OAKLAND -- After the A’s went a third straight game without a home run Friday night, outfielder Mark Canha told reporters that somebody needed to “make something happen” in order to get the energy going again. On Saturday night, he took it upon himself to be that guy.
Canha’s solo blast off Rangers starter Adrian Sampson in the second inning snapped the A’s season-high streak of homerless games and was the first of four home runs they slugged on the night in a 5-4 victory over Texas. The win moved Oakland into a tie with the Red Sox for the second American League Wild Card.
“Home runs are part of our identity,” Canha said. “It’s not something that’s really controllable, so you just control what you can. I think moving forward, good at-bats will be key and those will lead to the home runs. Not trying extra hard to hit home runs.”
Marcus Semien, Matt Chapman and Ramón Laureano each followed Canha with homers of their own off Sampson, with Chapman’s two-run blast in the fifth marking his first home run and RBI since July 16.
“We hit homers,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “That’s what we do, and that was the brunt of it today. It got a little close at the end, but we had enough distance early on.”
The four home runs accounted for all five of the A’s runs and were all necessary after the Rangers chased A’s starter Homer Bailey in the seventh by plating home four runs in the inning. Texas threatened to score the tying run on Nomar Mazara’s two-out single to right off Yusmeiro Petit, but a strong throw from Chad Pinder nailed Elvis Andrus as he tried to score at the plate, with catcher Chris Herrmann hanging on for the final out of the inning despite getting run over by the Rangers' shortstop.
"That's impressive for a guy that hasn't played out there a whole lot,” Melvin said of Pinder’s throw. “We've seen his arm in the past and he works on it all the time, just doesn't get enough reps to where you think in that situation he would be able to come up with a throw like that. It was obviously the key play of the game."
Making his first appearance since a blown save in Minnesota on July 21 that snapped a career-high and A’s season-high scoreless streak of 20 2/3 innings, Liam Hendriks bounced back with a clean ninth to record his ninth save of the year.
Wish kid calls Chapman’s shot
There was something special in the air during Chapman’s two-run homer. Just hours before Saturday’s game, the A’s hosted 8-year-old August Wold from the Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area chapter. The club signed him to a one-day contract with the team, and during a press conference surrounded by A’s players at the Coliseum, Wold predicted that Chapman would hit a home run later that night.
“We should bring him out again tomorrow,” Melvin said.
Chapman was one of many A’s players who hung out with Wold during batting practice, gifting him a bat before the game.
“He’s my good luck charm,” Chapman said. “I was thankful. It had been a while. We need to take him on the road with us.”