Once Again, `The Moment Is Never Too Big' for Athletics in Walkoff Win over Mariners
The team that couldn’t hit straight did, finally.
The A’s, who squandered a seven-inning shutout effort from their de facto ace, Chris Bassitt, fell behind in the top of the 10th but got a two-out game-tying double from Ramón Laureano and a subsequent walkoff homer from Mark Canha in the bottom of the 10th.
The 3-1 A’s win moved Oakland back into the position of second seed for the American League playoffs and kept alive the A’s chance to finish as the No. 1 seed. For that to happen, the A’s would have to win out and the Tampa Bay Rays would have to lose the rest of their games.
Oakland, which had gone eight games without getting more than six hits in a game, collected seven in the first nine innings, not that it did them all that much good. They hit for some power; five of the seven hits were doubles. Only one of them, from Khris Davis, came with a man on, and none of them produced runs as the A’s went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position before getting to overtime and the hits from Laureano that tied in and from Canha that won it.
Bassitt, who has blended a sharply breaking curve with a sinker, slider and fastball better than ever this month, has made four starts in September. He’s allowed one run in 26.2 innings and has brought his ERA down to 2.29, third-best in the American League. Friday’s game was the only one of the four in which he didn’t get a win, but the right-hander made it clear that wasn’t an issue.
“I’ll go to war with these guys all day, every day,” Bassitt said of his Oakland teammates. ”I don’t care what the stats are. I don’t care what their averages are. When the game is on the line, I want all of these guys instead of anybody else. I know how much work they put hit, how much they care.
“It was a great win for us.”
The A’s are 6-0 in extra inning games, a practice that began on opening night when Matt Olson hit a walkoff grand slam. The team batting average, .223, is tied for the worst in franchise history. What the A’s do have going for them are big hits at big times, particularly late in games, as Canha will attest.
Reliever Jake Diekman gave up a cheap run in the top of the 10th when, with a man on second, Seattle got a fly ball to get pinch-runner Dee Gordon to third base, then took the lead when catcher Sean Murphy’s passed ball went to the backstop.
The A’s were up against it. They had a man at second base, too, in pinch-runner Nate Orf. He got to third on a fly ball, but by that time the A’s were down to their final out against reliever Joey Gerber.
“It’s crunch time; we’ve got a lot of guys who are clutch,” Canha said. “Ramón’s one of those guys. I consider myself one of those guys. The moment is never too big for us as a team. A lot of wins that we’ve had this year, we have that kind of special ability to win in dramatic fashion.
“It’s a good thing to have.”
Canha said his teammates have better approaches in their at-bats from the eighth inning on.
“I’ll say that generally we have very good approaches,” Canha said. “We stay in the strike zone and have good at-bats throughout the game. And when we get into the bullpen, we like our chances just because (with) bullpen guys, you typically get a little more scattered around the zone and in those good at-bats, you can get a few more walks and stuff like that.
“Later in games, I like where we are every day. In extra innings, we feel like we can win all the extra-inning games.”
While Bassitt didn’t get accredit for the win, he solidified a spot in the A’s three-man rotation for the wild card round, although manager Bob Melvin hasn’t spelled out the rotation explicitly. If he were to start on regular four-day rest, he would be down to start Wednesday’s Game 2. Melvin, however, has made it clear that nothing is certain until the A’s know who they’re drawing in the series that starts Tuesday.
“He’s been so consistent for us, you almost expect that out of him,” Melvin said. “Seven innings was plenty tonight with what is coming up in potentially his next start. He was really good again, economical with his pitches. He knows where everything is going and he had a good feel for his breaking ball.”
Canha doesn’t make the call on the A’s starters, but he’s a huge Bassitt booster.
“He’s just lights-out,” Canha said. “It seems like he just has this confidence when he’s on the mound and just believes in all of his pitches and he as conviction in what he’s doing. I’ve played with him since I got here (in 2015) and it’s been a lot of fun watching him blossom into the competitor that he is today.”
Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3
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