Sometimes you need a little bit of help to keep a hitting streak going in baseball.
Zack Gelof got that help from the sun on Sunday to extend his career-high hitting streak to 18 games.
Gelof hit a fifth-inning pop-up to the shallow part of the infield, and Colorado Rockies second baseman Willi Castro had trouble finding the ball in the sun.
As it dropped, Gelof raced to second for a double. He added a single in the seventh inning, but was thrown out trying to go to second base.
Gelof extending his streak was one of the lone bright spots in the Athletics’ 23-9 loss to the Rockies on Sunday at Las Vegas Ballpark. Gelof finished 2-for-4 with a run scored.
“You don’t get guys with that makeup that just say, ‘Yeah, let’s do it,’” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said after Saturday’s win. “There’s a lot of guys in that room that have that makeup, and that culture is starting to kind of spread.”
Gelof has played all around the infield and outfield for the A’s. On Saturday, Kotsay credited Gelof’s acceptance to playing different positions
“He’s been solid,” Kotsay said. “This is a kid that went through a lot of adversity with the injury, and some of the lack of success, but when he’s on the field, there’s a confidence that we have in him. I told him you might play all nine positions at some point this year, that’s just the athlete and baseball player he is.”
Gelof is hitting .276 with nine home runs and 25 RBIs. The 26-year-old had his 2025 season ended in September with a dislocated left shoulder.
Estes optioned, Basso recalled
One day after making his 2026 MLB debut, the A’s announced early Sunday that right-handed pitcher Joey Estes was sent down to Triple-A Las Vegas and left-hander Brady Basso was recalled.
Estes, who dealt with a back injury last year, pitched 4.1 innings Saturday against Colorado and gave up four runs on five hits with five strikeouts on 71 pitches.
He was pulled in the fifth inning with one out and the tying run on base, as the Rockies took the lead in the fifth before the A’s rallied for a 7-5 win.
“I love being (with the A’s),” Estes said postgame Saturday. “It’s where I want to be. I felt good out there.”
Said Kotsay pregame Saturday: “(Estes) has been grinding in Triple-A. He’s been one of the guys that’s been, from the injury, continuing to build his strength and starting to get some (velocity) back. We’ve seen that in a couple outings in Triple-A. This is a good opportunity for Joey to go out and start fresh from an injury-plagued season last year.”
Basso came into Sunday’s game and tossed 1.2 innings. The Rockies tagged Basso for four runs in the seventh inning as the 28-year-old gave up six hits. Basso has four appearances for this A’s this season, with his previous one on May 1.
Out of challenges
Kotsay said earlier during the Las Vegas series that he is fine with his team being aggressive with its two ABS system challenges.
On Sunday, the A’s and Rockies were aggressive with their challenges, with six challenges in the first two innings. But it cost the Rockies, who ran out of challenges in the bottom of the second inning.
Castro lost a challenge on the first at-bat of the game. Then, in the bottom of the second, Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman put the team out of challenges when a called ball was confirmed by ABS.
The loss of challenges didn’t bother the Rockies as they hit six homers and finished with 24 hits in a rout to beat the A’s.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
