Davis leads A's power surge to beat Blue Jays

Davis leads A's power surge to beat Blue Jays

May 17th, 2018

TORONTO -- and the A's brought their power bats to Toronto with three big home runs in Thursday's 10-5 win at Rogers Centre to open their four-game series against the Blue Jays.
Davis went 4-for-4 with a home run to lead an A's offense that combined for 14 hits and six walks, which was more than enough to overcome their 13 strikeouts.
"It felt amazing to have a breakout day, contribute and put together good ABs," Davis said. "I'm going to build off it, enjoy it today and forget it tomorrow."
Davis got it started for the A's with a two-run shot to the opposite field in the third, which gave them a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Davis took a two-seamer from Blue Jays starter 391 feet to right field with an exit velocity of 104.2 mph, according to Statcast™, for his 13th home run of the season.
continued his recent resurgence with his third home run in four games. His three-run shot to right field off Seunghwan Oh in the fifth inning traveled just 349 feet with an exit velocity of 93.8 mph, but it had plenty of height and stayed up just long enough to clear the wall.
"Olson catches one off his legs and it ends up leaving the ballpark. Not too many guys are strong enough to do that," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "He stayed back just long enough. When we're swinging pretty good and getting some contributions from everybody, it can turn into 10 runs like it did tonight."

Not to be outdone, got in on the fun in the sixth with a two-run shot, his eighth, to extend the A's lead to 9-4 after the Blue Jays had narrowed the gap with three runs in the fifth. Chapman had been held hitless in nine of 15 games in May entering play on Thursday.
"He's just pretty good," Melvin said. "Young players are going to go through some slumps. He's going to strike out from time to time and he's going to go through some slumps, but his defense is always there, and as you see tonight, he's always one swing away from [two] runs."

Starter left the game with right forearm nerve discomfort in the third, which caused the A's to lean heavily on their bullpen the rest of the way. threw 2 2/3 innings of relief to register the win.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
A's escape vs. Donaldson:Josh Donaldson came up to the plate as the tying run in the bottom of the eighth with the chance to deliver the big blow against his former team, but reliever forced him to ground out weakly to shortstop to strand the bases loaded and escape the threat.

TRIGGS EXITS INJURED
Triggs was forced out of the game after throwing 42 pitches (19 strikes) over 2 1/3 innings.
"I felt something on the last pitch of the first, which was that changeup to [Yangervis] Solarte," Triggs said, "and it was kind of that tingling, shooting sensation from thumb to middle finger. Then a couple times in the second, so it didn't concern me all that much, then it was more frequent in the third."
Triggs had thrown six consecutive balls when the trainers and coaching staff came out to speak with him, and they were focusing on his hands and fingers. Triggs was removed from the game with one out and a 2-0 count on . came in and retired Smoak and Solarte to end the inning.
• Triggs exits with forearm nerve discomfort

SOUND SMART
• Oakland pitching ended a 10-game streak of allowing at least one home run on Thursday. The A's allowed 18 homers in that stretch.
• The A's offense leads the Majors with 44 home runs on the road.
UP NEXT
Left-hander makes the start against his old team in the second game of the four-game series against the Blue Jays on Friday at 4:07 p.m. PT. Between Anderson's last two outings against the Astros and Yankees, he's allowed 13 runs (11 earned) over eight innings. Catcher Josh Phegley, who was recalled for the series to replace (restricted list), is set to start behind the plate. Right-hander will start for Toronto.