EditorsNote: Removes abbreviation of Texas in lead; updates to A's having 1/2-game lead over Rays; adds 2B to Odor's line and clarifies graf 5
Mark Canha lined a two-run home run off the left field foul pole to break a 5-5 tie and Matt Chapman, Josh Phegley and Matt Olson also homered to lead the Oakland A's to their fifth straight victory, 8-6 over the Texas Rangers on Saturday night in Arlington, Texas.
Ramon Laureano doubled and had three hits and a run scored, and Sheldon Neuse also had two hits for Oakland (89-60). The four home runs gave the A's nine in the first two games of the series with the Rangers and 242 for the season, one off the franchise single-season record.
The A's remained a half-game ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays for the first wild-card spot in the American League and 7 1/2 games behind the Houston Astros in the AL West.
Ryan Buchter (1-1), one of seven pitchers used by the A's, picked up the win while Liam Hendriks pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 22nd save. Starter Mike Fiers, coming in off the shortest start of his major league career when he allowed nine runs on nine hits in one inning in a 15-0 loss at Houston on Monday, left the game with two outs in the second inning with right arm nerve irritation. He allowed three runs on three hits.
Rougned Odor hit a home run and a double, and Danny Santana, Shin-Soo Choo and Jose Trevino each had two hits for Texas (74-76). Mike Minor (13-9) suffered the loss, allowing seven runs on nine hits and three walks over five innings. He struck out five.
Texas took a 3-0 lead in the second on Odor's 27th homer of the season, a 437-foot, two-run blast to right-center, and an RBI single by Trevino.
Oakland tied it in the third on a three-run homer by Chapman, a 433-foot drive to left. It was the 33rd home run of the season for Chapman, breaking the club record for most home runs in a season by an A's third baseman, set by Eric Chavez in 2001.
The A's took a 5-3 lead in the fourth on a two-run homer by Phegley which just cleared the glove of right fielder Nomar Mazara. The Rangers tied it again in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI groundout by Delino DeShields and an RBI single by Choo.
Canha then put Oakland ahead to stay in the fifth with his 24th home run, driving in Khris Davis who had walked. Olson hit his fifth homer in five games and 34th of the season to increase the lead to 8-5 an inning later.
Trevino drove in Odor, who had doubled, with a sacrifice fly in the eighth to end the scoring.
--Field Level Media
