The Oakland A’s are seemingly incapable of winning in a boring fashion. The team has spent the last week finding outlandish ways to victories, such as winning two straight walk-offs against the dreaded Giants, coming back from an eight-run deficit to win by three, and hanging 15 runs on the poor Rangers. Last night, the A’s did it again.
The first two thirds of the game were rather bleak, as Oakland starting pitcher Edwin Jackson looked tired, and his teammates failed to muster much offense with runners on base. The A’s found themselves down 5-1 in the seventh. But there’s something about playing against the Rangers that makes Khris Davis become Babe Ruth: the DH has clubbed 24 home runs against them in his past three seasons, including 15 homers in 26 total road games in Texas. Last night, Davis crushed one to center field in the seventh inning to make it 5-4. (The little fan in the A’s cap got the ball after missing out on a Rangers dinger earlier in the night.) Two innings later, he sent a baseball to the moon for the go-ahead homer as Oakland won, 6-5.
Davis now has six dongs in his last four games and 27 on the season. He’s walloped 112 home runs since the start of the 2016 season, more than anyone else in the majors. This is the highest concentration of dingers any Athletic has hit in a four-game span since Mark McGwire did it 31 years ago. Mushing pitches in Arlington has become something instinctual for Davis, as he told reporters after the game, “I blacked out. I was telling myself to swing at a good pitch — and it showed up.” Oakland is now 60-43, which is sixth in MLB, and the team has gone 26-7 since June 15.
The A’s will get no-hit through eight innings tonight and somehow win by seven runs.