Oakland edges Rangers for sweep, sixth straight win.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS » The A’s decided to make things a little easier for themselves this time.
After a pair of exhilarating come-from-behind wins the previous two nights, the A’s took the lead early and never trailed in Thursday’s 7- 6 victory over the Rangers, completing a four-game sweep.
“Coming inhere on the roadit’s hot, everybody’s been grinding. It’s not like they were blowouts,” The top two wild-card teams face each other in a one-game playoff. The winner advances to the divisional round against the division champion with the best record. A’s third basemanMatt Chapman said. “They were neck and neck games. That’s tiring in itself. We haven’t had many off- days as of late since the break, so it’s huge for us to come out of here with four wins.”
Though the A’s (61- 43) are the most powerful road team in baseball — Chapman crushed another homer in the second inning to make it a majors-best 96 road homers this season— the A’s showed off their speed by stretching out a season-high four triples. The first two came back-to-back by Dustin Fowler and Nick Martini in the fourth, both driving home a run in an inning where they scored three off old friend
Bartolo Colon to take back the lead 6-3.
Chapman came up with the next two, tripling in the sixth and eighth tomark the first time in Oakland history the A’s have recorded four triples in a game. The A’s played in Kansas City the last time they collected four triples in one game, which came Aug. 29, 1967, against Cleveland.
Chapman capping off the historic feat was fitting. He had a flawless night himself, going 3 for 3 with the homer, two triples and a walk.
“Chappie’s running around, it’s four days and hot, and his energy level never goes down at all,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We had some guys that were dragging a little bit, and rightfully so. But Chapman al- ways seems to have that edge to him.”
It was the continuation to what has been a strong return form fromthe All-Star break for the slick-fielding third baseman. Chapman is 12 for 28 (.428) in his past seven games with two home runs, two triples, a double, three walks and six RBIs.
Chapman was having a tough time finding his groove at the plate since returning from the disabled list in mid-June. But having found what he said is a better overall regimen pregame and postgame for taking care of the recurring injury to his right hand, Chapman is starting to heat up.
“I found a right routine forme to keep it fresh,” Chapman said. “With the pregame stuff and the icing after and not overkill with swings before the game, I think I found a good routine and been starting to feel like I’m getting into a rhythmmore, so it’s nice.”
The run support was muchneeded by A’s starter Trevor Cahill. He’s been really good at the Oakland Coliseum, with an ERA of 0.80, but entered the night with a 5.92 ERA on the road.
The Rangers (42- 62) had Cahill on the ropes early, scoring three runs and making him throw 40 pitches through the first two innings. Cahill never seemed to have command of his pitches, walking three batters and hitting another, but he gutted out five innings as he allowed five runs on seven hits and earned the win.
Emilio Pagan, Lou Trivino, Jeurys Familia and Blake Treinen shut the door in the final four innings.
Things got a little dicey with Familia, who allowed the first two batters of the eighth to reach base and allowed a run on a wild pitch to cut the lead to one run. On his 30th pitch of the inning, the right-hander retired Elvis Andrus on a brokenbat ground out with a runner on second to end the eighth. The escape impressed Melvin.
“He’s throwing a lot of pitches, and it was hot out. It was impressive that he got through it,” Melvin said.
Treinen worked his third night in a row and turned in a scoreless ninth for his 27th save of the year.
The A’s are now 27-7 since June 16 and have won six in a row. They are 6-1 since returning from the All-Star break.