Athletics Week In Review: 7/9-7/15

The Oakland Athletics played seven games this past week which would be the last seven games of a ten-game road trip, four in Houston and three in San Francisco. Oakland entered the week ten games behind the Astros for the American League West lead and six and a half games behind the Mariners for the second Wild Card spot. By the end of the week, the A’s had closed ground on both.

On Monday, the A’s opened a four-game set against the division leading Astros in Houston. Frankie Montas took the hill for Oakland and did not disappoint. Montas pitched six strong innings only allowing three hits and striking out two. However, Oakland’s offense wouldn’t get on the board until the top of the seventh when Stephen Piscotty would hit his third home run in three games to give Oakland a 1-0 lead. Lou Trivino would hold the Astros scoreless in the bottom half of the frame and Piscotty would drive another run in in the eighth setting up newly-minted All-Star Blake Treinen for the save.

George Springer would lead the inning off with a single, putting the tying run to the plate but Alex Bregman would pop out to Matt Olson for the first out. Jose Altuve followed with a strike out and Josh Reddick would single bringing Evan Gattis representing the winning run. Gattis would work the count full but ultimately strike out giving Treinen is twenty-third save of the season and giving the Athletics a 2-0 win.

Game two of the series was a wild one where the Athletics trailed by four going into the ninth inning. Oakland began the inning with three consecutive singles, the last driving in a run off the bat of Khris Davis. Houston would bring in closer Ken Giles with a 4-1 lead. Matt Olson welcomed Giles into the game with an RBI single driving in Jed Lowrie, bringing the deficit to two. Stephen Piscotty and Matt Chapman would both strike out bringing Marcus Semien to the plate with the tying run on first. The A’s shortstop would ambush the first pitch and bounce it off the left field wall for a double that tied the game at four.

In the top of the eleventh, Piscotty would hit a home run to left field to give the Athletics a one-run lead but that lead would be short lived. In the bottom half of the inning, the Astros would tie the game on a fielder’s choice to shortstop. George Spriner would fly out to right for the first out bringing Bregman to the plate with one out and runners on first and second. Bregman would hit the ball off the end of his bat, making the ball travel about five feet away from the plate. Jonathan Lucroy picked the ball up, attempted to tag Bregman, miss the tag, then try to throw the ball to first but the throw was wide and the ball would end up in right field. Kyle Tucker would come into score, and the Astros would win 6-5.

The A’s would put Tuesday night’s tough loss behind them to the tune of and eight run outburst Wednesday and an 8-3 win. The offense was led by Khris Davis and Chad Pinder. Davis finished the game going 2-5 with a double, a triple, and three RBIs and Pinder went 2-3 with a home run and three RBIs as well, giving Oakland all the offense they would need.

In the series finale, the Athletics would trail 4-0 entering the fifth inning but would score six unanswered runs to close the series with a 6-4 victory. The A’s would get on the board with a two-run double off the bat of Nick Martini followed by a single by Piscotty that would bring the Astros lead to one in the fifth inning. In the top of the eighth, Matt Chapman would hit an RBI double and Matt Olson would single in two more to finish off the Astros.

Friday opened the Battle of the Bay but the A’s offense was stifled by Giants ace Madison Bumgarner. Bumgarner would go six innings only allowing a run with five strike outs. Steven Duggar hit two doubles and had two RBIs while Buster Posey would go 2-4 with two RBIs to lead the Giants to a 7-1 victory in the series opener but this would be the only game the Athletics would drop.

Saturday night was a night the Athletics weren’t sorry for after defeating the Giants 4-3. In the top of the seventh down 3-2, Mark Canha would come to the plate with Josh Phegley on first. Canha would get a high fastball from Giants reliever Tony Watson and would drive it 434 feet over the left field fence, resulting in a bat flip from Canha and would give the Athletics a 4-3 lead they wouldn’t surrender.When asked about the bat flip after the game, Canha would say, “People getting offended by bat flips is so silly. I’m not sorry. I’m not really sorry. It’s part of our game. Everybody does it.”

The Athletics would close the Bay Bridge Series with another victory behind Sean Manaea’s arm and Stephen Piscotty’s bat. Manaea went six strong innings allowing only two runs and five hits. Piscotty would continue showing his power hitting his twelfth home run of the season and driving in two as the Athletics would win the game 6-2 and win their sixth series in a row.

Oakland will go into the All-Star break with a 55-42 record and trail the Astros by eight games in the American League West and trail the Mariners by only three games for the second Wild Card spot. Following the All-Star break, the Athletics will close out the Bay Bridge Series with the Giants in Oakland.

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