Red-hot Davis, A's seek sweep of Rangers (Jul 26, 2018)

Baseball's hottest home run hitter is slated to face the majors' career active leader in homers allowed when the Oakland Athletics look to complete a magical sweep of the Texas Rangers on Thursday night in Arlington, Texas.

The surging A's made it three straight over the Rangers on Wednesday night when Davis hit a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth to rally Oakland from the teeth of a one-run loss and into a 6-5 victory.

The home run was his second of the night, helping Oakland rally from a 5-1 deficit one day after they stormed back to win 13-10 in 10 innings after having been down 10-2.

Davis also contributed a three-run shot to Oakland's comeback Wednesday, giving him 20 multi-homer games in his career. He also had a two-homer game Sunday against the San Francisco Giants, triggering his current run of six in the past four days.

The game-winner Wednesday flew into the upper deck in right field.

"That's kinda been his signature," A's manager Bob Melvin gushed afterward of the right-handed-hitting Davis. "There's home runs, and that's right field upper deck. Right-handed hitters just don't do that here."

Davis will face Rangers veteran Bartolo Colon (5-8, 4.85 ERA) in the series finale, having homered off him in their most recent encounter June 6 in Oakland.

Colon has pitched well against his former team this season, allowing one run in six innings in a 3-1 loss in the opening week of the season, before holding the A's to two runs in five innings in an 8-2 victory in the June meeting.

Colon, a member of the A's 2013 playoff club during a two-year stint in Oakland in which he won 28 games, has gone 10-6 with a 3.34 ERA in 23 games (22 starts) against the A's.

The 45-year-old has not had much success of late, losing his last three starts. His most recent outing was a 16-3 loss to Cleveland in which was roughed up for five runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Colon has allowed 429 home runs in his career, easily the most among active pitchers. The next one will move him into a tie with Bert Blyleven for eighth place on the all-time list.

Davis is 3-for-9 with a double and the aforementioned homer against Colon in his career.

The A's will counter on the mound with a veteran of their own, right-hander Trevor Cahill (1-2, 2.95). He's 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA in one career start against the Rangers.

Cahill will face another Ranger chasing history in the series finale when he deals with Adrian Beltre, who recorded his 1,673rd career RBI in Wednesday's loss.

Beltre, who is second on the active list behind Albert Pujols, is now three RBIs shy of tying Gary Sheffield for 28th place on the all-time list.

Beltre has gone 11-for-32 with two home runs, four doubles and five RBIs in his career against Cahill.

Having surged into the heart of the playoff race, the A's will be looking for a sixth straight win overall, while the Rangers are hoping to avoid an eighth loss in their last nine games.