Semien homers twice as A's slam Twins

Marcus Semien hit two home runs, including a grand slam in the eighth inning, and Wei-Chung Wang recorded his first major league win as the host Oakland Athletics made it two of three over the Minnesota Twins with a 7-2 victory Thursday afternoon. Wang (1-0), a 27-year-old left-hander from Taiwan, combined with Lou Trivino and Joakim Soria for 4 1/3 innings of two-hit, no-run relief. The strong bullpen work gave Oakland the opportunity to rally from a 2-1 deficit for a fifth win in its past six games.

The A's led just 3-2 before ex-Twins outfielder Robbie Grossman collected his seventh hit of the series, a leadoff single off the Twins' fourth pitcher, Mike Morin, to open the eighth. After Chris Herrmann singled and Jurickson Profar was hit by a pitch, Semien launched his fourth career grand slam to left field, making it 7-2.

The slam was Semien's first since September 2017. Coupled with a fifth-inning solo blast, the two-homer game was the fifth of his career and second in less than a month. He hit a pair on June 7 at Texas. Semien has 13 homers on the season.

His fifth-inning homer allowed the A's to draw even at 2-2 and ignited a two-run inning that gave Oakland the lead for good. The go-ahead run scored when Mark Canha grounded into a double play with the bases loaded. Wang entered the game with two on and two outs in the top of the fifth after the Twins scored on Ehire Adrianza's single to go ahead 2-1. He retired Jason Castro on a fly ball to escape further damage.

The first-year member of the A's then faced just six batters in the sixth and seventh innings, walking one but getting a double play, to protect a one-run lead. He was pitching in his 12th game for the A's after beginning his career with Milwaukee, for whom he made 22 relief appearances without a decision in the 2014 and 2017 seasons.

Adrianza drove in both Twins runs against A's starter Tanner Anderson. He was awarded an RBI on a bases-loaded, two-out catcher's interference in the first inning. Anderson did not get a decision. He allowed two runs (one earned) and nine hits while walking two and striking out three in 4 2/3 innings.

The A's tied the score off Twins starter Jose Berrios (8-5) in the fourth on a two-out single by Herrmann, who went 4-for-4. Grossman added three hits, making him 7-for-10 in the series in his first head-to-head meeting with his former team since being allowed to leave as a free agent last offseason.

Nelson Cruz had three hits while Adrianza and Jonathan Schoop recorded two apiece for the Twins, who completed a 2-4 trip. Berrios was charged with three runs on six hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out two.

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