The Athletics hit 3 homers to beat the struggling Dodgers 6-5

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Brent Rooker hit his 27th homer of the season and the Oakland Athletics added two more long balls to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-5 on Friday night.

After leading the majors with 45 homers in July, the A's showed no signs of slowing down in their first game of August in front of a season-high 21,060 fans at the Oakland Coliseum.

Shea Langeliers and Seth Brown went deep against Gavin Stone (9-5) as the A's won for the 10th time in 14 games, starting with an 18-3 win at Philadelphia in the final game before the All-Star break.

“Really in Philadelphia, we really dove into approaching individually what we’re trying to do each game," Langeliers said. "We just kept growing with that approach. It’s just building confidence with the guys. We’re stringing good at bats together and obviously putting across crooked numbers. When the offense is doing that you tend tp keep momentum on your side.”

Teoscar Hernandez hit a two-run homer in the first against Joey Estes (5-4) but the Dodgers managed little else until Shohei Ohtani broke an 0-for-15 slump with a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth.

But it wasn't enough for the Dodgers, who lost for the fifth time in six games. Los Angeles' NL West lead over Arizona dropped to four games.

“It’s just not Shohei’s job alone to carry this offense," manager Dave Roberts said. "That’s impossible. He’s a guy that is the top of the order, the most dangerous, most talented player we have. I think the game plan has to be to try to limit him, and if you can limit him, you take your chance with the eight other guys.”

Estes allowed two runs and two hits in six innings, retiring 15 straight following Hernandez's homer, capped by a running grab by third baseman Abraham Toro to rob Ohtani of a hit in the sixth.

Will Smith and Gavin Lux then drew back-to-back two walks but Estes struck out Hernandez to get out of the jam and end his night.

“For Joey, that last inning, the emotion kind of got to him," manager Mark Kotsay said. "I think he was kind of trying to get through that sixth inning after the play Toro made, which was an unbelievable play. He showed a lot of emotion after that and thus resulted in two walks to the next two guys. But he made a big pitch there against Teoscar to strike him out and get out of that jam.”

Austin Adams got Ohtani to ground out with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh.

“The balls that I’m supposed to be hitting well, I’m not — fly balls that should have been going out haven’t been going out, line drives right at the guy," Ohtani said through an interpreter. "So it's more about me rather than the (other) team or how the team is attacking.”

Stone's rough recent stretch continued as he started to run into trouble in the fourth when Langeliers and Brown hit solo homers to tie the game at 2.

Stone was replaced after allowing an RBI triple to Miguel Andujar and a run-scoring double to JJ Bleday in the fifth. Rooker greeted Joe Kelly with a two-run shot to make it 6-2. Stone is 0-3 with a 7.15 ERA in his last five starts.

Oakland is now fourth in the majors this season with 145 homers despite ranking in the bottom 10 in runs scored, with more than half of the A’s runs coming on long balls.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Dodgers: 1B Freddie Freeman isn't expected to join the team this weekend as he tends to his 3-year-old son Maximus. Freeman went on the family emergency list last week after Maximus was hospitalized because of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder. ... RHP Walker Buehler (hip) will make one more rehab start at Triple-A Oklahoma City before rejoining the Dodgers.

Athletics: INF Darell Hernaiz (ankle) was reinstated from the 60-day IL and INF Brett Harris was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas. RHP Luis Medina was transferred to the 60-day IL to create a roster spot for Hernaiz.

UP NEXT

RHP Jack Flaherty will make his Dodgers debut after being acquired from Detroit before the trade deadline. Flaherty was 7-5 with a 2.95 ERA for the Tigers this season. RHP Mitch Spence (7-6, 4.47 ERA) will start for the A's.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani tosses his bat after hitting a three-run home run against the Oakland Athletics during the ninth inning of a baseball game Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Will Smith, right, talks to home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi, center, after being called out on strikes during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Oakland Athletics' Brent Rooker hits a two-run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Oakland Athletics' Lawrence Butler, right, scores against the Los Angeles Dodgers off Miguel Andujar's triple during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani walks to the dugout after hitting a popup to Oakland Athletics third baseman Abraham Toro during the sixth inning of a baseball game Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Oakland Athletics' Brent Rooker watches his two-run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Oakland Athletics’ Brent Rooker, right, celebrates with JJ Bleday (33) after hitting a two-run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

PRAGUE (AP) — The head of NATO's military committee said Saturday that Ukraine has the solid legal and military right to strike deep inside Russia to gain combat advantage — reflecting the beliefs of a number of U.S. allies — even as the Biden administration balks at allowing Kyiv to do so using American-made weapons.

