Butler showing with bat his ease with new role

OAKLAND — Billy Butler is still adjusting to his platoon role, but Sunday’s game, a 4-2 win over the Tigers in which he hit a go-ahead two-run single in the sixth inning, felt familiar.

Butler faced Tigers reliever Justin Wilson in a pinch-hitting role on Friday, stepping to the plate as the potential tying run, but he struck out swinging to end an eighth-inning rally in a 3-0 loss. His pinch-hitting attempt against Wilson on Sunday was more fruitful, as he muscled a liner to center field to give the A’s the lead.

“That’s the beauty of pinch-hitting,” Butler said. “You’re either the hero or the zero.”

Butler played the role of hero for the second straight day. He drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning on Saturday as well, giving Oakland a two-run lead in a game it eventually won, 12-3. And although his appearance on Sunday was brief (he was promptly removed for a pinch-runner), he was again the catalyst.

“That’s a big hit,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He didn’t strike it as hard as he did the other day, but they were playing pretty deep. He had the right approach, and it worked out for him. It worked out for us.”

Butler is hitting .230 this season and has only one home run, which he hit on Saturday. He’s been used primarily against left-handed pitchers in a platoon role and has said several times that …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com