in Sunday’s 5-3 win over the Royals, helping the A’s take two of three from Kansas City to snap what had been a streak of eight consecutive series losses.

When Brown received his first big league callup with Oakland on Aug. 26, 2019, he showed up to the ballpark and immediately made an impact with seven hits over four games. Every visit since, Brown has always seemed to rekindle the good memories. It’s where the A’s outfielder/designated hitter has enjoyed by far his most success of any visiting stadium. Finishing the three-game series 6-for-13 with three doubles and a homer, Brown is now 16-for-39 (.410) with a homer, six doubles and eight RBIs in nine career games at Kauffman.

“That was a very special moment in my life,” Brown said of his Major League debut. “Playing here always brings back those memories of when you first get called up and all that time and hard work you put in. It’s nice to come back and relive it a little bit.”

Is there a correlation between the impressive numbers and positive vibes Brown experiences when he returns here?

“I don’t know about all that,” Brown said. “But it’s a fun place to play. They’ve got a good fan base here. The crowd is always into it. The accumulation of all those things makes it fun.”

Playing baseball has become a lot more fun for Brown over the past month. After a slow start that saw him hit just .158 through his first 34 games played, Brown has flipped a switch. In his last 35 games, he’s now hitting .283 (34-for-120) with seven homers, 10 doubles, a triple and 19 RBIs.

A switch in approach is what A’s manager Mark Kotsay attributed to Brown's recent turnaround. About midway through May, the lefty made a concerted effort to shift his focus to attacking the opposite field. That adjustment remained true to form Sunday, as Brown slapped a low sinker from Royals starter Brady Singer into left field for a double in the first inning.

“I think it clicked for Seth when he found the left side of the diamond,” said Kotsay. “He started hitting the baseball really hard over there. He and I had a conversation. I said, ‘Keep that approach and stay focused there. When you look up at the end of year, you’re gonna be surprised at where you end up.’

“I think he’s taking the best at-bats right now out of the group and he’s getting results because of it.”

Coming off a career-best year in which he hit 20 homers and entering 2022 as one of the few remaining regulars from last season, Brown has been counted on to emerge as a primary source of power in the A’s lineup. Like many others around him, he struggled to live up to those enhanced expectations. But after slugging his 10th homer of the year Sunday -- a booming 419-foot solo shot to right off Singer in the sixth -- Brown’s uptick in offensive production bodes well as Oakland heads to the Bronx for a three-game set with the Yankees that begins Monday.

“I think it’s just a mixture of everything,” Brown said of his recent success. “Staying with that approach regardless of what’s going on throughout the day. Working on some new mechanical stuff that started last month is coming together. Everything is starting to come together.”

In addition to Brown, the A’s continued to receive major contributions from a trio of rookies looking to make their mark in Jonah Bride, Nick Allen and Cristian Pache.

Bride drew a leadoff walk in the fourth that led to him scoring Oakland’s first run on Stephen Vogt’s single. Allen, who first showed off his defensive prowess by turning a slick 6-3 double play in the second, later put the A’s ahead for good in the seventh with a clutch two-out, two-run single. Pache turned in his second two-hit performance over his last five contests, one which included an important insurance run on an RBI single in the ninth.

“They’ve done a good job,” A’s starter James Kaprielian said of the rookies. “You can tell on defense they take pride in their work. It feels like they want the ball hit to them, which is exciting when you’re a starting pitcher. You feel comfortable.

“Offensively, they’ve put together good at-bats and used the opposite side of the field. Pache looks really good at the plate right now. His at-bats look fairly comfortable, in my opinion. It’s good to see these guys continue to get comfortable and adapt at this level.”