A’s continue postseason push with dominating 21-3 win over Angels
OAKLAND, Calif. — With a postseason berth within their sights, the Oakland Athletics are leaving nothing to chance.
Marcus Semien had three hits and a career-high five RBIs, Stephen Piscotty homered and drove in four runs and the Oakland Athletics hammered the Los Angeles Angels 21-3 on Thursday.
The Athletics reduced their magic number for clinching a playoff berth to four. Since June 15, Oakland is a major league-best 58-25.
Oakland trails Houston by 3 1/2 games in the American League West, leads Tampa Bay by 6 1/2 games for the second wild-card spot and is 1 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees for the first wild card.
Catcher Francisco Arcia pitched the last two innings for the Angels, who were outscored 31-2 in the last two games of the series. He also homered in the ninth, becoming the first player in major league history to catch, pitch and hit a home run in the same game, according to the Angels.
“Honestly, when I saw the score up there on the board, it looked like a football score,” Piscotty said. “It doesn’t happen all that often, but it’s a crazy game when you have position guys throwing.”
The A’s tied an Oakland record for runs scored first set on June 18, 2000, against Kansas City.
Piscotty was 2-for-3 with a three-run homer. He’s 4-for-6 with two home runs and nine RBIs in his last two games and has seven home runs and 22 RBIs this month.
Matt Chapman was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. He leads the majors with 24 doubles since the All-Star break and has 41 on the year.
Edwin Jackson (6-3) struck out seven, walked three and gave up two runs in 5 1/3 innings of three-hit ball.
“When you’re getting runs like that, it’s always fun,” Jackson said. “The main thing you want to do is continue to pitch and see how many shutout innings you can have to get them back in the dugout to continue to hit.”
Mike Trout hit his 36th home run for the Angels, who have lost five of their last seven.
Matt Shoemaker (2-2) gave up five runs in 2 2/3 innings in his third start since returning from a forearm strain.
“He’s trying to get back his game at the major league level because he missed most of the season,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “There’s going to be some rough spots here or there. He’s at times pitching very well and at times he’s missing his spots, getting behind and making mistakes. But his stuff is there, no doubt.”