Davis' 2 HRs, including one in 9th, rally A's again

ARLINGTON -- It's almost incomprehensible what these A's are doing.
Following their latest magical mystery ride to victory, manager Bob Melvin had a hard time spelling it out.
"I don't know what to say," he said. "What do you say?"
Melvin's A's delivered more dramatics Wednesday, just 24 hours after they mounted a historic comeback to stun the Rangers.
The man in charge: Khris Davis, who belted two home runs against the team he routinely tortures -- including a two-out, two-run, opposite-field offering in a 2-2 count in the ninth inning to catapult the A's, trailing by four runs after the sixth, to a 6-5 win.

Their Major League-best 26th victory since June 16, which also featured a three-run blast from Davis in the seventh inning, kept them 1 1/2 games back of the Mariners for the second American League Wild Card spot.
The night before, the A's erased a 10-2 deficit with 11 unanswered runs; they've come from behind in 17 of their last 26 games, assisted by a surefire bullpen to move to 17 games over .500. All-Star closer Blake Treinen quietly locked down his 26th save with a scoreless ninth.
"It's awesome," Davis said. "I can't describe how much chemistry is a big part of this team. We're having as much fun as we can. We're joking. We're loose. Even if we're down, we're still loose. I think that's kind of the reason we've been coming back, is because we're still having fun."
Davis absolutely adores playing in the green and gold. He has said so regularly despite a stream of losing in his first two years with Oakland. Now he's savoring the sweet stuff, and dispatching homers at an absurd rate.

He has more home runs than any other player since the start of 2016 with 112 and six in his last four games to bring his season total to 27. Davis has hit 25 homers against the Rangers in 49 games. His five-RBI night also pushed his RBI count to 77, second most in the American League to Red Sox DH J.D. Martinez's 86.
Davis, too, struggled to find words after turning the game around with his signature swing. He clobbered a 97.6-mph fastball from right-hander José Leclerc, sending it into the second deck at Globe Life Park -- and sending Nick Martini, who drew a one-out walk, home.
Davis quickly joined him, skipping into a mob of pure glee.

"There's home runs, and then there's that," Melvin said. "Right-handed hitters just don't do that."
"Honestly, I blacked out," Davis said. "I was telling myself, 'swing at a good pitch,' and it showed up."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
After an inning-ending double play squashed the A's threat in the sixth, catcher Josh Phegley opened the seventh with a base hit. It appeared he would be stranded there, when Marcus Semien flied out and pinch-hitter Martini went down on strikes, but Jed Lowrie kept the inning alive with a walk, setting up Davis' three-run homer off Cory Gearrin.

BULLPEN BACKS JACKSON
Right-hander Edwin Jackson joined the A's on June 25 and was excellent in his first five outings, completing at least five innings while allowing no more than three earned runs in any of them. He gave up five in just 4 1/3 innings on Wednesday, though, laboring through much of them.
Jackson walked his first two batters of the second inning, then fell behind, 3-1, on Robinson Chirinos and was struck for a three-run homer that washed away Oakland's early one-run lead. The bullpen would pick him up: Yusmeiro Petit, Chris Hatcher, Ryan Buchter and Lou Trivino pieced together 3 2/3 scoreless innings ahead of Treinen's entrance.

SOUND SMART
Since the beginning of 2015, Davis leads leads the Majors with 19 multi-homer games. He has 20 in his career.

HE SAID IT
"The way we're playing right now, if we're in shouting distance, we have a chance to win." -- Melvin, on the A's recent run of success.
UP NEXT
Right-hander Trevor Cahill (1-2, 2.95 ERA) will be on the mound when the A's close out this four-game series at Globe Life Park on Thursday. Texas will counter with former A's starter Bartolo Colon (5-8, 4.85) in the 5:05 p.m. PT matchup. Cahill settled for a no-decision in his first start against the Rangers this year, allowing three runs across five innings in an A's win on April 23.