*Photo from ESPN*
Mike Fiers dominated, Chad Pinder homered, and the Oakland Athletics maintained their lead in the wild card standings with an 8-0 shutout of the Texas Rangers. The Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Indians both won on Friday night, so this win kept Oakland's lead of the first AL wild card spot at two games. Fiers is trying to prove that he can start the wild card game and lead Oakland to the ALDS, and he did a good job of that tonight.
Oakland jumped ahead in the second inning when Pinder hit a 3 run bomb to center field to make it 3-0 A's. In the 3rd, Mark Canha hit an RBI double to right field to increase the lead to 4. In the 4th, Marcus Semien hit an RBI double to make the lead 5-0. In the 5th, Canha shot a solo homer into the left field seats to make it 6-0 Oakland. In the 7th, Ramon Laureano hit an RBI single to right field, and Matt Chapman scored on a wild pitch in the 8th to make it 8-0.
Fiers dominated Texas, throwing 8 innings of mastery. He allowed just two hits over his 8 innings, and struck out 5 to improve to 15-4 on the season. Chris Bassitt pitched the 9th for Oakland. In Fiers' start against Texas last Saturday, he exited with nerve irritation in his arm. Manager Bob Melvin said of Fiers' performance that ''I guess his elbow's OK." Fiers said after the game that ''The last three starts haven't been ideal, so I want to show these guys I've still got it, coming out today, I needed to make a statement and show them that I can still pitch.''
Mike Minor took the loss for Texas. He went 5 innings, and gave up 6 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks. He struck out 3 hitters. The loss drops Minor's record to 13-10 on the season. Ariel Jurado, Yohander Méndez, and Taylor Guerrieri finished the game for Texas. Minor said that ''I don't know what the stats are but when you don't throw the ball where you want to and you can't throw an off-speed pitch for a strike, it's pretty tough." Shin Soo Choo and Delino DeShields had the two hits for Texas.
The A's will get a piece back for their final playoff push, as Frankie Montas is eligible to return on Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Angels. Montas was given an 80 game PED suspension early in the summer. He may be used in a relief role for the push. The A's will give lefty Sean Manaea his 4th start of the season in Saturday's game. Manaea has allowed a max of one run in his first 3 starts. Texas counters with lefty Brock Burke, who is making his 6th start and seeking his first win.
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