No holding back Olson for long
First baseman enters in seventh, hits key HR to help top Texas
OAKLAND >> First baseman Matt Olson came into Saturday as the only A’s player to appear in all of the team’s 142 games.
Even though Olson wasn’t in the starting lineup for the second game of Oakland’s series with the Texas Rangers at the Coliseum, manager Bob Melvin figured there was a good chance his regular first baseman would see the field for consecutive game No. 143.
Olson came in as a defensive replacement in the seventh and to lead off the eighth, went the opposite way for his career-best 25th home run of the season to help the A’s pick up a wild 8-6 win over the Rangers before an announced crowd of 20,504.
Mark Canha started Saturday at first base. But in the eighth, Olson, one pitch after he attempted to bunt against the shift to get on base, hammered a changeup from Chris Martin over the left-field fence for a one-run Oakland lead.
“He’s always ready to play. He wants to play every day,” Melvin said of Olson. “Pretty impactful when he came into the game today, that’s for sure.”
Matt Chapman added an RBI double for some insurance later
in the eighth, as the A’s stayed within 31/2 games of the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West.
Oakland, which also got home runs from Khris Davis and Chad Pinder, closes out its series with the Rangers today, then begins a sixgame trip on Tuesday in Baltimore.
Before Saturday, Olson had been 9 for 41 at the plate in his last 12 games with five runs, seven RBIs, five walks and 15 strikeouts. Melvin said before the game that he sometimes gets “a little bit of a sideways glance from (Olson) when he’s not in the lineup to start.”
“I want to be in the lineup every day and I think everybody in this room does,” Olson said after the game. “I don’t want it to seem like he said I’m looking at him sideways like it’s a bad thing. I wasn’t faulting him. But I’m competitor and I want to be in there every day, and was just ready for whenever I was going to get in there.”
As far as Olson going opposite field for the home run, Melvin said, “If you watch him take batting practice right now, that’s kind of where his strength is. He’s got as much pull power as anybody in the American League, but there are times when you have to make an adjustment, and he has recently.
“He’s a clear thinker, he’s a pretty smart guy, so that’s kind of where his path is right now.”
The A’s now have a record of 62-0 this season when they enter the seventh inning of a game with a lead.
As Saturday’s game showed, though, they haven’t all been easy. The A’s were up
and it wouldn’t surprise you if the wall tipped over as hard as he plays.”
But all Laureano could do after Jurickson Profar made hard contact to lead off the fifth was stand and watch.
Profar’s no-doubter to right field was one of two home runs allowed by starter Edwin Jackson, who lasted just three-plus innings, his shortest outing since he was selected by Oakland out of Nashville in late June.
Jackson, who also allowed a second-inning homer to Beltre, had started against Texas nine times before Saturday, going 2-4 with a 4.85 ERA. His last victory against the Rangers was May 21, 2009, when he was with Detroit.
• Pitcher Brett Anderson
said he felt good as he went through his simulated game Saturday morning. Depending on how his arm responds today, Anderson could start at some point on the trip. Anderson has been on the disabled list since Aug. 28 with a strained left forearm.
If Anderson pitches against the Orioles on Wednesday or Thursday, he could make as many as three more starts after that to end the regular season.
• Melvin said oufielder Nick Martini will be back with the A’s today, as will reliever Ryan Dull. Pitcher Frankie Montas will rejoin the team in two more days, although Melvin didn’t know if Montas would be back in the rotation or come out of the bullpen.