Oakland rolls — and gets help
Good news for the A’s in the wild-card race came from Chicago, New York and Baltimore on Friday night. The best news came from Oakland, where the A’s racked up 16 hits and dusted Texas 10-5.
The three teams ahead of Oakland in that wild-card race — the Red Sox, Yankees and Blue Jays — all lost. Boston fell 4-3 to the White Sox in Chicago, New York got dusted 10-3 by the Mets at Citi Field and Toronto dropped a 6-3 decision at Camden Yards.
So with their third consecutive victory, the A’s moved a game back of the Yankees for the second wild-card spot, with the Jays between those two teams. Oakland is two games behind the Red Sox, who own the top spot. Seattle beat Arizona 5-4, and the Mariners are tied with the A’s.
The A’s trailed 1-0 in the second before putting up a 6-spot. Rookie Glenn Otto walked Jed Lowrie, hit Mark Canha with a pitch and allowed a single to Tony Kemp, who went 3-for-5.
By the way, the HBP was Canha’s 23rd this season, extending his team record and giving him sole possession of first place in the majors in that painful category.
Sean Murphy then tied the game with a single to left and the A’s went up 2-1 when Otto plunked Elvis Andrus with a pitch.
After Josh Harrison struck out, Starling Marte stung a base hit to right to bring home Kemp and it was 3-1.
Matt Olson then delivered a rarity, a three-run single. He pulled a changeup down the right-field line, clearing the bases. Olson tried to stretch the base hit into a double, but Adolis Garcia’s throw to shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa cut down Olson.
He originally was ruled safe but the call was reversed after a replay review.
Per A’s stats guru David Feldman, Olson’s three-run single was the fourth in Oakland history. The others: Reggie Jackson at Boston on June 14, 1969; Troy Neel, against the Yankees on May 1, 1994; and Yoenis Céspedes at Toronto on July 24, 2012.
Paul Blackburn was the beneficiary of the A’s secondinning offense, but he didn’t make it out of the third. With one out, the right-hander allowed a two-run double to right-center by Nathaniel Lowe.
Nick Solak’s RBI single with two outs cut Oakland’s edge to 6-4 and ended Blackburn’s night.
The Heritage High-Brentwood alum made his first start for Oakland this season Aug. 18. His three August starts were solid: five earned runs in 16 innings for a 2.81 ERA.
His two starts in September, not exactly solid: eight earned runs in 61⁄3 innings for an 11.38 ERA.
The Rangers acquired Otto from the Yankees in the tradedeadline deal that sent Joey Gallo to the Bronx. In Otto’s first two big-league starts, he allowed a combined two runs on four hits in 92⁄3 innings.
The A’s made his third start one he’ll want to forget. In the fourth, Marte (3-for-5) drilled an RBI triple to right-center with one out and Otto exited.
Otto’s line: eight earned runs on eight hits in 31⁄3 innings.
Olson greeted lefty HyeonJong Yang with a single to center to bring in Marte and make it 8-4.
The first baseman went 4for-5 and tied his career high for hits in a game; it’s the first time he has done so all with singles. Olson upped his team-leading RBI total to 95, which also is a career high. He drove in 91 runs in 2019.