BY DANIEL GLUSKOTER
Chad Pinder’s two-out walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning drove home Stephen Piscotty with the winning run, giving the A’s a 6-5 win over the Texas Rangers at the Coliseum and a sweep of their three game series.
The Rangers came from behind to tie twice behind a pair of home runs by Nomar Mazara, and a solo shot by Logan Forsythe, but a three run blast from Marcus Semien in the second along with Matt Chapman’s fifth inning homer helped set the stage for Pinder’s heroics for Oakland.
Following the game, the A’s departed for a nine game road trip that will take them to Toronto, Boston and Pittsburgh. Mike Fiers (2-2, 8.28) takes the mound for the A’s against the Blue Jays Marcus Stroman (1-3, 1.76) Friday night in the opener as Oakland will try to avenge getting swept by Toronto last weekend at the Coliseum.
GAME NOTES:
Stephen Piscotty’s two hits extended his hitting streak against Texas to 17 games, the longest hitting streak against the Rangers in Athletics history. It was also the 500th game of Piscotty’s career.
Injured first baseman Matt Olson has been hitting soft toss and could begin a rehab assignment as soon as next week.
Rangers pitcher Kyle Dowdy was making his first Major League start.