By Morris Phillips

No one can say they’ve got a grasp on the confounding Oakland A’s.

The A’s went 20 innings scoreless as an opening act to their post All-Star-break and it wasn’t clear if the team knew that they would need to do more than put on their uniforms to be present and accounted for.

But then out of nowhere—and against a credible club in the Twins—the A’s responded with 13 runs over their next seven innings.  Two wins later, and sitting at 43-51, the A’s have escaped the cellar in the AL West (by percentage points), and remain in striking distance at nine games back.

Talk about a turnaround.  The A’s sleep-walked through the series opener, losing 5-0, but Sunday was a completely different story, a 14-1 win.  The A’s hit a season-best five home runs in the rout, and got a stellar start from rejuvenated Jesse Chavez, who allowed three hits in six innings.

Blindsided by the onslaught was former Athletic Tommy Milone, who made his first start against his former club, approximately a year after he demanded a trade from Oakland and was dealt to the Twins.  Milone’s been just as good in Minneapolis as he was in Oakland, but that changed dramatically on Sunday.  Milone allowed three of the five A’s home runs, and departed down 7-0 in the third inning.

“He never looks like he has nerves,” manager Bob Melvin said when questioned about Milone’s performance.  “He’s usually in control of what he’s doing out there. And a couple of the pitches really weren’t bad pitches.  I can’t see in and out as much, but I can see where the catcher sets up and two of the home runs were one-handed swings that looked like they might have been away.”

Jesse Chavez had an afternoon quite different from Milone’s.  The A’s starter cruised through six innings of work with nine strikeouts and only one walk allowed.  From Melvin’s perspective, the slightly-built pitcher benefitted greatly from the All-Star break.

“I saw a couple of 93’s today, life on the cutter again.  Good changeup today to be able to slow them down with that,” Melvin said.  “It was similar to what we’ve been seeing most of the year from him.”

“The break was great, it was just a good reset mentally—not physically—just mentally,” Chavez said.

Jake Smolinski—with just nine at-bats under his belt in Oakland—has made quite a first impression.  On the heels of his seeing-eye, game-tying hit on Saturday, Smolinski homered twice on Sunday.  Acquired from the Rangers with the thought he could provide quality at-bats against left-handed pitching, Smolinski has been that guy—at least in the last 24 hours.

Billy Butler homered for the second consecutive day, and Josh Reddick contributed a grand slam in the fourth to make the score 11-0.  Josh Phlegley had the other home run, off Milone, immediately following a throwing error that extended the third inning, and barely clearing the left field wall on a line.

Given all the conflicting play, where do the A’s go from here?  They won 29 of 50, an extended run of success, that seems more indicative of the club’s ability than their disastrous 14-30 start.  If they can win games within the AL West—31 of their remaining 68 games are against division opponents—they could become a factor in the race pretty quickly.  But the equation changes dramatically if Scott Kazmir is dealt before the trade deadline.

On Tuesday, the A’s continue their homestand against the Blue Jays and former teammate Josh Donaldson, having a breakout season in his first year in Toronto.  The Jays offer veteran starter Mark Buehrle in a matchup with Oakland’s Kendall Graveman at 7:15pm.