OAKLAND – James Kaprielian threw six shutout innings and Matt Olson hit his 25th home run of the season to help lift the A’s to a 6-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday, completing a much-needed two-game sweep at the Coliseum.
Kaprielian allowed five hits and struck out seven as he improved to 5-3 as a rookie this season, allowing the A’s to finish their five-game homestand on a positive note.
Kaprielian, though, was happiest for Jacob Wilson, the fellow A’s rookie who, after close to a decade of toiling in the minor leagues, picked up his first Major League hit.
“I get the chills right now just thinking about it, to be honest,” Kaprielian said. “I know how hard I worked. That guy being 31 and me being 27, I know how hard he’s worked, and even talking to him when I first met him during spring training, the type of person today, the character.
“It’s just a really special moment to see somebody like that come up here and get that knock.”
Wilson, a 10th-round draft choice by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012, played in his first big league game on July 10, coming in as a pinch hitter as the A’s faced the Texas Rangers in Arlington.
Wilson, who turns 31 on July 29, started in left field the following day and went 0-for-2, and hadn’t been in the A’s lineup since.
Tuesday, Wilson hit ninth in the lineup and started his first MLB game at second base. He grounded out in the third inning, but singled to center field off Angels starter José Suarez in the sixth.
Wilson smiled as he reached first base, then got a big ovation from fans as he came off the field after Tony Kemp came in as a pinch-runner.
“It’s been a long time coming for me,” Wilson said. “After spending 10 years of trying to put myself in a situation where I could kind of make this dream happen, to go out and get the first hit out of the way — words don’t really describe the feeling that you get from that.”
Before this year, Wilson last played in 2019 when he spent time in Triple-A Fresno before his rights were sold midseason to the Korea Baseball Organization.
Wilson had also played in Triple-A in 2015 and 2016 in the Cardinals organization, and 2018 with Washington. But when the Nationals did not add him to their alternate site for the COVID-shortended 2020 season, he thought his pro career was over.
Wilson then signed with the A’s in Nov. 2020 as a non-roster invitee to spring training.
“I sat at home last year and didn’t get to play, and that was the one time that it really kind of set in that there’s a possibility that dream doesn’t come true,” Wilson said. ‘The offseason came around and I kept working out, kept hitting throughout the summer and Oakland called and said, ‘do you want to come play?’ I said, ‘absolutely.’
“At the time I didn’t know what opportunities were going to be available to me. So to get that phone call and be able to sign with Oakland this offseason was a big relief, and then I just had to go back into it.”
Wilson was 0-for-3 before Tuesday but was hitting .288 with a 1.013 OPS in 49 games with Triple-A Las Vegas this season.
“I found a routine that I liked doing in the cage pregame, and that’s what I’ve tried to kind of stick with as much as I can,” Wilson said when asked how he’s improved as a hitter, “Not playing every day I’m kind of going in every day doing the same thing, that’s gotten me to where I am.”
Oakland now begins what could be a critical 10-game road trip that lasts until Aug. 1, two days after the MLB trade deadline.
The A’s, starting Thursday, play four games in Seattle against the Mariners, the team that’s directly behind them in the American League Wild Card standings. Oakland entered Tuesday three games ahead of Seattle for the final AL playoff spot.
Oakland then faces San Diego on July 27 and 28 then finishes the trip with four games against the Angels.
Kaprielian has now allowed two runs or fewer in nine of his 12 starts this season. He entered Tuesday with a 2.90 ERA, second-lowest in the AL among rookies with 45 or more innings.
“I think we did a good job of staying in attack mode,” Kaprielian said. “I believe in the guys who are behind me, I believe in the guy who’s behind the dish and I believe in my stuff. So, for me, it’s about executing pitches.”
“He seems to be finding another gear,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “In a year when he gets an opportunity to seize a starting job, not only has he pitched well, he’s gotten better as we’ve gone along and seems to come up big in big situations.”
