3 for the record books: Rookies hit 1st homers

CHICAGO -- A day of firsts for A's rookies will go in the record books.
Matt Olson, Jaycob Brugman and Franklin Barreto all connected for their first career home runs during Saturday's 10-2 rout of the White Sox, helping righty Daniel Gossett secure his first Major League win.
In doing so, they became the first set of three teammates to hit their first homer in the same game in MLB history and the second set dating to the Federal League. On April 26, 1914, Duke Kenworthy, Art Kruger and John Potts accomplished the feat for the Kansas City Packers.

"A peek to the future is now, right? I guess that's a record, those three home runs," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "It's amazing. These guys have fed off each other all through the system, they know each other really well and have won together. The more the merrier at this point."
Chicago right-hander James Shields was the victim, yielding a two-run homer to Olson in the first inning, a solo blast to Brugman in the second, and yet another two-run shot to Barreto in the third for his first big league hit, staking Oakland to an early 6-0 lead.
Barreto, the A's No. 1 prospect recalled from Triple-A Nashville earlier in the day, was making his big league debut -- and on short notice, after second baseman Jed Lowrie was scratched from the lineup less than two hours before first pitch. 

Barreto didn't waste any time collecting his second hit, singling in the fifth and scoring his second run of the day. The infielder, just 21 years old, came to the A's in the high-profile deal that sent Josh Donaldson to Toronto in November 2014.
"When I first got here, I was told I had the day off, so I took a breath, tried to relax a little bit, but then when they told me I was going to play, I had to regain my focus and get ready for the game," Barreto said through team interpreter Juan Dorado. "First hit, a home run, I don't think I'm ever going to forget it. I can't even explain it, put it into words, I just feel great about it."
Barreto didn't sleep ahead of his early-morning flight from Oklahoma City, and he made it through his first big league game without eating anything, either, "just going off adrenaline."
His arrival puts an exclamation point on a continued youth movement in Oakland, where turnover has been rampant in recent weeks. Of the nine players in Saturday's starting lineup, four began the season in Triple-A -- as did Gossett. Battery mate Bruce Maxwell, also a rookie, enjoyed his second three-hit game in three days.
"For Barreto to come off the plane this morning to think he's not in the lineup, then he is in the lineup and do what he did is pretty amazing," Melvin said. "This kid is going to be something special."
"When Barreto did it, I was like, of course," Brugman said. "That's Barreto for you."

Olson, back for his fourth stint with the A's this season, added a second homer in the seventh inning and reached base five times on the day, showcasing the kind of production Oakland has always envisioned getting from the power-hitting prospect, who has 120 Minor League home runs.
"I think we're seeing what he's capable of doing," Melvin said. "He's swinging the bat basically the same way he has his whole Minor League career, and now he's getting some consistent playing time. We know the power is there, and to hit two home runs in the same game really makes you feel like you belong in the big leagues."
"That was a lot of fun, a lot of special moments for some guys that have been playing together for a while," Olson said, "so it was cool to do that on the same day."