Athletics Gear Up for White Sox After Nailing Down No. 2 Seed by Beating Mariners
A 60-game season is in the books with the A’s having rolled up a 6-2 win over the Mariners Sunday.
A postseason of indeterminant length begins for Oakland on Tuesday with the White Sox, at one time the hottest team in baseball but lately in a slump, visiting the A’s in the Coliseum for the best of three American League wild card series.
After COVID-19 shutdowns of almost four months at one point and of five days at another, after games postponed in the name of racial justice and social equality and a season packed with five doubleheaders, the A’s finished with a 36-24 record, second best in the American League.
And as the second seed, they get to face a young, strong White Sox team. But the A’s get to do it on their own turf. And they get to spend Monday having a light workout at the Coliseum while the White Sox had to fly to the Bay Area from Chicago late Sunday night.
All in all, the A’s are feeling pretty good about things. Yes, they’ve struggled offensively of late, but offensive slumps come and go. On Sunday, at least for a day, this one went. The A’s started slow, then came on big in the seventh and eighth innings before walking off the field with the No. 2 seed.
“It’s a clean slate,” manager Bob Melvin said of the end of one season and the beginning of another. “There was a lot to grind on today. A couple of guys got some big hits. The mood is always better after a win.
“After what has been a difficult season on some guys, that it’s a clean slate and you can really make up a lot of ground by having a good postseason.”
The A’s haven’t set their starting rotation yet, although a guess of Sean Manaea in Game 1, Mike Fiers or Jesus Luzardo in Game 2 and Chris Bassitt in a Game 3, if one is needed, would be a solid guess. Sunday’s starter, Frankie Montas, had been slumping of late, but his seven innings of two runs allowed (both unearned) and 13 strikeouts suggests he’s ready to come out of the bullpen if the A’s need him.
And if the A’s make it through the first round, Montas could expect to be in the rotation for the division series, which consists of five games in five days. Melvin wondered if Montas would need to come out of the game after five innings, which was going to be a problem, because the bullpen was a little light.
But Melvin, who said he thought Montas pitched “angry” after two unearned runs scored early, came to him and asked to pitch the sixth. He did, striking out the side to finish with a career-high 13 strikeouts in 113 pitches.
“It was huge to finish like that. I’ve struggled,” Montas said. “I thanked BoMel (Melvin) for that.”
As for coming out of the bullpen in the first round if needed, Montas said, “Oh, yeah.”
“I’ve always said however I can help the team win, I will,” Montas said. “Starter, reliever, whatever.”
Although the A’s will have what Melvin calls a light workout Monday, it may be more than that. The A’s haven’t played the White Sox since spring training. Chicago is a young team that has evolved over the season to becoming a winner, and video and analytics will have to be scrutinized to see how best the A’s believe they can deal with the Sox.
The A’s have played the last couple of weeks under the cloud of poor offensive performance, but Sunday seemed to alleviate some of that.
Jake Lamb homered to put the A’s in front for the first time at 3-2 leading off the seventh inning. It was his third homer and seventh extra base hit in the last two weeks after he’d had just one is almost two months before his release by the Diamondbacks.
Tommy La Stella singled and doubled before coming out of the game early. He’s been one of the A’s best hitter (.289) since being acquired in a trade with the Angels.
Khris Davis, who got his batting average to .200 with a single in the first inning, has a .333 average in his last seven games.
Sean Murphy, the rookie catcher who just missed a solo homer and settle for a double in the fifth inning, also walked and scored three runs. He’s been hitting the ball as hard as ever of late, and in his last 16 games he has two doubles, five homers, nine RBI and 13 runs scored while hitting .277.
And Chad Pinder, whose hamstring troubles had kept him out since Sept. 12, returned. He singled to tie the game in the fifth and added a walk in a four plate-trip day.
“I feel like we’re ready,” Pinder said. “We’re in this thing, we’re in the bubble now. As much of a grind as the season was in honoring what you do off the field, we’ve got two months and change of this under out belts. Now we’re in the bubble, going into the postseason with the three games that we have and not make too much of it.”
Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3
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