Profar's late homer helps ensure A's win

CLEVELAND -- Jurickson Profar’s rough start to the season seemed like it might be leading the A's toward a feeling of buyer’s remorse after trading for him in the offseason. But over these past few weeks, the second baseman is starting to perform more like the player Oakland was expecting to get.

After nearly having to exit the game as he was hit by a pitch on his right foot in each of his first two at-bats, Profar had no issues in the eighth inning when he clobbered a solo homer off Indians reliever Adam Cimber to provide the A’s some insurance in Tuesday’s 5-3 win, extending their season-high winning streak to five games.

Profar’s first month with the A’s went about as badly as it could. He batted .165 and led all Major League second basemen with seven errors. But over the month of May, Profar has turned it on, hitting .274 with five of his seven homers in 17 May games. His homer on Tuesday night was his second in as many days, continuing his tear on Oakland’s nine-game road trip, hitting .333 with three home runs and seven RBIs through the first eight games.

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“He is playing great and made some great plays,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s starting to get really comfortable, and you can see why the organization wanted to go out and get him. He’s been instrumental on a lot of these wins here recently.”

The resurgence at the plate for Profar could be coming at the right time as slugger Khris Davis may be out for an extended period of time after his nagging left hip issue forced him to leave the game in the third inning on Tuesday. Pinch-hitting for Davis in the third, Mark Canha smashed a two-run homer off Tribe starter Trevor Bauer to break a 1-1 tie.

A’s starter Chris Bassitt’s command issues led to his shortest outing of the season. The right-hander racked up a career-high six walks, leaving the game after just 3 2/3 innings. Despite the issues, Bassitt only allowed three runs and left the game with Oakland ahead by one run.

Liam Hendriks replaced Bassitt with two runners on and Carlos Santana, who homered off Bassitt the previous inning, coming up. Hendriks struck out Santana to preserve the lead and began a stretch of 5 1/3 scoreless innings worked by the A’s bullpen, concluding with Blake Treinen recording his ninth save of the year.

“This whole team won the game for me today,” Bassitt said. “You go 3 2/3 innings, walk six and give up two home runs, the odds are really high that you’ll take an 'L.' To escape with a no-decision was unbelievable.”

Piscotty keeps the streak alive

Stephen Piscotty drew a walk in his first plate appearance of the game to extend his on-base streak to 21 games, which is the longest active streak in the Majors.