A’s offense, bullpen picks up Cahill to complete sweep of Rangers

OAKLAND – Even on days the A’s don’t plan on utilizing the “bullpenning” strategy, it seems to be working out that way lately.

A day after Edwin Jackson’s start lasted just three innings, Trevor Cahill struggled to throw strikes and turned in his shortest outing of the season. But the A’s offense and bullpen bailed out the right-hander to complete a sweep of the Texas Rangers in Sunday’s 7-3 victory, bringing the A’s within 2 1/2 games of the Yankees for the top wild card spot with 18 remaining.

“With an offense like this, you get spoiled,” Cahill said. “You expect them to come out and score runs. They did it again today.”

Cahill was in danger of letting things get out of hand from the beginning as he began his day walking the first three batters of the game. Though a run would score on Nomar Mazara’s sacrifice fly, Cahill managed to limit the damage to just one run.

But it was clear Cahill was not on his game.

After a scoreless second, Cahill again struggled to find the strike zone as he walked the first two batters of the third. After Adrian Beltre’s RBI single to right extended the Rangers (61-82) lead to three runs, A’s manager Bob Melvin ended the outing and went to right-hander Shawn Kelley.

“He just kind of lost the arm slot for a little while. It was just one of those days for him unfortunately,” Melvin said. “I don’t

A’S / 10 Oakland Athletics’ Matt Joyce high-fives A’s Franklin Barreto after they both scored on a single hit by A’s Nick Martini against the Texas Rangers in the fourth inning at the Coliseum in Oakland on Sunday.