Langeliers’ 3-run double sends MLB-worst A’s past MLB-best Rays for season-best 6th straight win

By JANIE McCAULEY (AP Baseball Writer)

OAKLAND — Shea Langeliers hit a three-run double in the fifth inning to break up a scoreless game, and the Oakland Athletics won their season-high sixth straight with a 4-3 victory against the major league-leading Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.

Ryan Noda added an RBI single in the fifth for the big league-worst A’s, finally riding some momentum after a weekend sweep in Milwaukee. James Kaprielian (2-6) pitched six solid innings, allowing three runs and five hits to win his second consecutive start.

A’s rookie Ken Waldichuk relieved him and worked out of a jam in the seventh when he struck out Randy Arozarena to strand runners at the corners. Waldichuk earned a three-inning save, the first of his career.

Jose Siri hit a three-run shot in the sixth for Tampa Bay’s 113th homer of the year to match the idle Dodgers for most in the majors.

Oakland (18-50) loaded the bases with none out in the fifth against Zach Eflin (8-2) with two straight walks and Jace Peterson’s single. One out later, Langeliers delivered.

Eflin had won four straight decisions since a loss May 9 at Baltimore. The right-hander failed to last five innings for the first time in 13 starts.

Rays third baseman Isaac Paredes was ejected by plate umpire Manny Gonzalez in the sixth, apparently upset about a called strike.

Tampa Bay (48-21), which began its first West Coast trip of the year, had won eight of nine overall.

Oakland got swept at Tampa Bay from April 5-7, getting outscored 31-5 with a pair of 11-0 defeats that manager Mark Kotsay called embarrassing.

“This team, Tampa, is the best team in baseball. We played them early and for a lack of a better word I think we were somewhat embarrassed,” Kotsay said. “But we played really bad baseball, we failed at every aspect really at Tampa, pitching and defense, situational hitting.”