Khris crushes 3-run homer to lift A's over Boston

OAKLAND -- Khris Davis wasn't going to let David Price get ahead of him. The A's DH went to the plate in the eighth inning of a tie game and hit a first-pitch three-run homer that carried the Athletics to a 4-1 win over the Boston Red Sox at the Coliseum on Sunday.
"It was first-pitch hacking, that's what happened," Davis said after the A's became the first team this season to hand the Red Sox back-to-back losses. "I think he wanted it a little further in, obviously. It was on the plate, and I was looking to be aggressive and get him early."
Davis, who also drove in Oakland's first run with an RBI single in the first, and the A's were feeling good about themselves after a 5-1 homestand that included some dominant pitching. From the seventh inning Friday to the seventh inning Sunday, A's pitchers held MLB's highest-scoring team without a run.

Starter Daniel Mengden, who'd allowed the White Sox one run in eight innings earlier in the week, came back with one run allowed in 6 1/3 innings against Boston, a team averaging 6 1/2 runs per game before the last two days.
"It's special for the starters to be able to come in after the game knowing we did our jobs," Mengden said. "We know we're going to score runs if we give our guys a chance."

Now Oakland, 11-11, has a chance to get over .500 as it heads out on a three-city trip to Texas, Houston and Seattle.
"This is huge -- we've just got to ride the wave out as long as we can," Davis said. "The pitching has been fantastic. Anytime the pitching is on, we want to be putting up runs. We couldn't ask for anything more."
In the wake of Saturday's no-hitter from Sean Manaea, Mengden did what he could to keep the Red Sox's bats at bay. Ahead 1-0 from the first, Mengden threw six shutout innings before Brock Holt's one-out double tied the game and put men on second and third with one out. Yusmeiro Petit, who'd just rejoined the team after almost a week off to visit his ailing mother in Venezuela, pitched out of the jam.
"That was incredible," Mengden said of the job Petit did. "He cleaned up my mess."

Oakland had only one runner in scoring position against Price between the second and seventh innings. But Marcus Semien and Stephen Piscotty singled with one out in the eighth, and after Jed Lowrie struck out, it was up to Davis to deliver his sixth homer and let closer Blake Treinen take it the rest of the way home.
Treinen, who took over one out into the top of the eighth, got two quick outs in the ninth only to come up limping after the second. He'd caught his spikes in the dirt and felt "a little grab" in his knee, but said after about 20 seconds of being checked out, he felt fine.

SOUND SMART
Semien, who leads off most of the time against left-handed pitching, scored all three runs Saturday and the first two A's runs Sunday to give him five in a row. And with the A's in the middle of five consecutive games against left-handed starters, he'll be at the top of the lineup again the next three days.
HE SAID IT
"Khris Davis is a three-run homer waiting to happen." -- A's manager Bob Melvin

UP NEXT
A's DH Davis, who drove in four runs Sunday, will be looking to fatten his offensive numbers during the three-game series vs. the Rangers, which begins Monday at 5:05 p.m. PT. He has eight career homers and a .338 career average at Globe Life Park. The downside is he's never gotten a hit (0-for-6) against Monday starter Matt Moore, who will oppose Oakland starter Trevor Cahill.