MINNEAPOLIS -- With the A's in need of a bounce-back win, Matt Chapman (Chappy) did the heavy lifting on Friday and crushed a three-run homer in the eighth inning to push Oakland to a 7-1 win over the Twins at Target Field.
A night earlier, Oakland had dropped back-to-back games for the first time in the month of August, caught in a heated battle with the Astros for first place in the American League West. With the A's clinging to a 2-1 lead, Chapman stepped to the plate with a pair of runners aboard and worked a full count against Minnesota reliever Oliver Drake before depositing a deep homer into the right-field bleachers.