Khris Davis belts another homer in A’s loss, one shy of 30

Saturday, he hit his 29th homer of the season in Oakland’s 4-3 loss to the Mariners, and he appears poised to finish with the A’s best power numbers maybe going back as far as 2006, when Nick Swisher hit 35 and Frank Thomas 39.

“He’s one of the few guys in the game who only needs to touch the ball and get it in the air and he can hit home runs,” Melvin said.

Davis’ homer total is an ongoing career high, as is his RBI total of 73.

Over his past 161 games, Davis has hit 49 homers and driven in 114 runs, dating back to Aug. 6, 2015.

Kendall Graveman started Saturday for Oakland, trying for his eighth win in his past nine decisions, but he left after six innings with the A’s trailing 4-3.

Cruz hit a solo homer in the fourth and is 7-for-12 lifetime against Graveman.

Smith had an RBI single in the fifth and scored on a homer by Cano.

Starter Sean Manaea departed after 75 the night before, and it looks as if the A’s are trying to trim their starters’ workload after Jesse Hahn (shoulder fatigue) and Sonny Gray (elbow inflammation) went on the DL the previous week.

Billy Butler had a single and two doubles and scored twice, on a base hit by Coco Crisp in the second and on a base hit by Jake Smolinski in the sixth.