Sean Murphy joined the A’s Postgame Live crew after hitting a grand slam in Oakland’s 10-6 win over the Nationals on Tuesday night. The catcher’s bat has been on fire since early June.
The Athletics continue their winning ways by beginning their six-game road trip with a 10-6 win over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday at Nationals Park.
After winning the last two games at home against the New York Yankees, the A's now have won three straight games.
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Through the first four innings, the A's and Nationals were exchanging runs, with Oakland scoring six runs and Washington countered with five runs of their own. However, catcher Sean Murphy blew the game open in the A's favor.
In the top of the fifth inning, the 27-year-old hit his first career grand slam off relief pitcher Steve Cishek, creating breathing room for the A's.
Murphy stated on "A's Postgame Live" that no grand revelation has occurred, resulting in the catcher seeing his offensive production take off since the 2022 MLB season hit the summer months, with the grand slam against the Nationals being the latest of examples.
"I'm not doing anything differently," Murphy said postgame. "I'm just doing what I do better. It's one of those things.
"It's just a process. There's no big click or anything that happened on June 7. It was just started to put some back together and snowball from there."
Murphy's five-RBI night against Washington sums up the catcher's offensive surge. Before Tuesday's game in Washington, Murphy has been hitting .300 in his last 90 plate appearances with four home runs and 12 RBI.
A's skipper Mark Kotsay was asked postgame what exactly he has seen in Murphy's game, resulting in the catcher putting up eye-popping offensive numbers over the last few months.
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"I talk about approach," Kotsay told reporters postgame. "I talk about him being willing to sacrifice some power, hit the ball the other way, even though he's got the ability to hit it out of the park the other way.
"So it kind of plays hand in hand for Murph, and he's been consistent. He's been consistent at his at-bats, and the success is showing."
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Murphy and Co. look to extend Oakland's winning streak to four when James Kaprielian (3-8, 4.88 ERA) takes the mound for the A's on Wednesday. The Nationals will counter with Aníbal Sánchez (0-5, 5.72 ERA) to take the second game of the three-game series.
