A’S EXTEND WINNING STREAK TO SIX
OAKLAND — The A’s swept the Texas Rangers Thursday with a 6-4 win. They’ve run a promising six-game win streak after a somewhat shaky start to the season.
The A’s answer to a four home run game in Wednesday’s win was a small ball spectacle in Thursday’s.
Of course, it started with Matt Olson’s third home run in two games off Rangers left-handed starter Mike Minor. After an .094 average he fell into after his walk-off grand slam on Opening Night, Olson grew a mustache and promptly hit a 3-for-6 streak. Of course, those three hits are all home runs.
After his home run on Thursday, Olson rubbed his trusty new mustache.
“Well, I didn’t do it to look good,” the A’s first baseman said Thursday of his new facial hair. “You know what they say, it’s never too early to hit the panic button. I was clearly searching for a couple of knocks and luckily got them.”
But the A’s power dropped into small ball land in the fourth. It started with Ramon Laureano’s leadoff single and a Matt Chapman walk to follow. Mark Canha punched a single up the middle and Khris Davis — back in the lineup against left-handed pitching — pulled a two-run single to give the A’s a four-run lead. Stephen Piscotty’s sacrifice fly scored the A’s fifth.
After four shutout innings, Mike Fiers ran into trouble in the fifth when Ramon Laureano
got too aggressive diving for Isiah Kiner Falefa’s drive, resulting in a triple. He’d score on Anderson Tejeda’s single, but Fiers ended it there.
But the Rangers kept fighting. Todd Frazier hit a solo blast in the sixth to cut the A’s lead in half. Then, manager Bob Melvin gave Fiers a crack at switch-hitting Tejeda again. He punished Fiers’ changeup for a two-run home run, cutting the A’s lead to one.
The A’s answered with a bit more small ball. After Davis hit his second single of the day, Piscotty bunted him over. Franklin Barreto came in as a pinch runner for Davis, and Sean Murphy sent him home on an RBI single to give the A’s a little breathing room.
Yusmeiro Petit gave up three softly-hit singles in the eighth to load the bases with one out. But, cooly escaped the jam of his own making with a strikeout and a groundout.