A’s shut out again, go flat in final home stretch

Playing well at home is always an emphasis for Bob Melvin, but his team has plumb stopped hitting the past week and, going into Sunday’s home finale, is in danger of being swept in a homestand of six or more games for the first time in Oakland history.

The A’s haven’t scored in the past 18 innings, shut out Saturday for the second game in a row in a 5-0 loss to the Rangers.

[...] on the other side, Elvis Andrus notched his first career multi-homer game, banging a two-run shot to dead center in the second off Raul Alcantara, and adding another two-run drive off the rookie in the sixth, a blast to left.

Texas, which claimed the AL West title the previous night, rested many regulars, including A’s-killer Adrian Beltre, Rougned Odor and Jonathan Lucroy, but Oakland never mounted much of a threat against Yu Darvish, who went seven innings and allowed just two hits and one walk.

Oakland has dropped all five games on the homestand, scoring just eight runs total, and falling back into last place in the division.

The A’s have lost their past eight straight at home overall, their longest such streak since losing eight in a row from April 8-May 1, 2001, and their 33-47 home record is the second worst in the league.

“We’ve kind of cycled back the other way as far as home here the last couple of years,” Melvin said, adding of the three previous seasons, We had a nice run here where there was great excitement at the park, artwork all over the place in the outfield.