WEST SACRAMENTO -- Sutter Health Park has proven to be a difficult place for outfielders to track balls at times, particularly in the corners. In Sunday’s 9-7 loss to the Angels, Athletics right fielder Colby Thomas conquered the elements by making an early contender for catch of the year.
Chasing down a deep drive to right field hit by Jo Adell, who has had his share of highlight-reel plays this season, Thomas perfectly timed a leap at the short wall in right and robbed the Angels outfielder of a home run with a sensational catch before landing on top of the wall and crashing hard back down to the ground.
The catch to end the top of the first inning elicited a fist pump from A’s starter Jack Perkins and a standing ovation from the crowd in West Sacramento as Thomas made his way back to the home dugout. A few moments later, Thomas was seen in the dugout holding a tablet with teammates gathered around him and smiling as he watched his incredible highlight.
“As soon as I saw him jump in the air, I was like, ‘He’s going to make this catch,’” Perkins said. “But then to see him actually come down with it and see his body actually almost fall over the wall, I was like, ‘Oh, wow.’ That was absolutely insane. Amazing play to keep high momentum on our side.”
It was a play certainly worthy of watching back a few times. Thomas tracked the fly ball that was crushed off Adell’s bat at 96.5 mph. Per Statcast, the ball would have been a homer in 14 of the other 29 ballparks in the Majors.
“To be honest, I didn’t know about the wall being right there,” Thomas said. “I knew I was on the track, but I didn’t think I was going to hit the wall. We’ve made some questionable plays in the outfield lately, especially myself. … It was really awesome to get one back and make a good play for Perkins.”
Thomas’ robbery came immediately after the A’s held a pregame outfielders’ meeting with outfield coach Ryan Christenson. The meeting was sparked by what A’s manager Mark Kotsay felt had been subpar outfield play over the past week.
“We know we need to improve in that area,” Kotsay said. “For Colby to go out and make that play in the first inning shows [the outfielders] took the conversation to heart.”
Thomas seemingly sparked the A’s offense, which sent nine batters to the plate in a three-run bottom of the first and broke out for seven runs. Zack Gelof returned from a one-day absence and extended his hitting streak to 24 games -- longest active streak in MLB -- with a pair of hits. He’s now matched the second-longest hit streak by an A’s player in the Integration Era (since 1947) with Miguel Tejada (2002), Carney Lansford (1984) and Ferris Fain (1952). Only Jason Giambi (25 games in 1997) has a longer streak.
Nick Kurtz, meanwhile, extended his on-base streak to 22 games with a two-hit day, including a majestic two-run homer to center in the seventh for his 19th homer of the year. The 437-foot no-doubter was the 55th homer of his career, tying Bob Johnson for most home runs over the first two seasons of a career in A’s history. It was also his 31st career homer at Sutter Health Park, tying Mac Williamson for the most home runs, Majors and Minors, at the ballpark since at least 2005.
Kurtz’s homer increased the A’s lead to three runs, but that quickly evaporated in the top of the eighth as Hogan Harris surrendered a game-tying three-run shot to Denzer Guzman. In the ninth, Zach Neto crushed a two-run homer off Elvis Alvarado to put the Halos ahead for good, as the A’s dropped to 38-40 to cap a 3-4 homestand this week that saw them lose two games in which they led 4-0 in the first.
“Offensively, we put up enough runs to win a game today,” Kotsay said. “From the pitching side, we couldn’t hold the lead. … Coming from [the Las Vegas Series], this has been a challenge these last seven days. I know the guys are pretty tired. The day off [Monday] comes at a good time to get a reset to go into San Francisco ready to play.”