The A’s scored seven runs in the 3rd inning and then kept piling on, resulting in a 12-3 rout of the Texas Rangers on Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum.
In each of their two previous games, Oakland collected just two hits through eight innings but then heated up at the last minute to snatch walk-off wins during extra frames.
By the end of the rally, they’d gotten run-scoring doubles from Starling Marte, Matt Olson, Yan Gomes, and Matt Chapman, plus an RBI single from Andrus in his second plate appearance of the frame.
With former A’s pitcher Jharel Cotton on the mound for the Rangers , Gomes came up with two runners on and went yard.
Having already heard from two of Oakland’s new hitters in Marte and Gomes, Josh Harrison got in on the action in the 5th inning.
Marte, Gomes, and Harrison combined to go 7-for-15 with two homers, two doubles, 7 RBI, and four runs scored.
He got off to a shaky start, as the third batter of the game blasted a two-run homer off him, but from there he retired 21 of the next 24 batters he faced.
This was Irvin’s third appearance against the Rangers this summer, and by far his best, after each of the previous two finished with five innings and three earned runs apiece.
The A’s have won seven of their last nine games, and in three of those wins they scored at least eight runs.