Athletics 8, Twins 2: A.J. Griffin cruised through seven innings and Yoenis Cespedes tripled in a pair as visiting Oakland took the rubber match of a three-game set from Minnesota.

Griffin (14-9) allowed one run and two hits while striking out eight to earn his fourth straight win. Josh Reddick added a two-run homer among three RBIs and Coco Crisp drove in a run and scored twice for the Athletics, who pushed their lead in the American League West to 3 1/2 games over second-place Texas.

Oakland gave Griffin all the support he would need in the third, when Crisp beat out a potential double-play grounder to allow Derek Norris to score. Josh Donaldson walked and Jed Lowrie singled in a run before Cespedes capped the rally with a two-run triple off the center-field wall.

Donaldson singled in a run in the fifth inning and Reddick pushed another across with a sacrifice fly in the sixth before Oswaldo Arcia broke up Griffin’s shutout bid with an opposite-field solo home run in the seventh.

Scott Diamond (5-11) was reached for five runs (four earned) on six hits in 4 2/3 innings in his first start since being recalled from Triple-A Rochester. Alex Presley singled in a run in the eighth for the Twins, who have dropped six of eight.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Cespedes has driven in at least one run in six straight games and is batting .419 with 10 RBIs this month. … Arcia homered twice in the three-game series after going the previous month without a blast. … Oakland will try to put the division race away when it visits Texas for a three-game series beginning Friday. Minnesota hosts the Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend.