by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s are definitely on a roll. Must be something in the water. Maybe it’s the pixie dust from being near the Golden State Warriors but the A’s have seemingly started to turn the season around as they won for the fifth time in a row by coming from behind to beat the Texas Rangers 6-3 Thursday afternoon. The A’s ace, Sonny Gray was not at his best but was still good enough to beat the Rangers and A’s nemesis, Colby Lewis. Gray went six innings allowing three runs on nine hits and struck out seven to notch his ninth win. Gray was the pitcher of record when the A’s scored three times in the seventh to take a 6-3 lead. The much-maligned bullpen performed well again as Drew Pomeranz, and Edward Mujica combined to pitch two scoreless innings. Closer Tyler Clippard pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his thirteenth save of the year.

The Rangers took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Mitch Moreland hit a solo homer to center field that traveled some 412 feet. Joey Gallo doubled, and came home on a Robinson Chirinos single to left field. The A’s came back in the top of the fifth to tie the game. Rangers’ starter Colby Lewis may have been affected by the heat as he walked Ben Zobrist, Brent Lawrie, and Ike Davis to load the bases with one out. After Marcus Semien had lined out to short, Sam Fuld singled to center to drive in Zobrist and Lawrie.

The lead didn’t last long. The Rangers scored their third run of the game to take a 3-2 lead in their half of the inning. Prince Fielder reached on a double and scored on a Mitch Moreland single.

The A’s took the lead for good in the seventh. Lewis was done after six innings and was replaced by Keone Kela. Kela retired the first two batters that he faced. Billy Burns started the rally going by hitting a single to left. Eric Sogard and Stephen Vogt singled to load the bases. Lefty Sam Freeman was now pitching for Texas, and he walked Ben Zobrist to force in a run and the bases remained loaded. Josh Reddick singled off  Freeman to drive in Sogard and Vogt. Pomeranz, Mejica, and Clippard kept the Rangers off the board to win the game for Oakland.

Game Notes – The A’s have won five games in a row, the longest winning streak of the year and have won nine of the last eleven games played.The A’s are now 34-41 and are in fourth place in the AL West. After the game Josh Reddick commented on the three-game sweep of the Rangers “this is the kind of run we need to stay on, we’ve gotten to the point where we’re clicking on all cylinders.” Billy Burns’ hit in the seventh extended his hitting streak to fifteen games.

A’s manager Bob Melvin said he got no argument from Sonny Gray when he took him out of the game. “He knew it was the right thing. He battles himself sometimes. He can be as tough on himself as opposed to battling the opponent, and there are periods during the season when you just don’t feel completely locked in, which is odd to hear about him.”The A’s return to Oakland to start a ten game homestand against the Kansas City Royals, Colorado Rockies, and the Seattle Mariners and will play fifteen of the next eighteen at home.

The A’s series with the Royals should be interesting. There was a lot of bad blood between the teams when the A’s played in Kansas City earlier in the season. Melvin said, “water under the bridge, Just baseball, that’s the way I look at it.”

Jesse Hahn (5-5, 3.40ERA ) will pitch for the Green and Gold Friday night. Hahn has been very effective as he is 4-1 with an ERA of 2.25 in his last six starts.

Game time will be 7:05 at the O.co Coliseum.