OAKLAND - The move from Royals manager Ned Yost came as no surprise to Matt Joyce as he waited in the on-deck circle.
Yost had a lefty on the mound in Mike Minor, who had fallen behind 2-0 to Rajai Davis. The intentional walk was ordered to load the bases to bring up the left-handed hitting Joyce with the A's trailing by two runs in the eighth inning.
"I kind of saw the cards unfolding," Joyce said.
He made the Royals pay, drilling a bases-clearing double off the wall in left-center for the go-ahead hit that made the difference in the A's thrilling 10-8 victory Tuesday night.
In a game where Oakland needed so many big at-bats from so many different hitters, Joyce shined the brightest. He homered to lead off the bottom of the first, then capped his four-RBI night with the clutch three-run hit off Minor.
Earlier this season, it would have been tough envisioning Joyce barreling up a ball off a lefty in such a situation. He was hitting a meager .194 overall in his first 54 games in an A's uniform. Before Tuesday, just two of his 46 RBI had come off left-handed pitchers.
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"He's been facing some (more) lefties, so he's got some confidence against them," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "He's been hitting some balls hard against them and using the whole field and tracking it - seeing it the other way. He put a really good swing on that one" in the eighth.
Joyce grabbed headlines for the wrong reasons on the A's last road trip, drawing a two-game suspension from the commissioner's office for directing an anti-gay slur at a fan at Angel Stadium. He gave a heartfelt apology afterward.
That mistake has overshadowed the fact that he's turning in a very strong August, resembling more of the offensive presence the A's envisioned when they signed him to a two-year $11 million contract last winter.
Joyce is still batting just .234 overall. But he's a .314 hitter this month (11-for-35). With 17 homers, he's on track for the first 20-homer season of his career. At 50 RBI, he's also within reach of his career high in that category (75) with 42 games to go.
After Tuesday night's victory - when the A's allowed five runs in the top of the eighth to relinquish a lead, only to score six in the bottom half to re-claim it - Joyce was most interested in talking about his teammates.
"I'm so proud of these guys," Joyce said. "Obviously it's tough to give up the runs and give up the lead there late in the game. But to be able to come back and battle and have good at-bats and start a rally and just come away with the win, it speaks a lot to these guys' ability to keep playing the game, not give up. It's really fun to watch a lot of these young, really talented guys play the game and play it the right way."
With the A's dedicating so much playing time to young guys, it would serve Joyce well to finish strong and show he's an important piece of the outfield puzzle looking ahead to next season.
On Tuesday night, in one of the A's most unpredictable victories, no one proved more essential.
