The Oakland Athletics have officially ended the Houston Astros' streak of being alone in first place of the AL West Division, which dates back to June 14th. That came to an end on Saturday afternoon, as the Athletics cruised to a 7-1 victory over the Astros at Oakland Coliseum, pulling in to a tie for first place in the American League West. Trevor Cahill had seven shutout innings, as he allowed just one hit for his fifth win of the year. Cahill struck out seven on the night, as the A's finally found themselves atop the division after spending the entire summer chasing in the race.
The Athletics set a team record with eight doubles on the day, as Khris Davis, Matt Olson, Josh Phegley, and Stephen Piscotty each had two of them in their sixth win over the past seven games. Oakland trailed by as many as 12 games in the division race on June 18th. They had just reached .500 at that point, and even after their red-hot play started, they were still 10 games out as late as July 10th.
The only hit Cahill gave up was an infield single to Yuli Gurriel in the second inning. He would then go on to retired 14 straight batters, as he remained hot since coming off of the disabled list. Cahill is 4-0 over his past six starts, which is his longest personal win streak in five years. Before this recent hot streak, Cahill was on the disabled list with an Achilles injury since June. He has now also won 10 consecutive games at Oakland Coliseum.
Dallas Keuchel struggled in his 10th loss of the season, giving up five runs on nine hits over 5.2 innings. That is the most runs he has allowed in nine starts, which dates back to June 27th, when he gave up six of them against the Toronto Blue Jays. Tony Kemp's ninth-inning home run was good for the only run of the day for Houston.
The Athletics are now 25 games over .500 for the first time since August 14th, 2014, They have gotten this far in to the success by winning series, as they improved to 15-1-2 over their past 18 series, which dates back to June 15th. A couple streaks that people were watching included Alex Bregman's now 38-game on-base streak on the road, which extended with a walk in the seventh. The other, Matt Chapman's 30-game on-base streak and 14-game hitting streak, came to an end when he finished 0-for-4.
The Athletics will look to be all alone in first place in the AL West for the first time this season if they can complete the sweep in the series finale on Sunday.
The Athletics set a team record with eight doubles on the day, as Khris Davis, Matt Olson, Josh Phegley, and Stephen Piscotty each had two of them in their sixth win over the past seven games. Oakland trailed by as many as 12 games in the division race on June 18th. They had just reached .500 at that point, and even after their red-hot play started, they were still 10 games out as late as July 10th.
The only hit Cahill gave up was an infield single to Yuli Gurriel in the second inning. He would then go on to retired 14 straight batters, as he remained hot since coming off of the disabled list. Cahill is 4-0 over his past six starts, which is his longest personal win streak in five years. Before this recent hot streak, Cahill was on the disabled list with an Achilles injury since June. He has now also won 10 consecutive games at Oakland Coliseum.
Dallas Keuchel struggled in his 10th loss of the season, giving up five runs on nine hits over 5.2 innings. That is the most runs he has allowed in nine starts, which dates back to June 27th, when he gave up six of them against the Toronto Blue Jays. Tony Kemp's ninth-inning home run was good for the only run of the day for Houston.
The Athletics are now 25 games over .500 for the first time since August 14th, 2014, They have gotten this far in to the success by winning series, as they improved to 15-1-2 over their past 18 series, which dates back to June 15th. A couple streaks that people were watching included Alex Bregman's now 38-game on-base streak on the road, which extended with a walk in the seventh. The other, Matt Chapman's 30-game on-base streak and 14-game hitting streak, came to an end when he finished 0-for-4.
The Athletics will look to be all alone in first place in the AL West for the first time this season if they can complete the sweep in the series finale on Sunday.
