Surging bullpen puts forth scoreless effort

OAKLAND — Liam Hendriks averted trouble, stranding Jonathan Schoop at third base in the sixth inning Tuesday night to preserve a 2-1 A’s lead, the same score they’d eventually win by.

He could exhale, if for only a brief moment. With no one warming in the A’s bullpen, Hendriks would be asked to pitch the seventh inning. Waiting for him were Manny Machado, Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo.

So Hendriks stuck to his routine. While Oakland batted, he wrapped his arm in a towel and retreated back through the tunnel leading behind home plate and up the stairs into the Coliseum clubhouse. He grabbed a water bottle, relaxed, then headed back to the dugout where he began to stretch with two outs in the inning. He hoped runs would come. They did not, and he headed back out with a one-run lead.

“You don’t want to get too cold,” Hendriks said. “You don’t want to get too amped up. I don’t want to lose it when I’m on the mound.

“That’s the tougher part of their lineup. You have Machado who is hitting .300 with a bunch of homers; you have Chris Davis who is always a threat; and you have Trumbo who is setting the world on fire this year. To be able to throw …

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