Tyler Soderstrom's two-home run game secures Athletics' fourth consecutive win
Tyler Soderstrom's two-home run game secures Athletics' fourth consecutive win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
They have won three straight series, back-to-back series in New York, and with a win tomorrow, can head back to West Sacramento over 500, and maybe, just maybe, in first place.
Chris Townsend alongside the super scout, Shooty Babbitt.
You can't say enough about what this team has done on this trip.
When you talk about being resilient, we were in the pregame show earlier talking about 26 scoreless innings.
They're doing it with their pitching.
They're doing it with defense.
And all of a sudden, here came the slug once again.
What a day offensively at Citi Field.
Unbelievable.
I mean, they pretty much have seemed to just take all of the air out of the sinking New York Mets.
I mean, this is a team that you just don't feel have a whole lot of life.
And what I was more impressed about in this game is the way that they ended up drilling the air out of Cody Singer.
I mean, he had a outstanding split finger early on.
The A's hitters was having some struggles staying off of it.
But to their credit, they went in, they made some adjustments.
They made him get the ball above the knee.
They found out when it's at the knees, typically most of the time, it's that split finger, and it's not gonna be a strike.
Denzel Clark, Coro- Carlos Cortes- Yeah some amazing at bats.
I think that set everything up that went forward, and this offense just exploded, man.
So this has been a great three games, but you know what?
I'm getting a little greedy right now.
Ooh, getting greedy.
I'm think- I'm thinking about a sweep right now.
You mentioned the bottom of the lineup has been huge this entire road trip, but today, the middle of the lineup, seeing Sodi go deep, not once, but twice.
First two home runs of the year for him.
His fifth career two home run game.
Here he is with Jenny in Dallas.
Tyler Soderstrom with us.
All we've been missing is the home run this road trip.
You guys took care of that today, and then some.
Two homers for Tyler Soderstrom.
Just go through 'em.
That first pop had to feel good.
Yeah, you know, it's always, always good to get a zero off the board, get your first one out of the way, and, you know, I kinda found something that felt comfortable for me today in the box and just kind of rode with it.
So, yeah, it was a great, great win overall, and, lucky to get the, the series win here.
We've talked a lot about what the bottom of the lineup has done.
We know what the top and the middle of the order is capable of.
We've seen the, the innings build, and we today saw the power breakout.
It's gotta feel good from an offensive standpoint to be able to score runs in both ways.
Yeah, of course.
You know, got off to a really good start there.
the Mets, you know, kinda came crawling back there, and then we shut 'em out there in the, in the eighth.
So, it's good to, you know, get the bats rolling.
No doubt.
Five out of six, that's what the A's have won, three straight series wins, and now a chance for a sweep tomorrow.
Sodi, enjoy the evening.
Thanks, guys.
Four straight wins, and you know what you gotta love about him?
He's just so steady Eddie.
Let's get to the Toyota Turning Point, and we're taking you to the third inning.
They've been talking about how cold it is in New York, and the ball doesn't fly out.
Well, it was flying out today.
Well, the type of swings that he put on the baseball today, I don't care if they were playing in Yellowstone, they would've been out the ballpark.
I mean, there was some loud noises coming off Sodi's bat today.
Got the elephant chain.
We got the elephant mask.
Now we know what the A's are gonna be doing in the dugout celebrating after the games.
And then Carlos Cortes, former Met.
Oh, boy.
Once again, that old soldier showing up back in your camp doing damage.
This dude, man, he just continues to impress.
He's making it very difficult for Mark Katse and his staff to keep him out of the lineup because he just seems to be right in the middle of some type of rally, some type of big hit, some type of big on base, some walk, something, but he's in the middle of it.
I mean, you think of all your time scouting.
A guy sitting there in Triple A, putting up numbers, can never make the big club.
Now he comes to the Athletics, and he come, comes back and haunts you in your own ballpark.
That's huge.
This was huge for Cortes.
Keep in mind, this is a kid that plays a corner outfield.
He doesn't really profile, if you will.
Corner guys lean on the pole, st- stand on the corner, lean on the pole.
not a whole lot of power, but key hits, smart defensive plays, hitting the cutoff man, not extending guys, letting them take extra bases.
The man's a good baseball player, and the hitting IQ, he just continues to impress.
And I think some of these young guys on this team could learn a whole lot just by how he's navigating through these at bats.
The green and gold, it's the land of opportunity, and certain guys come here, seize the moment, you get your opportunity, and Carlos Cortes is doing just that.
Let's get to the River Rock Daily Jackpot.
You know, the A's, they needed a little insurance 'cause the Mets kept chipping away, chipping away, chipping away.
