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Oakland Athletics Make Baseball History with Offensive Output vs. Cincinnati Reds

The A's lost the game, but they did make some baseball history on Thursday night against the Cincinnati Reds.

Brady Farkas

Oakland Athletics right fielder Lawrence Butler (4) hits the ball during the fourth inning of the MLB game between the Cincinnati Reds and Oakland Athletics on Aug 29.
Oakland Athletics right fielder Lawrence Butler (4) hits the ball during the fourth inning of the MLB game between the Cincinnati Reds and Oakland Athletics on Aug 29. / Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
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The Oakland Athletics lost to the Cincinnati Reds 10-9 on Thursday night at Great American Ball Park. The Loss drops the A's to 58-76 on the season while the win moved the Reds to 64-70.

Despite the loss, the A's actually made some baseball history thanks to their offensive output.

Per @OptaSTATS on social media:

The A's are the first team in MLB history to have one player hit 3+ home runs (Lawrence Butler) and another player collect 5+ hits (JJ Bleday) and yet lose the game.

Butler went 3-for-4 with the three home runs and four RBI. He scored three runs and also drew a walk. At the age of 24, he's now hitting .355 with 19 homers, 51 RBI and 12 stolen bases. He's posted an .816 OPS. He's a former sixth-round pick of the A's back in the 2018 draft.

As for Bleday, he went 5-for-5 with two doubles and a home run. Hitting in the middle of the Oakland order, he's hitting .249 with 19 homers and 50 RBI. He's got a .790 OPS. Bleday is a former No. 4 overall draft pick of the Miami Marlins in the 2019 draft. He played his college ball at Vanderbilt.

The A's will be back in action on Friday night when they take on the Texas Rangers in Arlington. First pitch is set for 8:05 p.m. ET as J.P. Sears (OAK) pitches against Jon Gray (TEX).

Sears is 10-9 on the season with a 4.35 ERA while Gray is 5-5 with a 4.32.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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