A's hammer the Angels 21-3

Marcus Semien had three hits and a career-high five RBIs, Stephen Piscotty homered and drove in four runs and the Oakland Athletics hammered the Los Angeles Angels 22-3 on Thursday.

The Athletics reduced their magic number for clinching a playoff berth to five, setting season high for runs and hits with 22. Since June 15, Oakland is a major league- best 58-25.

Going into Thursday, Oakland trailed Houston by four games in the AL West, led Tampa Bay by 5 1/2 games for the second wild card, and was 2 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees for the first wild card.

Catcher Francisco Arcia pitched the last two innings for the Angels, who were outscored 32-2 in the last two games of the series. He…