Photo credit: @WEEI

By Amaury Pi-González

The powerful A’s now own a major-league record on Sunday in Chicago. Mark Canha hit a solo home run in the fifth inning to establish a new home run record. A streak of 25 consecutive road games with a home run. Previous modern record was set in 1996 by the Baltimore Orioles. Considering how often home runs are hit these days, it will be interesting to see how long this record last. Last season was the season of the home run, a record of 6,104.

A’s are calling up journeyman pitcher Edwin Jackson. This will be his 13th team tying a major league record. The moment Jackson wears the Green and Gold, he will tie Octavio Dotel, as one of the only two pitchers in history to have pitched for 13 different teams. You need at least three mainstays in a rotation to stay afloat, especially in this very tough AL West. This is not the NL West, this is a division with the Astros, Mariners and Angels, three teams that could be playing ball in October.

Bob Melvin is one of the best managers in the game today. The two-time Manager of the Year (2007 Arizona, 2012 Oakland) has done a terrific job with a very inconsistent rotation and like an expert chemist is trying to find the formula on a team, where the bullpen is in much better shape than the starting rotation. We know that the New York Mets’ Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom are not coming to Oakland. During the first half of the season we have seen Daniel Gossit, Paul Blackburn, Josh Lucas also taking the ball to start games. Daniel Mengden left a game this weekend in Chicago with a foot injury, so the A’s are calling up journeyman Edwin Jackson.

As of the start of the current road-trip in San Diego, there were three starters in the “rotation:” Sean Manaea, Daniel Mengden and Frankie Montás. We can take Mengden out for a while with that foot injury and see how Edwin Jackson will do with the Athletics uniform. From the start of this season, the A’s could have used a veteran pitcher, this team has an abundance of young pitchers with little experience. It seems like 10 years ago that Kendall Graveman opened this season for the A’s against the Angels on March 29th at the Oakland Coliseum.

The A’s have been playing good ball during this road trip against teams. They should be able to beat the Padres, White Sox and Tigers. These are teams that are at the bottom of their divisions. Yet in baseball, to be a contender you must beat these teams. Their road trip continues into Detroit for a four-game series prior to returning home next Friday from a weekend series against the AL Central leading Cleveland Indians and then a two-game set vs. the San Diego Padres during Independence week.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com