Sweep caps good trip; Davis hurt
TORONTO — Oakland had loads to feel good about Sunday after wrapping up a strong road trip by sweeping four games from the Blue Jays.
The joy was mitigated, however, by an injury to the A’s top power hitter. Khris Davis, who’s hit more homers than any other player since the start of the 2016 season, left Oakland’s 9-2 win at Toronto with a right groin strain. Groin strains typically require several weeks of recovery time.
“I definitely had some sharp pain,” said Davis, who tweaked the muscle on a check swing in the fourth. “A lot of us kind of turned a corner on this road trip, took strides, but this is a little setback for me. I don’t think it’s as bad as it could be, but it’s still bad. Like a stabbing pain.”
The A’s went 7-3 on the trip to New York, Boston and Toronto, and took a four-game set from the Blue Jays for
the first time since July 3-6, 2014, at the Coliseum. It’s Oakland’s first four-game sweep at Toronto in 18 tries.
“This is probably the toughest trip we have all year, and to go 7-3 is amazing,” starter Daniel Mengden said. “We’re really hot right now all the way around — we’re hitting, playing defense and pitching pretty well. We’re a good team and we know it, and once we get the ball rolling, we’re going to be all right.”
“We haven’t even hit our stride yet,” catcher Jonathan Lucroy said. “I fully believe this is a playoff-caliber team, and I’ve been on several. If we play up to our ability and talent level and stay healthy, I believe we can be sneaky and get in there somewhere.”
Oakland has won six of its past seven games and is a season-high three games over .500 at 25-22.
“I was talking to (A’s manager) Bob Melvin before the series and I told him, ‘I like where your team’s at,’ ” former A’s third baseman Josh Donaldson said. “They’ve been playing really well, going to Boston taking two of three before they came here. They have some guys with some pop. Some guys who can swing and miss, but who will leave the yard if you make mistakes.”
The team hasn’t had a winning record away from home since 2013, and last year was especially poor: Oakland was 29-52.
The Blue Jays had won 12 of the previous 14 games at Rogers Centre and six in a row before this series. “The last three years this ballpark has been a house of horrors for us,” Melvin said.
Sunday, Toronto made four errors and had numerous other flubs afield; Donaldson, who has had trouble with a shoulder injury this year, made one of the errors and failed to come up with two grounders. The most egregious miscue: Teoscar Hernandez could not come up with Dustin Fowler’s sacrifice fly to right in the sixth.
Two runs scored, Fowler wound up at third and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Marcus Semien.
Semien connected on Oakland’s requisite homer in the fifth, a two-run shot. The A’s homered in all 10 games on the trip, and they have a majorleague-high 47 road homers. They’ve hit 14 at home, fewest in the majors.
Mengden worked seven scoreless innings and allowed just two hits and a walk with two strikeouts. And Oakland, unlike Toronto, played errorfree and got especially nice work from Stephen Piscotty, who made a stylish sliding grab on a sinking bloop by Donaldson in the first, and Mengden, who made a tricky catch behind him while covering first in the seventh.
Mengden said his left shoulder popped out of joint on the play, then popped back in. It’s happened before, he said, “Nothing to worry about.”
Should the A’s place Davis on the disabled list, as seems likely, Franklin Barreto or Jake Smolinski are top possibilities to be recalled from Triple-A Nashville.