The best 8-2 Yankees take a playoff series against a potential playoff opponent

If receiver Jonathan Lucroy had suggested two days earlier, the A wanted to send a message to the Yankees and the rest of the league with the three-game series against New York.

Helped by a lot of balls jumping to the back, the A scored four times in the first set and continued to add here and there until they won an 8-2 win over the Yankees , potential opponent of Oakland.

"We're taking every game as a playoff game," said Mike Fiers, A's starter. "We have two or three home teams, so every game counts, every ball is important, every problem is important. We do not shut ourselves up in these situations. The boys play ball and make it difficult for other teams.

New York is in first place in the American league and second in the A category, placing them online for an advance game at Yankee Stadium on Oct. 3 if things remain unchanged. The A are three and a half minutes from Houston, west of the AL, and for the wild, they are three hundredths behind New York after two games out of three at the Coliseum.

The days of throwing to throw are good for the A's. They are 6-0 in his starts since he was acquired from Detroit in August.

"I came here and wanted to make an impression," said Fiers. "That's how you have to do it, on the ground."

Initially, the signs were not very good Wednesday. Proud came out on a trip in which he gave three circuits, his control was generally superb and the Yankees hit him hard. New York loaded the bases in the first on a double Giancarlo Stanton and two walks, and even the first two outs were deep flyballs. The Fiers took Luke Voit to third place to finish the round, but he launched 28 shots.

"A small shaky sleeve," said Fiers, who thought he was a bit out of the rhythm until Lucroy, looking from the bench, spoke to him between two innings not to try to To do too much. "I did not want to start, but I had to find myself, take a step and get out. … I think that after that, I went back to the basics, fill the area. "

Proud straightened up in the second, needing only nine shots to pass the bottom third of the lineup, and with his change that worked particularly well, he faced a minimum of five innings, even going to Brett Gardner. Stanton and Andrew McCutchen – in the sixth.

Fiers worked in seventh place, becoming the first A-starter to make it in 15 games, but he led Aaron Hicks to start the heat and Gary Sánchez followed with a center-left circuit.

The three marches tied the Proud total in his first five starts with Oakland.

After Fiers avoided a disaster in the first, the A's offensive was put to work, boosted by a series of throws and balls. Ramón Laureano, who made his first start at the top of the championship, doubled to open things and was third. Jed Lowrie stopped him at home, then Khris Davis kicked right. By the time the ball was removed from the board, Davis had a double, but Lowrie, cautioned by McCutchen, failed to score.

He did it, anyway, thanks to the wild throw of Luis Severino, and Davis went in third position. He scored on a 1-2 by Matt Olson, who climbed a past ball and scored on a wild pitch.

In the third, Chapman walked, Lowrie singled out and the two eventually scored on a base shot by Stephen Piscotty. Chapman had a dive on RBI in the fourth and he doubled to Laureano in the sixth.

The A has improved its major league record since June 16 to 50-21 and its record after seven rounds at 60-0.

"We keep the same attitude," said Laureano. "Everyone stays hungry and keeps fighting. We are hungry every day, even when we win.

The A have shared the season with the Yankees and are 24-15 against New York, dating back to 2013, the league's best record against the Yankees.

Susan Slusser is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @susanslusser