Yu Chang discovers his power in the desert as Cleveland Guardians tie Oakland A’s, 9-9

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Biblical hero Samson derived his prodigious strength from an uncut mane of hair, but Guardians infielder Yu Chang appears to draw power from the Arizona desert itself.

Chang’s new long hairdo is just a coincidence.

Arriving in camp last week with a shaggy coif and a bulked-up lower body, Chang blasted his first home run of the spring Sunday in Cleveland’s 9-9 exhibition tie with Oakland at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz.

After tying for the club lead last spring with four Cactus League home runs, Chang drove the first pitch he saw in the second inning from Oakland’s Cole Irvin over the right center field wall to give Cleveland a 1-0 lead.

Chang has made both of his exhibition starts at second base after playing all over the infield last year and says he is ready to work defensively wherever there is a need. His offseason focus was to add leg muscle in order to improve at the plate.

“I’m trying to do more with my lower body to impact my swing,” Chang said. “I worked on trying to connect my upper and lower body so I can stay in my back side and not swing too early.”

Down to their final strike in the ninth, the Guardians rallied for a pair of runs on a two-run double off the bat of Oscar Gonzalez. Jose Tena extended the game with a two-out single, and Will Benson worked a walk against Oakland righty Grant Holmes before Gonzalez belted the first pitch he saw to right field, knotting the score at 9.

Lefty Zach Draper pitched a scoreless ninth to preserve the tie. After three spring games, Cleveland remains undefeated under the franchise’s new Guardians moniker.

Oscar Mercado’s error in left field led to a pair of unearned runs for Oakland in the bottom of the second, and the A’s pushed their advantage to 4-1 on a two-run home run by Billy McKinney in the fourth. But Chang and Mercado were on base in the sixth when Will Brennan delivered a two-run double off A’s righty Daulton Jefferies.

Chang said despite battling jet lag after a long flight from his native Taiwan, he immediately felt comfortable hitting in the desert again. The pitch from Irvin was in a good location for him to handle.

“During spring training my strategy is to swing aggressively and trust my fundamentals,” Chang said.

Brayan Rocchio tied the score at 4-4 with an RBI single off Daulton Jeffries, and Jhonkensy Noel put the Guardians in front with an RBI single of his own.

Oscar Gonzalez added to Cleveland’s advantage with a two-run home run to right in the seventh. But the A’s recaptured the lead at 9-7, touching Guardians lefty Randy Labaut for five runs in the seventh. Kevin Smith led off the inning with a solo home run, and Christian Lopes capped the scoring with a grand slam that chased Labaut from the game.

Cleveland sent eight pitchers from their minor league camp to the mound, including lefty starter Kirk McCarty who struck out three and did not walk a batter in three innings, despite allowing two unearned runs. Tim Herrin, Nick Gallagher, Andrew Misiaszek and Juan Zapata logged scoreless appearances for the Guardians.

Most of Cleveland’s regulars were out of the game by the bottom of the fifth. Franmil Reyes picked up his first two hits of the spring, including a line drive single off the center field wall that was hit so hard he could not advance to second.

Mercado and Myles Straw each added a pair of hits. Straw has three hits in five spring at-bats and a 1.200 OPS. He crashed into the center field wall tracking Ramón Laureano’s RBI double in the second, but was not shaken up on the play.

Cleveland loaded the bases in the first but failed to score when Austin Hedges grounded into an inning-ending double play.

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