Minnesota

A's Win Fourth Straight Behind Valencia, Vogt

OAKLAND — If not for the ridiculous numbers of teammate Khris Davis, Danny Valencia’s torrid month of May would be getting much more notice.

Nonetheless, the A’s third baseman closed out an excellent month with a three-RBI night as the A’s beat the Minnesota Twins 7-4 on Tuesday to run their winning streak to four games. Valencia hit a two-run homer in the third, giving the A’s a 3-2 lead. Then his fifth-inning double scored Stephen Vogt from first to put Oakland up again, 4-3.

He walked in his first plate appearance, and even one of the times that the Twins retired him Tuesday, Valencia stung a liner to right that found Oswaldo Arcia’s glove. Making Valencia’s month more impressive is that he got a late start on it, not coming off the disabled list for a hamstring injury until May 6.

Since then, Valencia is hitting .359 (28-for-78) with eight home runs, 19 RBI and 18 runs scored in 21 games. He also turned in a nice stop at third Tuesday, which helped prevent a big inning against A’s starter Eric Surkamp.

Along with Valencia’s heroics, the A’s rode another stellar performance from their bullpen to close out an overall rough month on a strong note. The relief corps allowed just one run over the final 4 1/3 innings Tuesday, helping the A’s capture their second series in a row as they finished 11-17 in May.

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