OAKLAND — If the A’s aren’t in the postseason hunt themselves, they might as well try to dent the hopes of those teams that are.
The Rangers had to picture this weekend series at the Coliseum as a chance to make a move in the American League Wild Card race. Instead, the A’s have taken the first two of this three-game series.
For the second game in a row, an A’s player homered twice. This time it was Chad Pinder, who lowered the boom in each of his first two plate appearances against Cole Hamels in a 8-3 Oakland victory. Khris Davis went deep twice Friday night.
While Pinder was the individual standout, this game was all about what the A’s did collectively in the batter’s box. Five different players drove in runs, with Jed Lowrie enjoying a three-RBI day. Marcus Semien set the table nicely from the leadoff spot and Ryon Healy contributed an RBI single.
The performance was more impressive considering the roll that Hamels (9-2) was on. He came in having won all four his starts in August, with a 1.86 ERA in the month that was best in the American League. He’d allowed zero earned runs in two of his previous three career starts at the Coliseum. But the lefty struggled with his control early and got tagged for six runs in just 4 1/3 innings.
All around, it was an encouraging afternoon for an A’s team that is just 20-32 against the American League West and came in averaging just 3.82 runs per game against division opponents.
DOUBLING UP: Lowrie doubled twice, giving him 40 for this season. He’s just the fourth player in Oakland history to notch two 40-double seasons, joining Jason Giambi, Eric Chavez and Ben Grieve.
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PINDER POWER: Think Pinder takes some confidence to the plate when he faces Hamels? For his career, he is 4-for-4 off the lefty with two doubles and two homers. He also drew a walk Saturday against Hamels.
FINDING THE WIN COLUMN: Sean Manaea (9-8) hardly coasted through his five innings of work, but he did enough to pocket his first victory since July 16. The Rangers got to him for two runs in the first, but that was it. Manaea’s biggest enemy was his pitch count. He was at 102 pitches by the time he struck out Mike Napoli on a nasty slider to strand the bases loaded in the fifth. Working on an extended seven days’ rest, Manaea’s fastball showed a bit more life judging from the stadium gun readings. It consistently sat between 90-91 miles per hour and topped out at 92.
CASHING IN: The A’s came up empty in the second inning, putting a runner on third with no outs but failing to score. But they executed in the fifth to knock Hamels out of the game. With runners on second and third and no outs, Lowrie doubled home a run, Khris Davis had a sacrifice fly and Healy knocked in a run.
STAT OF THE DAY: The A’s have hit at least one double in each of their past 27 games, the team’s longest such streak since a 37-gamer in the summer of 2005.
