Photo credit: @Athletics

By Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s came back from a tough 6-5 loss Monday night to pummel the Chicago Cubs and their ace, Jon Lester, 11-4 at Wrigley Field. Lester, who pitched for the A’s in 2014, suffered his worst loss since July 22, 2012, when he was with Boston and was trounced by the Toronto Blue Jays. The A’s sent Brett Anderson to the mound, and Anderson won his first game in a month. Anderson went six innings and allowed two runs and seven hits. Cubs third baseman rocked Anderson for a home run in the sixth.

The A’s put eight runs on the board in the top of the second. Mark Canha started the onslaught with a leadoff triple. Lester struck out Chad Pinder for the first out. Stephen Piscotty singled to drive in Canha with the A’s first run. Robbie Grossman singled to put two men on with one out. A’s catcher Dustin Garneau hit a blast that traveled 413 feet to the last row in the left-field seats to up the lead to 4-0. Brett Anderson followed with a single. Lester walked Marcus Semien and Matt Chapman to load the bases. Matt Olson singled to drive in Anderson and Semien. Chapman advanced to third on the play. Canha then grounded into a fielder’s choice. Chapman scored when the Cubs’ catcher Victor Caratini mishandled the throw from Cubs’ first baseman Anthony Rizzo. Olson went to third and scored on Chad Pinder’s ground out to second. The A’s led 8-0.

The A’s added three more in the top of the fourth. Matt Chapman worked Lester for a walk. Lester then struck out Olson and Canha. Pinder singled to put two men on with two out. Stephen Piscotty blasted his 10th round-tripper of the season to give the A’s a commanding 11-0 lead.

The Cubs scored two in the sixth and two in the ninth. It was too little and too late. The A’s won a laugher 11-4.

Game Notes; Brett Anderson improved to 10-7 for the season. Lester dropped to 9-8. The A’s are now 65-49 for the ear. They still trail the Tampa Bay Rays by 1/2 game for the second Wild Card Slot in the American League. The Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-6 in 10 innings to maintain their 1/2 game lead over the A’s.

Bob Melvin used Lou Trivino in the seventh, and Wei-Chung Wang pitched the eighth and ninth. Trivino pitched a scoreless seventh. Wang gave up four hits and two runs in his two innings of work.

Up Next: The A’s finish the three-game series with the Cubs on Wednesday. Homer Bailey (9-7) will go for Oakland, and he will be opposed by lefty Jose Quintana (9-7). Game time is at 11:00 am.