Davis Homers Twice As A's Rally Again To Top Rangers 6-5
ARLINGTON (AP) - Oakland slugger Khris Davis has more homers than anyone in the majors since the start of the 2016 season. The Texas Rangers have seen way too many of them.
Davis homered two more times in Texas, including a towering two-run homer with two strikes and two outs in the ninth inning Wednesday night, as the Athletics rallied again to beat the Rangers 6-5.
"Honestly, I blacked out and I couldn't tell you," Davis said when asked what he was thinking when down to his last strike. "I was telling myself, 'Swing at a good pitch,' and it showed up. It was amazing. I felt like I did my job."
Davis hit a three-run homer in the seventh to get the Athletics to 5-4. He went the opposite way in the ninth, a no-doubt blast into the upper deck of seats in right field off Jose Leclerc (2-3) for his 27th homer of the season.
"Up and away fastball, he did a great job at staying on it, hitting it out to right," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "He's one of those guys that probably feels very comfortable in the box against us."
Of his 112 homers the past three seasons — three more than Giancarlo Stanton of the New York Yankees — Davis has gone deep 24 times against the Rangers in that span. He has homered in six consecutive games against them.
Texas led 5-1 going into the seventh, a night after being ahead 10-2 into the seventh and losing 13-10 when Davis hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the 10th.
Davis has 25 homers and 57 RBIs in 49 career games overall against the Rangers — 15 homers and 31 RBIs in 26 road games, though he insisted he doesn't really feel any different when hitting in Texas.
"The moment that you think you have it figured out, it will bite you in the behind," he said. "I just take it pitch by pitch," he said.
Then as reporters started walking away from his locker, he called out, "See you tomorrow."
Only Ken Griffey Jr. has homered in more consecutive games against Texas — seven in a row with the Mariners in 1994.
Leclerc, without a save in his four chances, worked Wednesday in place of Keone Kela, the regular closer who threw a career-high 40 pitches and had his first blown save in 24 chances this season on Tuesday night.
Oakland has won the first three games of the four-game series, and 26 of 33 overall. They have won 10 of their last 11 series, with a split in the other.
Lou Trivino (8-1), the fifth Oakland pitcher, worked a scoreless eighth. Blake Treinen struck out the side in the ninth for his 26th save in 30 chances.
SCORING LATE
The A's have scored 24 of their 34 runs in this series in the seventh inning of later. They lead the majors with 201 runs scored in the seventh inning or later. "They try and tell me this is supposed to make me younger. I don't know that it makes me any younger. It might make him (Davis) younger," A's manager Bob Melvin said.
COMING BACK STRONG
The loss overshadowed six strong innings by Texas starter Martin Perez, who allowed only one run over six innings in his third start since coming back from 2 1/2 months for his second DL stint recovering from a broken right elbow during the offseason. "Probably one of the brighter spots of the night," Banister said.
RANGERS RUNS
Robinson Chirinos hit a three-run homer for Texas and Adrian Beltre doubled in the third, giving him 5,221 career total bases and matching Dave Winfield for 16th on that list. Beltre's RBI single in the fifthpushed him past Winfield and put the Rangers up 5-1 against A's starter Edwin Jackson.
LOT OF TEAMS
Oakland is the MLB record-matching 13th team for Jackson. Texas is the 11th team for Bartolo Colon, the Rangers scheduled starter Thursday. Colon pitched for the A's in 2012-13, making that one of four franchises both he and Jackson have pitched for — they've never been teammates. The common franchises include Colon pitching for the Montreal Expos before that team to the nation's capital, where Jackson pitched for the Washington Nationals. Overall, the two have pitched for 20 of the 30 current franchises.
UP NEXT
Colon, the 45-year-old portly right-hander, makes his fourth attempt to break a tie with Dennis Martinez for the most wins in the majors by a native of Latin America. Colon and Martinez each have 245 career victories. Colon was 28-15 with a 2.99 ERA in 54 starts for the A's, and has gone 10-6 with a 3.36 ERA in 22 career starts against them. Trevor Cahill (1-2) pitches for Oakland.
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