A's Stat of the Day: May 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.
May 31: Mariners 6, A's 5 -- Another day, another HBP
Mark Canha was hit by a 95.2 mph fastball from Seattle right-hander Logan Gilbert to begin Monday's game. He's now been hit by a pitch 12 times this season, which leads the Majors.
May 30: Angels 4, A's 2 -- Power outage in Oakland
The A's haven't hit a home run in four consecutive games, their longest such drought of the season.
May 29: Angels 4, A's 0 -- Canha's streak ends
Mark Canha went 0-for-4 on Saturday, snapping what was the second-longest on-base streak of his career at 16 games.
May 28: A's 3, Angels 1 -- Melvin ties La Russa
With win No. 798 as the A's skipper, Bob Melvin tied Tony La Russa for the most managerial wins in Oakland history.
May 27: A's 5, Angels 0 -- A major milestone for Bassitt
Chris Bassitt's two-hit shutout on Thursday against the Angels was the first time he has gone the distance in his career. It happened in the 32-year-old right-hander's 77th big league start.
May 26: A's 6, Mariners 3 -- Kaprielian shuts down Seattle
James Kaprielian turned in the first shutout performance of his career with seven scoreless innings against the Mariners on Wednesday.
May 25: Mariners 4, A's 3 -- The quirk of Guduan's appearances
Despite a scoreless inning of relief by Reymin Guduan on Tuesday, the A's lost another game in which he's taken the mound. Oakland is now 0-11 in games that the lefty reliever has appeared in this season.
May 24: Mariners 4, A's 2 -- Coming through in a pinch
Seth Brown is now tied for the American League lead in pinch-hits after he came off the bench and hit an RBI double in the eighth. He is 3-for-9 with two RBIs when pinch-hitting this season.
May 23: Angels 6, A's 5 -- Manaea's milestone K's
Sean Manaea made personal and franchise history against the Angels on Sunday. His fourth-inning strikeout of Taylor Ward was the 500th of his career, all of which have come with the A's. A first-inning strikeout of Justin Upton, meanwhile, tallied the 50,000th in Oakland history.
May 22: A's 6, Angels 2 -- Canha takes another one for team
Mark Canha reached base the hard way in the fifth inning when he was hit by a pitch from Angels lefty Patrick Sandoval. It was the 63rd HBP for Canha, moving him into sole possession of second all-time in A’s franchise history. It broke a three-way tie with Reggie Jackson and Sam Bando. Canha trails Jimmy Dykes (93) for the franchise lead.
May 21: A's 8, Angels 4 -- Petit stays busy
Yusmeiro Petit made his 263rd appearance since the start of the 2017 season, which leads all Major League pitchers over that span. He also earned his sixth win of the year, now tied with Cleveland's Aaron Civale for most wins by an American League pitcher this season.
May 20: Astros 8, A's 4 -- Elvis Andrus' streak stays alive
Andrus singled in the ninth inning of Wednesday's game to keep his hitting streak alive. It's now at 10 games, which is the longest by any A's player so far this season. It is the veteran's 19th career hitting streak of at least 10 games, and his first since July 15-Aug. 8, 2018, when he had a career-best 19-game hit streak with the Rangers. He is 11-for-33 (.333) during his current streak.
May 19: Astros 8, A's 1 -- Andrus is on a streak
Elvis Andrus singled in the third inning of Wednesday's game to extend his hitting streak to nine games, which matches the longest by any A's player so far this season. He is 10-for-29 (.345) during the streak.
May 18: A's 6, Astros 5 -- Petit tied for lead in ... wins?
Earning the win on Tuesday night with a scoreless ninth inning, reliever Yusmeiro Petit improved to 5-0 -- and is now tied for the American League lead in wins with five. His career-high win total is seven, set in 2018 with the A's.
May 16: A's 7, Twins 6 -- Bassitt unafraid to go inside
After hitting two batters on Sunday afternoon, Chris Bassitt now leads all Major League pitchers with seven hit batters this season.
May 15: Twins 5, A's 4 -- AL Central win streak snapped
The A's loss to the Twins in the middle game of this series was their first to an American League Central team this season. It also snapped what was a 10-game winning streak against AL Central competition, the second-longest such streak in Oakland history.
May 14: A's 6, Twins 1 -- A's continue feasting on Twins' pitching
With four home runs, the A's have six games this season in which they've hit at least three. Three of those games have come against Minnesota, despite the clubs having played only four contests against one another.
May 13: Red Sox 8, Athletics 1 -- Short outing for Manaea
On Thursday, Sean Manaea became just the second pitcher in A's history to pitch two innings or fewer while allowing at least 10 hits in a start. Mark Mulder was the last to do so, giving up six runs on 10 hits over two innings in a loss to the Yankees on Aug. 26, 2000.
May 12: Athletics 4, Red Sox 1 -- Diekman excels at closing time
Jake Diekman earned his career-high fifth save of the year on Wednesday. His previous career-high of four saves came in 2016 with the Rangers.
May 11: Athletics 3, Red Sox 2 -- Starters showing off command
Chris Bassitt did not issue a walk in his seven innings of work on Tuesday, marking the 26th consecutive game in which an A's starter has walked two batters or fewer. That is now the longest such streak in Oakland history, surpassing their previous of 25 straight games from Aug. 2-29, 2012.
May 9: Rays 4, A's 3 -- 10-game HR streak ends
The A's did not hit a home run on Sunday, snapping a streak of 10 straight games with a homer that matched their longest such streak over the last two years (Aug. 1-10, 2019).
May 8: A's 6, Rays 3 -- A's continue slugging HRs
Homers by Seth Brown and Austin Allen on Saturday marked the A's 10th consecutive game with at least one home run, which is a season-high streak for the club.
May 7: A's 2, Rays 1 -- Lowrie does it yet again
Jed Lowrie went 3-for-4 with a double on Friday night, marking his 13th multi-hit effort of the season. He's now tied with J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox for the most multi-hit games in the Majors.
May 6: Blue Jays 10, A's 4 -- Leadoff power
Mark Canha's home run to lead off the bottom of the first was the first leadoff homer of his career and the first leadoff homer by an A's hitter this season.
May 5: Blue Jays 9, A's 4 -- All streaks come to an end
The A's led 3-2 after seven innings on Wednesday before the Blue Jays scored five times in the eighth and went on to win. This marked the first time this season that the A's lost a game when leading after six or seven innings. They hadn't lost a game they led through six innings since Sept. 6, 2019 -- so Wednesday snapped a franchise-record 49-game winning streak in such circumstances.
May 4: A's 4, Blue Jays 1 -- Lowrie, master of the multi-hit game
Jed Lowrie recorded two more hits on Tuesday, marking his third consecutive multi-hit game. He is now tied for the Major League lead with 12 multi-hit games this season.
May 3: A's 5, Blue Jays 4 -- Lowrie's consecutive 3-hit games
Jed Lowrie collected three hits for the second game in a row, marking the sixth time in his career he's had back-to-back three-hit games. The last time he got three hits in consecutive games was April 5-6, 2018, during his previous stint with the A's.
May 2: A's 7, Orioles 5 -- Canha's hit (by pitch) parade
Mark Canha stands alone! Hit by a pitch for the 60th time in his career from Orioles lefty Bruce Zimmermann in the third inning of Sunday's game, Canha set the Oakland record for hit by pitches, eclipsing Sal Bando's previous mark of 59.
May 1: Orioles 8, A's 4 -- Homers aren't enough in loss
The A's lost their first game of the season when out-homering the opposition on Saturday. Prior to the defeat, the A's were 13-0 when out-homering opponents in a game this year.