Well, the Athletics got that insurance in the eighth inning.
Another big fly for Tyler Soderstrom.
Well, you see when the A's jumped out early on, got a little comfortable, the Mets got back in the game.
But give credit to the A's hitters, wanna rally for their pitcher, Lopez, who went out there and did a tremendous job.
And once the Mets thought they had action of getting back in this game, lo and behold, a couple of swings later, it was a wrap.
93 RBIs last year for Tyler Soderstrom.
You think where he is in his career, just 24 years old.
He's a couple of years from his prime.
He just signed that $86 million extension.
He's gonna be here for a long time.
He's gonna be in Las Vegas.
But before we get to Vegas in 2028, the numbers he's putting up now, it's just consistency.
He's turned into a very good left fielder, maybe someday wins that Gold Glove.
But the fact that he drives in run, 13 RBIs already, he's just starting to get hot.
I mean, this kid is something special.
Well, the pedigree and the DNA that's just been jumped in his body yesterday.
this kid came on the scene as a guy that could rake.
I just think that one thing that you have to be careful of, and I understand fandom, I understand critique, but this is 162-game season in this league right here, and there's gonna be a lot of ebbs and flows.
Some of these guys that can really hit, they also go into some, streaks where they're not swinging the bat.
But just give 'em time because at the end of the year, you are not evaluated on your first 100, 125 at bats.
It's the 500 and the 600 and the conglomeration of numbers and damage that you have done.
So, I've said it before, um-Soderstrom has made me love him.
it was a kid that I was a little concerned about, you know, his, you know, seemed like it was a blase type energy- Even Keel, Shooties, Even Keel nothing bothered him.
How could anything bother you if you know you can swing that thing like that?
I apologize here today.
We're not gonna get to all the great at-bats today, but you think in the second inning when Denzel walked with the bases loaded, there were certain key at-bats today that set up these 11 runs.
We're not gonna get to all of them, but there was a lot of good at-bats.
Max Muncy, another good day.
We'll talk about McNeil in a little bit, but just the entire lineup today.
After the game, managers and coaches have to write game reports.
They might as well grab two beers, 'cause they're gonna be in there for a while today, 'cause there's so many good things and great things to talk about.
you have to be so elated for Denzel Clark.
I mean, you can tell he's been battling up there, a little frustrated by the results, but more and more contact is coming off his bat, key hits to the right side of the diamond, bunts, walks, scoring on a ball to left field.
I mean, you name it, he was in the middle of it, and all this does is build confidence.
Let's get to the starting pitching comparison, and by far, Lopez outdueled Zinga today.
It was a better outing for, for Jacob Lopez.
I was charting it today.
A lot of first pitch strikes.
He's not gonna be happy about giving up the home runs or the runs, but five innings, it gave you an opportunity.
I'm okay when a guy gives up a long ball, that's not a whole bunch of them with crooked numbers.
He's stuffing the strike zone.
He's getting ahead in the count.
He's creating count leverage.
He's giving allow s- an opportunity to expand the zone.
We saw some poor swings from some really good hitters in that lineup today and, like I said in the pregame, I'm not worried about this dude right here because the one thing that you know, you're gonna get a guy that's gonna go out there and compete, not gonna walk a whole lot of guys, and give you a chance to win a game.
Well, the one thing he really showed today, and you see it with Jeffrey Springs, when you have that good changeup, when you, when you have the same arm speed with your fastball and your changeup, how deadly that can be.
It makes your fastball look like it has more velocity.
Springs has been a master at it this year and Jacob Lopez, he, he brought the changeup today.
Dallas talked in the pregame about, you know, the 26 inning streak of not giving up anything, the one thing that you don't want to do or be is a guy that comes up here and gives it up.
I can't say enough about what the competition means and what the example that Jeffrey Springs is setting for a guy like Lopez because the stuff is similar and the application kinda mirrors it as well.
And when you have someone to set the example for you out there and you only have to go out there and duplicate the game plan, it gives you an opportunity to win, and it showed up today.
We hear it all the time, batting average doesn't matter, but all of a sudden I'm looking at some of the guys on the Athletics team and I'm looking at this box score.
We're see, we're s- we're seeing some batting averages.
Muncy with a couple more hits today.
Max Muncy right now hitting 321, and a guy that we gotta break down.
Whoo, somebody is happy to be back in New York, and that's Jeff McNeil.
We gotta get into that.
Mark Katse, he's gotta be pretty happy with his ball club.
Back to 500 after that tough start.
Unbelievable.
We'll hear from the skipper next right here on A's Cast.
