OAKLAND — As best as he can, Bob Melvin keeps his mind from wandering to what the upstart Oakland Athletics might accomplish by season's end if they keep going like this. Josh Reddick insists it goes for him, too. That's OK, everybody else is doing plenty of scoreboard watching for the A's as this overachieving club tries to get back to the post-season for the first time in six years. In one impressive 10-day stretch, Oakland (76-57) is suddenly in a tie with the New York Yankees for the second-best record in the American League behind the two-time reigning AL champion Texas Rangers (79-54). “It's crazy,” pitcher Brett Anderson said. “Who would have predicted that Sept. (2) that we'd be tied with the Yankees for the same record? Everything's working right now — offense, defense, pitching. When that's happening, special things are going to happen.” Seth Smith hit a two-run homer, Stephen Drew hit a solo shot for his first clout since joining Oakland and the A's beat the Boston Red Sox 6-2 Sunday for their season-best ninth straight win. Anderson (3-0) won his third straight start since returning from a 14-month absence to recover from Tommy John surgery. Having him back is a big boost for the AL wild-card leading A's down the stretch after they lost Bartolo Colon to a 50-game suspension Aug. 22. Reddick added a sacrifice fly and Yoenis Cespedes drove in a run with a groundout for the A's. They have the club's longest winning run since 10 in a row from June 8-18, 2006, in the last year they reached the playoffs. Oakland has 29 games left, including seven against Texas and all but six contests with Seattle coming against opponents with winning records. Rangers 8, Indians 3: Jurickson Profar made quite a debut at age 19, homering in his first major league at-bat and doubling his next time up as Texas Rangers beat the hometown Indians. Profar opened the third inning with a drive over the right-field wall, connecting on a 2-1 pitch from Zach McAllister (5-6). The teen finished 2-for-4 as a late substitute after second baseman Ian Kinsler was scratched with a stiff back. Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre and David Murphy all hit solo home runs in the Texas fifth. Orioles 8, Yankees 3: Mark Reynolds hit a three-run shot in the sixth inning for his second two-homer game of the weekend series and visiting Baltimore closed in on the AL East-leading Yankees. Randy Wolf (1-0) made his first appearance for Baltimore when starter Chris Tillman left with right elbow stiffness after the third inning. He helped the Orioles pull within two games of the Yankees with 3 1/3 effective innings. Reynolds made the ballpark in the Bronx his personal launching pad in this key matchup between the top two teams in the division. He homered twice in Friday's victory then got Baltimore on the scoreboard Sunday when he hit a mammoth drive leading off the fifth inning.Reynolds' 16th homer with none out in the sixth finished Hughes (13-12) and put Baltimore ahead 5-3. Tigers 4, White Sox 2: Justin Verlander shut down Chicago after the first inning and Delmon Young hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the sixth to lift the Tigers to a share of first place in the AL Central. Mariners 2, Angels 1: Jesus Montero hit another home run off Angels ace Jered Weaver, leading Hisashi Iwakuma and Seattle to victory. Royals 6, Twins 4: Tony Abreu drove in three runs and the Kansas City Royals beat Minnesota to avoid a three-game sweep. In another game it was Tampa Bay 9, Toronto 4. — Agencies
