Oakland A’s extend win streak to 11 with sweep of Minnesota

The Oakland A’s (12-7) swept the Minnesota Twins in a three-game series behind a walkoff win 13-12 in game three Wednesday afternoon.

After an abysmal 1-7 start to the season, the Oakland A’s collected 11 straight wins to claim the lead in the AL West.

With a postponed game on Monday, Oakland faced Minnesota in a double-header on Tuesday and the final game Wednesday.

With the new rules in baseball, both games of the doubleheader were seven innings.

Game 1: Oakland 7, Minnesota 0

Sean Manaea pitched a complete-game shutout in the first game of a doubleheader as the Oakland A’s trounced Minnesota 7-0, Tuesday afternoon.

Manaea ran into potential trouble to start the game as he surrendered a two-out single that put runners on first and second, but escaped the inning with no runs allowed.

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In the top of the second, Manaea breezed through the bottom half of the order to keep the game tied.

Oakland led off the bottom of the second with a walk from Matt Chapman, but a forceout from Sean Murphy made it one out with a runner on first. Mitch Moreland crushed an 0-2 splitter to give Oakland the 2-0 lead.

Minnesota threatened again in the top of the third with runners on the corners and one out, but Manaea rebounded as he got a fly out and struck out the next batter to keep the game 2-0.

The offense exploded for Oakland in the bottom of the fourth. Moreland led off with his second homer of the day. Matt Olson came up with the bases loaded and two outs, belted a grand slam. This inning gave Oakland a 7-0 lead, which was the eventual final.

Manaea allowed three hits, no walks, and two K’s as he dominated Minnesota in game one.

In the A’s 7-0 victory Manaea surrendered six hits and one walk behind seven strikeouts and no runs allowed in 7.0 innings pitched.

Game 2: Oakland 1, Minnesota 0

The Oakland A’s edged out a 1-0 win in game two of the doubleheader Tuesday afternoon as both offenses stalled.

Jesus Luzardo took the mound for Oakland in game two and stymied Minnesota.

In the top of the first, Minnesota managed a  one-out single, but hit into a double play the next batter for a one-two-three inning for Luzardo.

Luzardo cut through Minnesota’s lineup with ease as the next three innings he pitched all went one-two-three.

In the bottom of the fourth, Oakland’s offense generated a run. Olson led off with a double before Chapman lined out to right. Moreland walked to put runners on first and second with one out. Brown singled home a run, but the next batter promptly hit into a double play to end the inning.

In the top of the fifth, Luzardo surrendered another one-out single but kept Minnesota off the board.

Luzardo surrendered a leadoff walk in the top of the sixth, but bounced back as he struck out the next hitter before being relieved on the mound by Lou Trivino.

Two wild pitches allowed Minnesota a runner on third with two outs, but did not get the run across.

Jake Diekman pitched the top of the seventh and hit the first batter before striking out the next. Minnesota soon made it first and second with one out. Diekman got the next two batters and recorded the save as Oakland won game two.

With 5.1 innings pitched, two hits, one walk, and six K’s Luzardo pitched a masterful game to give his team the win.

Game 3: Oakland 12, Minnesota 10

If there was any game that epitomized the game of baseball— this was the game.

It was a blow-for-blow game as both teams traded runs and the lead. Minnesota scored one in the top of the first, Oakland scored three in the bottom of the second. In the top of the third, Minnesota scored three, Oakland rebutted in the bottom of the inning with four.

Eventually, it was 10-9 Minnesota heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Ramon Laureano led off with a walk but a line out from Jed Lowrie made it one on with one out. Olson singled to make it first and third with one out. Chapman hit a sac fly to tie the game before going into the 10th inning.

Per the new rules, a runner was placed on second for Minnesota, but Byron Buxton belted a two-run bomb to give Minnesota a 12-10 lead.

With a runner on second, Oakland’s chances dwindled fast as Stephen Piscotty and Sean Murphy made outs.

A couple of walks loaded the bases for Mark Canha. With a hot shot to the right side of the infield, the second basemen bobbled it and did not recover in time— it was now 12-11.

On a 1-2 count, Laureano grounded to third base in what looked like a routine play, but the throw sailed wide toward right field and allowed the A’s to score two and win 13-12 in a dramatic walk-off fashion.

With an 11-game win streak, Oakland heads to Baltimore for a three-game series against the Orioles with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Friday.

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