The Oakland A’s had a wild night on Friday. They scored a season-high 14 runs in a rout of the Pirates, pitcher Brett Anderson went 2-for-3 at the plate, and outfielder Skye Bolt made his MLB debut. But the star of the evening was catcher Josh Phegley, who accounted for over half of the team’s scoring on his own.
Batting out of the eighth spot in the lineup, Phegley drove in eight runs for Oakland. He went 4-for-5 with a solo homer, two bases-clearing doubles, and an RBI single. Sure, he grounded into a double play in his other at-bat, but by that point the A’s had a 10-run lead and so really he did everyone a favor by keeping the game moving.