It was definitely cool, he pitched a really good

[officialsbaseball]

OAKLAND , Calif. (AP) — With a dominant 15-man bullpen, the Oakland Athletics don’t need much from their starters these days.That’s been story of the hottest team in baseball. On Sunday, they overcame a stinker.Stephen Piscotty homered and Oakland rallied from an early three-run deficit to beat the Texas Rangers 7-3, the Athletics’ fourth straight win and sixth in seven games.Trevor Cahill gave up three runs, two hits and six walks in 2 2/3 innings in his shortest start of the season.But the A’s got another stellar performance from their bullpen, as seven relievers combined for 6 1/3 scoreless innings of two-hit ball.Shawn Kelley (1-0) retired the only four batters he faced in relief of Cahill. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in 11 innings since coming over to Oakland in an Aug. 5 trade with the Washington Nationals.“There’s plenty of depth to go around,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We were getting deeper contributions from the starters there for a while. Right now, maybe not so much, and we’re having to cover a lot of the game, but my feeling is that they’ll respond and they’ll start going deeper in games so we can cut down on the amount of (relievers) we use.”Matt Olson had two hits including a double for the A’s, who are 30 games over .500 (87-57) for the first time since closing out 2013 at 96-66. They’ve won nine of their last 10 against the Rangers.Piscotty’s homer in the seventh inning was his career-high 23rd, surpassing his 2016 total with St. Louis.Oakland trailed 3-0 when Olson doubled off Ariel Jurado (2-5) in a five-run fourth in which the A’s scored five runs on three hits, three walks, an error, a wild pitch and a passed ball. Ramon Laureano doubled in a run later in the inning.“I think it’s pretty exemplary of how our entire season has been,” Piscotty said. “Everyone else knows to kick it in gear. It’s a special thing, it’s rare, and when we got it going, it’s pretty special.”Oakland used eight pitchers Saturday and seven Friday.Blake Treinen, who pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, lowered his ERA to a major league-best 0.87.Texas dropped to a season-high 21 games below .500 (61-82) after its 10th loss in 13 games.Jurado pitched behind Jeffrey Springs, who tossed three shutout innings of one-hit ball in an opening role. Jurado gave up four runs in two-thirds of an inning on four hits and two walks.“It’s different, it’s a change to baseball,” Springs said of the growing trend of using relief pitchers to start games.CAHILL’S K’SCahill’s strikeout of Jurickson Profar in the second inning was the 1 ,000th of his career.ADRIAN’S ADVANCEAdrian Beltre, who was 1 for 4 with an RBI, needs one home run to tie Stan Musial and Willie Stargell (475) for 30th on the career list and one hit to tie George Brett (3,154) for 16th. Beltre ranks 27th on the RBI list with 1,697.Rangers manager Jeff Banister said he’ll try to get the 39-year-old as many at-bats as he can.“I don’t want to miss those moments, and I don’t want him to miss any of those moments,” Banister said.MONTAS’ ROLERight-hander Frankie Montas is expected to be called up before the A’s open a six-game trip at Baltimore on Tuesday. He’ll be expected to absorb innings in a yet-to-be determined role.“It might be a game where we go with an opener, it might be a game where he pitches out of the bullpen, it might be a game where he starts. We’re not really sure yet,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We have a couple of openings on this road trip and we’re trying to sort through that.”TRAINER’S ROOMAthletics: LHP Brett Anderson (sprained left forearm) checked out OK a day after throwing three simulated innings. He’s expected to move into the rotation soon. “I think it’s going to be sometime on this road trip, but I’m not sure which day,” Melvin said. … OF Nick Martini and RHP Ryan Dull were activated before Sunday’s game. … 2B Jed Lowrie got a rare day off.UP NEXTRangers: LHP Mike Minor (11-7, 4.31 ERA) will pitch Monday’s series opener against the Angels in Los Angeles.Athletics: RHP Mike Fiers (11-6, 3.36) will pitch Tuesday’s series opener in Baltimore. Blake Snell has faced the Toronto Blue Jays twice this season en route to what looks like the second Cy Young Award in the 20-year history of the Tampa Bay Rays.In those two games, Snell has pitched 11 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out 17.Saturday night, he faces the Jays in his final start of the year, looking for his 22nd win when he faces Ryan Borucki in the second game of the final three-game series of the season.Article continues below ...Snell has 26 starts of two earned runs or less — 20 of one run or less. He has won nine straight starts, with a 1.03 ERA and is undefeated in 10 starts in August and September. His last loss came on July 12, before he went on the disabled list.The left-hander just defeated the Blue Jays last weekend in Toronto, when he outpitched Borucki, a hard-luck loser.“I think I’ll be telling my grandkids that I played behind him,” Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier said after that game.Said manager Kevin Cash: “I think he’s pretty much cemented his case that he belongs, not just in the conversation but right at the top of the list. He’s been dominant now for a couple of months.”Snell’s last win came with his team still mathematically alive in its late-season charge at a wild-card berth. That changed the next night when the Rays were officially eliminated , making the final days less meaningful.Not for Snell, who broke David Price’s franchise record of 20 victories.The Jays were playing meaningless games a long time ago, and this weekend they’re playing their final series under manager John Gibbons after word came out Wednesday that Gibbons will not be overseeing the team’s rebuild.Friday night, Toronto nipped the Rays 7-6 as Tampa Bay lost its second straight game, its fourth in five home games this week.Borucki has been a bright spot in a tough season, coming into this start 4-5 with a 3.76 ERA in 16 starts.He has faced the Rays twice, going 0-2 but allowing just four runs in 13 innings while striking out 12.Before last Sunday’s start, the lefty threw eight scoreless innings, striking out seven, in a win at Baltimore. Then he ran into Snell.“It was definitely cool, he pitched a really good game,” Borucki said. “He had all of his stuff working, kept us off balance and did a really good job. I was just trying to keep us in it, as close as we could. I had a couple of costly errors that cost me a couple of runs, but that’s just how it goes. He’s a pretty good pitcher.”So, apparently, is Borucki, who tossed his 11th quality start out of 16.“The kid can just pitch,” said Gibbons. “I think his breaking ball has gotten better since he has been here and he knows what he’s doing. He can throw different things in different times. … The bottom line is he can pitch. He has a feel for what he is doing and that can take him a long way.”The current Rays are just 6-for-44 (.176) with no homers against Borucki, Mallex Smith 1-for-7 (.143) and C.J. Cron 1-for-6 (.167).Devon Travis is 3-for-7 (.429) and Kevin Pillar 5-for-14 (.357) with a home run against Snell, but Kendrys Morales is 1-for-11 (.091), the hit a homer, Randal Grichuk 1-for-8 (.125) and Justin Smoak 2-for-12 (.167) against him.