“Every nation that is attacked has the right to defend itself. And that right doesn’t stop at the border of your own nation,” said Adm. Rob Bauer, speaking at the close of the committee's annual meeting, also attended by U.S. Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Bauer, of Netherlands, also added that nations have the sovereign right to put limits on the weapons they send to Ukraine. But, standing next to him at a press briefing, Lt. Gen. Karel Řehka, chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces, made it clear his nation places no such weapons restrictions on Kyiv.

“We believe that the Ukrainians should decide themselves how to use it,” Řehka said.

Their comments came as U.S. President Joe Biden is weighing whether to allow Ukraine to use American-provided long-range weapons to hit deep into Russia. And they hint at the divisions over the issue.

Biden met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday, after this week’s visit to Kyiv by their top diplomats, who came under fresh pressure to loosen weapons restrictions. U.S. officials familiar with discussions said they believed Starmer was seeking Biden’s approval to allow Ukraine to use British Storm Shadow missiles for expanded strikes in Russia.

Biden’s approval may be needed because Storm Shadow components are made in the U.S. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share the status of private conversations, said they believed Biden would be amenable, but there has been no decision announced yet.

Providing additional support and training for Ukraine was a key topic at the NATO chiefs’ meeting, but it wasn't clear Saturday if the debate over the U.S. restrictions was discussed.

Many of the European nations have been vigorously supportive of Ukraine in part because they worry about being the next victim of an empowered Russia.

At the opening of the meeting, Czech Republic President Petr Pavel broadly urged the military chiefs gathered in the room to be ”bold and open in articulating your assessments and recommendations. The rounder and the softer they are, the less they will be understood by the political level.”

The allies, he said, must “take the right steps and the right decisions to protect our countries and our way of life.”

The military leaders routinely develop plans and recommendations that are then sent to the civilian NATO defense secretaries for discussion and then on to the nations' leaders in the alliance.

The U.S. allows Ukraine to use American-provided weapons in cross-border strikes to counter attacks by Russian forces. But it doesn’t allow Kyiv to fire long-range missiles, such as the ATACMS, deep into Russia. The U.S. has argued that Ukraine has drones that can strike far and should use ATACMS judiciously because they only have a limited number.

Ukraine has increased its pleas with Washington to lift the restrictions, particularly as winter looms and Kyiv worries about Russian gains during the colder months.

“You want to weaken the enemy that attacks you in order to not only fight the arrows that come your way, but also attack the archer that is, as we see, very often operating from Russia proper into Ukraine,” said Bauer. “So militarily, there’s a good reason to do that, to weaken the enemy, to weaken its logistic lines, fuel, ammunition that comes to the front. That is what you want to stop, if at all possible.”

Brown, for his part, told reporters traveling with him to the meeting that the U.S. policy on long-range weapons remains in place.

But, he added, “by the same token, what we want to do is — regardless of that policy — we want to continue to make Ukraine successful with the capabilities that have been provided” by the U.S. and other nations in the coalition, as well as the weapons Kyiv has been able to build itself.

“They’ve proven themselves fairly effective in building out uncrewed aerial vehicles, in building out drones,” Brown told reporters traveling with him to meetings in Europe.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has made similar points, arguing that one weapons system won't determine success in the war.

“There are a number of things that go into the overall equation as to whether or not you know you want to provide one capability or another," Austin said Friday. “There is no silver bullet when it comes to things like this.”

He also noted that Ukraine has already been able to strike inside Russia with its own internally produced systems, including drones.

FILE - Rescuers search for victims in an apartment building destroyed by Russian missile attack in centre Lviv, Western Ukraine, Sept. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Mykola Tys, File)

FILE - NATO's Chair of the Military Committee Admiral Rob Bauer listens during the plenary session of the Seoul Defense Dialogue in Seoul, South Korea, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)