MINNEAPOLIS – Jharel Cotton stepped up for an A’s team that was stuck in the muck Thursday, turning in a nine-strikeout performance that carried Oakland to an 8-5 win over the Twins.
It was just the second win of a nine-game road trip that came to an end Thursday afternoon. Along the way Oakland hadn’t hit much, but thanks to drawing seven walks, the A’s had plenty of base runners and for once capitalized.
They would need all seven walks, 14 hits and eight runs, because the Twins loaded the base in the ninth with one out against closer Santiago Casilla before Oakland could wrap it up.