A’s stay hot via long ball, beat Cleveland for fourth straight

CLEVELAND — Bolstered by solo home runs by Jurickson Profar and Matt Olson and Matt Chapman’s ninth-inning two-run blast, the A’s topped the Indians, 6-4, on Monday for their fourth straight win.

A’s left-handed starter Brett Anderson (5-3, 4.14) got the win, but left the game with a cervical strain in the bottom of the sixth. He was visited on the mound by manager Bob Melvin and trainer Nick Paparesta with one out and a runner on second, then walked off the field with Paparesta, as Melvin called on Yusmeiro Petit, the first of four A’s relievers.

Anderson allowed one run, on a Jose Ramirez double and Oscar Mercado single in the fifth, on five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out just one, but walked none and mostly got soft contact from Indians batters, mixing his sinker, four-seam fastball, slider and changeup.

Indians right-handed starter and loser Carlos Carrasco (4-4, 4.30) was considered a Cy Young Award candidate prior to the campaign, but has been erratic.

The switch-hitting Profar went into the game hitting .143 with four homers in 105 at-bats swinging lefty against right-handers this season, but it didn’t matter when he led off the second inning with a line drive homer off a Carrasco slider over the left field fence. Profar singled against Carrasco in his next at bat.

Olson pulled a Carrasco two-seam fastball 417 feet to right with one out in the third. It was Olson’s fourth homer in his 50th at-bat of the season. He also singled, walked and was hit by a pitch in five plate appearances.

Chapman’s 11th homer, following a Marcus Semien walk in the ninth, was drilled over the left-field wall off Tyler Clippard to close the scoring. Chapman, who entered the game in a 7-of-49 slump, also singled in a run.

Robbie Grossman led off the fourth with a double off the top of the wall and scored on Josh Phegley’s hard-hit ground single to left, giving the A’s a 3-0 lead.

With one out in the seventh, Semien laced a double down the third-base line and Chapman followed with a run-scoring single to center.

Roberto Perez led off the Cleveland seventh with his sixth homer, off Petit, and Ramirez trimmed the A’s lead to 4-3 with an RBI single in the eighth off Lou Trivino. Blake Treinen came on with the bases loaded and two outs to retire Carlos Gonzalez on a bouncer to shortstop Semien. Treinen picked up his eighth save, despite yielding a ninth-inning homer to Francisco Lindor, his sixth.