OAKLAND -- The Coliseum has seen plenty of monstrous power displays in its 52 Major League seasons. But what took place on Thursday night is unprecedented.\n\nJose Canseco and Mark McGwire bashed countless home runs in that stadium. Before those two, it was the Mustache Gang. But on a night the A’s outlasted the Astros for a 7-6 victory, it was
Four players turned in multi-homer efforts, Chapman and Olson included, marking just the fifth time since 1908 that has happened in a game. The types of homers ranged anywhere from Chapman’s no-doubt solo shot off Astros starter Aaron Sanchez in the sixth, which traveled well up into the left-field bleachers at an estimated 453 feet, per Statcast, to qualify as the longest homer hit by an A’s player this season, to Olson’s opposite-field three-run blast in the fourth, which barely scraped over the high wall in left-center.\n\nThe Coliseum is notorious for being a tough park to hit one out, especially at night, when the marine layer tends to cause fly balls to die out. But on a warm August afternoon that saw first pitch temperature rise to an unusual 82 degrees in the Bay Area, the Coliseum was transformed into a hitter’s paradise.\n\n“I honestly haven’t seen it fly like that,” Olson said. “I will say a lot of those are still getting out. I wouldn’t say mine to left-center gets out on a normal Oakland night, but that was awesome to see it fly. I saw in batting practice how it was flying, but it’s real hit or miss here. Glad it was carrying.”
The A’s and Astros went blow for blow, each delivering their best shots before receiving the other’s retaliation. After Blake Treinen surrendered a game-tying solo homer in the eighth to Michael Brantley, who also homered twice, Chapman came right back and delivered the knockout punch.\n\nHis solo blast off Astros reliever Chris Devenski put the A’s ahead for good.\n\n“The dramatics,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “He seems to come up with his best work when the game is on the line. That’s what your best players do.”\n\nIf there is such a thing as a clutch gene, Chapman certainly has it. Of his 29 homers this season, 15 have been of the go-ahead variety, including the two he hit on Thursday, joining reigning National League MVP Christian Yelich in a tie for most in the Majors.
Throughout his entire career, Chapman said he struggled to perform in those big moments perhaps due to overthinking at the plate. This year, he’s been able to simplify things.\n\n“Just trying to not think about it too much,” Chapman said. “I feel like I used to think about those moments a lot and put pressure on myself. I just try not to put pressure on myself now, which is easier said than done, but it’s been working out.”\n\nChapman has now homered twice in each of his past two games, and he extended his hitting streak to six games. This comes after a rough patch that saw him go 2-for-47 over his previous 13 games.\n\n“He’s hitting the mistakes,” Olson said. “Pitchers on the other side feel the pressure in the situation, too. You have to be able to take advantage of the mistakes made, and he’s done that a lot this year.”\n\nThe A’s started this four-game series 9 1/2 games back of Houston for the American League West lead. Many would say the A’s would be better off focusing on the Wild Card, which they are now 1 1/2 games back of the second spot. But scheduled to play seven more games against the Astros, the A’s feel they can make one more push for the division. Such a thrilling win as Thursday’s, one that featured multiple momentum shifts in a postseason-like atmosphere, is a good start.\n\n“It feels like that kind of game, a playoff game,” Chapman said. “That’s a really good team we respect and want to beat. This is the Astros’ division until somebody knocks them off. To take the first game of the series like that is huge.”
**Joseph’s HR 12 years in the making**\n\nChapman’s home run may have been the most important, but none had more of a special meaning than