Sixteen hits and a seven-inning shift
The Athletics never got the door shut. Minnesota put 16 hits on the board in West Sacramento overnight and walked out of the series opener with a 9-6 win, ending a three-game slide that had started to look like something worse.
Zebby Matthews did the heavy lifting. The right-hander worked seven innings, gave up six hits and one run, walked one and struck out seven. That is four straight winning starts for him in August, and it moved his record to 8-8. He handed the bullpen a seven-run cushion.
Josh Bell drove in three. His double high off the center field wall in the first put Minnesota ahead early, and he added a run-scoring groundout in the third and a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
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Culpepper and Buxton keep the line moving
Kaelen Culpepper collected four hits, a career high in his 14th game. Byron Buxton reached three times and crossed the plate four times. Ryan Kreidler turned on a 2-1 fastball to open the fifth for his sixth home run of the season, and Kody Clemens followed with a run-scoring single.
The sixth is where it got out of hand. Luke Keaschall doubled home two off Hayden Juenger. Kade Morris then came in with the bases loaded and watched Bell lift a sacrifice fly. Two more crossed in the eighth on singles by Clemens and Culpepper.
Jeffrey Springs took the loss and fell to 3-12. He lasted 4 2/3 innings and allowed four runs on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
A ninth-inning scare that arrived too late
Down 9-2, the Athletics found something with two outs in the ninth. Jeff McNeil doubled two runners home, then Zack Gelof and Lawrence Butler followed with doubles of their own. Andrew Morris replaced Yoendrys Gomez and retired Tommy White for his fourth save.
Henry Bolte and McNeil finished with three hits apiece and Butler added two hits and two RBIs. None of it changes where the Athletics sit, worst in the American League, losers of six of their last eight, with two more against Minnesota still to come.
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