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Crisp leads the way as A's finish off 4-game sweep of Twins

Sep 23, 2013 - 1:45 AM Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - Coco Crisp finished with a three-run home run and four RBI as Oakland outslugged Minnesota, 11-7, in the finale of a four- game set.

Eric Sogard added two hits, two runs scored and drove in two for the Athletics, who received solo homers from Daric Barton and Jed Lowrie en route to a series sweep and their second consecutive division crown.

Oakland's victory put the punctuation on clinching the AL West title, which had actually been accomplished earlier Sunday when Kansas City beat Texas with a 10th-inning grand slam.

"It's just a whole different feel this year," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said of the A's securing their second straight AL West crown. "Because we did expect to be here this year."

Sonny Gray (4-3) allowed four runs on seven hits over his five-inning start for the win.

Oswaldo Arcia went 3-for-4 with a three-run homer and knocked in a career-best six runs for the Twins, while Brian Dozier added three hits, two runs scored and an RBI.

Cole De Vries (0-1) lasted only two frames, charged with four hits and six runs with three walks.

Arcia managed to make things interesting in the ninth, driving in a pair with a two-out single off Evan Scribner to make it a four-run contest. Alex Presley led off with a single and Dozier added a double, before Trevor Plouffe struck out and Arcia's hit boosted his RBI total.

However, Arcia was tagged out at second trying to stretch and Josmil Pinto went down on strikes to end the contest.

"They are a fun baseball team to watch," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said of the A's. "They play the game the right way and respect the game. So congratulations to those guys."

Arcia singled home Presley with two down in the first, but Oakland stormed back with six runs in its second turn at the plate.

All of the runs came with two outs, as Josh Reddick began the rally with a walk, then both Barton and Stephen Vogt walked to load the bases. Sogard brought home two with a single, Crisp launched a three-run shot and Josh Donaldson added an RBI double.

In the third, Dozier singled and Plouffe walked ahead of a three-run homer from Arcia to bring Minnesota within 6-4, but Barton's two-out solo shot in the home half made it 7-4 for the A's.

Lowrie went deep in the fourth, and one inning later, Brandon Moss doubled and eventually came around on a Reddick sacrifice fly to center for a 9-4 edge.

Moss plated Sogard in the sixth with a sac fly to center to put Oakland in double digits, then Dozier's RBI single in the seventh made it 10-5.

Barton hit a one-out double in the home seventh and eventually scored on a Crisp single.

Game Notes

Oakland took six of seven meetings from Minnesota this season ... The Athletics have racked up 26 postseason appearances in franchise history, with only the Dodgers (27) and Yankees (51) with more in baseball annals ... This marks the fourth time the A's have won back-to-back division crowns (1971-75; 1988-90; 2002-03) since landing in the East Bay in 1968.