By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND — Innings two through four were relative successes for the A’s on Sunday afternoon.

Innings five through nine were unmitigated disasters hand-delivered by the Cleveland Indians in the visitors 15-3 romp that sent journalists covering the game scrambling to check the record books.

The hitterish Indians racked up 20 hits–including two homers and 11 doubles–which basically turned the Coliseum into a pinball machine. The 11 doubles were the most one team has compiled in a major league game since 2003, and the most ever in a game at the Coliseum.

“Hopefully, this gets us going in the right direction,” said Indians’ star Francisco Lindor, who racked up two doubles and a home run. “Guys were on the right path. Guys felt very comfortable today.”

The A’s started the game with a six-game win streak (and wins in 12 of 14) and a bunch of momentum just from beating the first-place Indians two days in row. But this moment held even more significance: at 46-38 the A’s hadn’t held such a prominent spot in the American League standings (5th best record in the AL) since 2014.

Frankie Montas has played a nice role in the A’s recent surge, but to be fair, he’s had some rough outings at the Coliseum, and this one, in length and intensity was the roughest. But somehow, despite allowing seven doubles in five plus innings, Montas allowed just three runs by getting big outs with runners in scoring position in three of the first four innings.  Montas departed after allowing–what else–an RBI double to Jason Kipnis, but Yusmeiro Petit picked Montas up by striking out Rajai Davis to end the sixth.

And somehow the A’s were in a winnable game at that point, trailing 3-1. But over the final three innings, Cleveland went bonkers, perhaps a retaliatory shot for the Northeast Ohio city’s tough month of June at the Coliseum Complex in which they lost two NBA Finals games before baseball losses Friday and Saturday.

In laying waste to the A’s bullpen, the Indians squeezed 11 hits, three walks and a hit batter into their final 24 plate appearances of the game. After recording the last out in the sixth, Petit allowed two home runs in the seventh. In the eight run, Chris Hatcher and Josh Lucas allowed the first ten Indians to reach base.

And Santiago Casilla gave up two runs–and two doubles–in the ninth.

The Indians created so much traffic on the bases Sunday afternoon, 25 of their 51 plate appearances came with a runner in scoring position. Thankfully, the A’s recorded outs on two-thirds of those at-bats or a 25-3 loss could have transpired.

“It was nice to scratch one out here,” said Indians outfielder Lonnie Chisenhall, who came up with an incredible, inning-ending catch in the first inning. “We got swept here last year. They’re a good team. They’ve been winning games.”

“When you haven’t pitched in six or seven (a week of inactivity) like some of them, it’s tough to locate,” manager Bob Melvin said of his leaky bullpen.

Melvin wasn’t happy with any of it, but he was understanding in that his club had endured a busy stretch of games without a day off. He said the team would benefit from having two of the next four days off ahead of a roadtrip that looks like a bear (at Cleveland, at Houston).

On Tuesday, the A’s welcome the Padres to the Coliseum with Chris Bassitt facing San Diego’s Clayton Richard.