A’s romp over Jays to complete sweep

OAKLAND, California — For a guy who has been a middle-of-the-order hitter most of his career, Jonathan Lucroy is quite comfortable anchoring the bottom of the Athletics lineup.

Oakland’s veteran catcher proved that once again after convincing manager Bob Melvin to let him play in a day game following a night game.

Lucroy drove in four runs to match his season high and the A’s completed a season sweep of Toronto, beating the Blue Jays 8-3 on Wednesday.

“This is a workhorse, a guy that expects to be back there,” Melvin said of Lucroy. “He had eight or nine RBIs in his last 10 games and had four more today. Not only is he doing his job behind the plate, he’s picking up the pace offensively and driving in some runs, too.”

The A’s won all seven games between the two teams this year for their first season sweep of the Blue Jays. Oakland also moved into a tie with Seattle for the second wild card.

Franklin Barreto homered and had three RBIs for the Athletics. Lucroy added three hits.

“When you have a real deep lineup, sooner or later someone in the lineup’s going to get you,” Lucroy said. “Might not be the first five guys, might not be the last four guys. It could be anyone in between.”

Russell Martin homered for Toronto.

“All three days we didn’t get really any shutdown pitching at all from our bullpen guys,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “We haven’t been scoring much either.”

Toronto starter Marcus Stroman (4-8) allowed seven runs and 11 hits in five innings.

“They did a great job of putting the ball in play, early in the count,” Stroman said. “Frustrating. My stuff felt great.”

Astros 8, Mariners 3

SEATTLE — Marwin Gonzalez hit two of Houston’s four home runs, and the Astros knocked the Seattle Mariners from the lead for the second wild card in the American League with an 8-3 win.

After a five-game losing streak, the Astros rebounded to win the final two games of the series. Houston has a five-game cushion over Seattle in the AL West and dropped the Mariners into a tie with surging Oakland for the second AL wild-card spot.

Seattle led the A’s by 11 games in the middle of June, but has seen the entire lead disappear over the past six weeks.