Perfect 10: A’s club three more homers as win streak reaches double-digits

OAKLAND — Catcher Josh Phegley is flattered and all. But from his perspective, talk of him being a part of this year’s MLB All-Star Game is a little premature.

Right now, though, his candidacy is becoming harder to ignore with each game he plays.

Phegley homered for the second straight game Monday, this time as part of a three-run fifth inning to put the A’s ahead to stay in a 8-5 Memorial Day victory over the Los Angeles Angels that extended their win streak in completed games to 10.

Jurickson Profar and Matt Chapman also homered, and after Phegley went deep, Stephen Piscotty tacked on a two-RBI double to extend the A’s lead to 6-3. The A’s have now hit 38 home runs this month.

A’s starter Chris Bassitt allowed six hits and five earned runs in five-plus innings, a mild bounce back from his last outing May 21 against Cleveland.

Bassitt gave up two doubles to Kole Calhoun, one to David Fletcher and a solo home run to Albert Pujols. He still had some control issues with one wild pitch and two hit batters, but allowed just two walks compared to the eight he gave up against the Indians in 3 2/3 innings.

Phegley came into Monday with 31 RBI, enough to lead all American League catchers, and his home run against the Angels was his 19th RBI this month. Phegley also threw out Shohei Ohtani, who was trying to steal second base with two outs in the seventh inning.

That’s why A’s manager Bob Melvin was so emphatic about giving some recognition to Phegley after Sunday’s 7-1 over Seattle. After Phegley had three RBI in the win, Melvin said, “If you’re looking at All-Star worthy catchers at this point, I don’t know anyone that is more worthy than he is.”

Monday, Phegley said, “It’s nice to be recognized, I guess, for the success I’ve had this year. But I’m not really thinking too hard about it. Just trying to play every day and come into every day the same.”

The A’s have not lost since May 14 when they were defeated 4-3 by Seattle. They followed that with three straight wins against Detroit before the final game of that series on May 19 was suspended after 6 1/3 innings.

The A’s have now won seven straight since the suspended game. Their streak without a loss now is their longest since June 8-18, 2016, when they won 10 straight.