Busy day lands Angels' Arcia in baseball record books
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Los Angeles Angels catcher Francisco Arcia began the day behind the plate, did a brief stint on the mound and ended up in the major league record books.
Arcia pitched two innings of relief and hit his sixth home run in the Angels' 21-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics on Thursday.
In doing so, Arcia became the first player to catch, pitch and homer in the same game according to the Angels.
"They just told me that," Arcia said. "I'm pretty happy, I guess."
The 29-year-old Arcia was already in the record books after driving in 10 runs in his first two games after being called up from the minors on July 26.
Arcia also became the first Angels position player to pitch since 1993, when he threw one scoreless frame against the A's on Aug. 11, but hadn't done much since.
That changed Thursday when the Angels fell behind by double digits early. Manager Mike Scioscia felt no need to tax his bullpen, so turned to Arcia.
Arcia needed only five pitches to retire the first two batters before allowing three consecutive hits, including back-to-back home runs by Nick Martini and Chad Pinder.
"Just BP fastballs," Arcia said when asked what his repertoire included. "Played catch with my catcher, that's it."
Mark Canha singled off Arcia with one out in the eighth, but Dustin Fowler hit into an inning-ending double play.
Arcia then homered off Chris Hatcher in the ninth.
"That's a nice little note for Frankie, for sure," Scioscia said.
Arcia has been splitting time at catcher with Jose Briceno ever since the Angels traded Martin Maldonado to the Houston Astros and Rene Rivera was claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Braves.
"I just play hard," Arcia said. "Wherever they put me, I'll play hard."
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