Field Level Media
Jul 26, 2018
Matt Chapman had a home run and two triples Thursday, and the Oakland bullpen allowed just one run over four innings as the Athletics finished off a four-game sweep with a 7-6 victory over the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas.
The red-hot A's tied a season high with their sixth consecutive victory. Oakland is 27-7 over its past 34 games dating back to June 16, the best record in the major leagues over that span.
The A's had four triples in a game for the first time in franchise history. Dustin Fowler and Nick Martini delivered back-to-back RBI triples in a three-run fourth inning that gave Oakland the lead for good.
Oakland finished off its third four-game sweep of the season, all on the road, after also doing the same at Toronto in May and Detroit in June. It is the first time an A's club has had three four-game road sweeps in a season since the Philadelphia A's did it in 1928.
Rangers 45-year-old starter Bartolo Colon (5-9) threw 106 pitches over seven innings, giving up six runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Jurickson Profar had a triple for Texas, a two-run hit in the fifth inning.
The Rangers went 1-6 on their seven-game homestand to open the second half, the first time they won just one game on a homestand of seven games or more since 2015. Texas has lost 11 of its last 13 games.
A's starter Trevor Cahill (2-2), who has had two stints on the disabled list this season, gave up five runs on seven hits over five innings. He walked three and struck out four in his third start since returning from a strained right Achilles.
Oakland relievers Emilio Pagan and Lou Trivino delivered scoreless innings before Jeurys Familia gave up an unearned run on a wild pitch in the eighth inning. Closer Blake Treinen pitched a shutout ninth inning for his 27th save and third in three days.
Chapman's second-inning home run was his 12th of the season and extended Oakland's major-league-leading home run total on the road to 96.
Oakland's Khris Davis, who went 1-for-4 with an RBI, saw his streak of four consecutive games with a home run come to an end. He also saw the end of his streak of six consecutive games with a home run against the Rangers.
Athletics catcher Jonathan Lucroy went 0-for-3 as his 13-game hit streak against the Rangers was halted, but he did have an RBI on an eighth-inning sacrifice fly that proved to be the difference.
--Field Level Media