Late-inning comebacks are this past weekend. Now the Oakland As are all about scoring early starters and cruising to stress-free victories.
For the third straight game, the A’s jumped on the other team’s starting pitcher and built a lead they never left. This time they defeated Los Angeles Angels, lefty Andrew Heaney, with a 5-3 triumph and a winning streak of three games.
*** Game Thread # 1 | Game Thread # 2 ***
Oakland found the plate three times in the 1st inning against Heaney, setting the tone of the heaviest tackle when Marcus Semien homered on the second pitch of the Southpaw game. Two more assurance runs in the 5th proved to be crucial, helping the A’s stick to regulation instead of needing late heroes to push them over the top.
While Semien started the score, the real engine was on offense Stephen Piscotty. The right fielder rode in three rounds, split between both rallies of the A, and his 20 RBI are now tied for team leadership. Matt Olson knocked in the other run for Oakland, and as usual Mark Canha was constantly on base and got over the plate twice.
On the pitching side, Mike Fiers danced all night in and out of trouble, but kept the damage under control. While he got off to a quality start, he still left with his team in the lead and in the position to win, and after finishing the bullpen got the job done again.
The A’s 19-8 record is still the best in the American League, and a half game behind the 20-8 Dodgers for the MLB lead.
Rally # 1
In the first few weeks of the season, the A’s struggled to score against novice pitchers. They came upon a few of them, but just as often they would be shut off and then later come alive against the dead.
They took an encouraging step this week by building early leads against Diamondbacks starters Merrill Kelly and Alex Young in their last two games, and they made it three in a row with Andrew Heaney on Friday.
It took exactly two pitches before Marcus Semien and the A’s to score Heaney.
That’s the eighth leadoff homer of Semien’s career, putting him two behind Bert Campaneris for third in Oakland history (and seven behind Coco Crisp for second).
However, the A’s were not done. Matt Chapman doubled and Mark Canha ran, setting the scene for Stephen Piscotty. A few days ago this summer we took a closer look at Piscotty’s somewhat more aggressive approach, and he actually offered up on Heaney’s first pitch and advised it.
It fell short of wiping the torso, but it still knocked in two runs, including one from scoring position.
How hot were the A’s to start this game? Here are some of the first innings of the 1st inning:
- Semien homer – 105.1 mph
- Laureano lineout – 105.3 mph
- Chaman double – 102.4 mph
- Piscotty double – 103.7 mph
Anything above 95 is considered hard hit, so these were absolute smash. Not only did they bloom some runes, they destroyed Heaney’s pitches.
The A’s are good enough to win in the late innings if they have to, but it’s been fun to avoid them these last few days by taking care of past things.
Rally # 2
But wait, there’s more!
The A’s go up again in the 5th. As usual, Canha’s on-base ability was a key feature as he jumped it by doubling with two outs already on the board. Matt Olson followed by another double, Canha drove home, and then Piscotty came through once more with a bouncer up the middle to bring Olson home.
All told, the A’s took down seven hard-hitting hit balls from Heaney that night, six of them at 100+ mph from the ball. They were all within the dozens of sharpest contacts generally in the game. They just had Heaney’s number.
One more thing: Oakland went 3-for-6 with rounds in scoring position. Progress for a team that has struggled to find the clutch hitting all summer, and more reliance on homers.
Piscotty 2 Hotty
After an injury-off year in 2019, Piscotty started 2-for-17 this summer. But since starting August, he has finally emerged in 17 games as his old star himself.
Piscotty, Aug: .290 / .338 / .548, 4 HR, 20 RBI
Those 20 RBIs are tied for the MLB lead this month, with Fernando Tatis and Jose Abreu. The RBI is not a great state, but in this case it represents the value that Piscotty has brought to the lineup so far. He has been one of the few A’s to produce several times with men at base, including a few grand slams, and he has starred in multiple Oakland wins already because of it.
Of course, someone else has to reach out to knock Piscotty in. That’s true Mark Canha comes because he came on board three times on Friday and came all the way round to score on two of those occasions. He now has a .425 OBP on the year, and he also stole a base thanks to one of the biggest jumps I have ever seen a big leaguer on a field.
Far good enough
Sometimes you just need a veteran starter to get in and eat some solid innings, and that’s something Mike Fiers has been for the A’s the last few years. He did it on Friday.
It was not dominated by any stretch, with a dozen rounds to reach against him. Only in the perfect 2nd inning did he not leave at least two men on base.
Far, however, worked his most through it. He almost gave up a homer with three runs in the 1st inning, but it went wrong with about 15 seats. Only until the 5th, on the Halos’ fourth thread at a rally, did they finally cross the record with an Anthony Rendon RBI single.
They held it in the 6th, and added two more rounds to chase Fiers out of the game. JB Wendelken freed him and let both runners score (on a hit from Mike Trout, which is hard to criticize him), but even Fiers’ line was still decent enough on a night when the lineup of the A did his part.
Fiers: 5⅓ ip, 3 runes, 3 Ks, 3 BB, 2 HBP, 0 HR, 7 hits, 88 pitch (51 stakes)
Despite all the production, the Angels did not make much good contact with Fiers. There were only two hard-hit balls, plus three more above 90 mph +, and more fluke hits than loud outs.
What’s more, one of the key hits against Fiers was one of the most ridiculous things you’ll ever see on an MLB field. This is Vladimir Guerrero-level expansion of the stretch zone by David Fletcher.
I do not know how he made contact, much less enough for an extra base hit. Fletcher is just a quality player and a consistent torn in the side of the A.
Bullpen
While Wendelken could not fight the rally in the 6th, he still took the lead, and then set up the rest of the pen zeros as usual.
In the 7th, TJ McFarland got his usual two basic starting points, plus a K and an HBP. In the 8th, Joakim Soria round a hit (by Fletcher, of course). Liam Hendriks grabbed the 9th for the third day in a row and scored his MLB-leading ninth save.
But the real story here is Soria. The A’s signed him up for 2019 in hopes of a premium set-up man, but they’ve got a mediocre one instead, albeit with promising peripheral devices. This summer, he’s back in the man Oakland thought they were getting, and maybe even better. His ERA and FIP are both below 2.00, and he kills 11 battlists per nine innings and four per walk. Most importantly, he rebuilt all four of his save / hold chances, and of the six ties he surrendered, he was the only one he blew on an undeserved run.
This was the field of the night, a nasty shift right in the zone to free the best player in the sport, Mike Trout, which at the time represented the band’s decline.
If you get the troop of approval from Trout himself, you have done something right.
Keep rolling
These two teams meet again on Saturday, with a pitching matchup of Chris Bassitt vs. Griffin Canning. Oakland has made Canning rough twice this year, so they will look to continue their streak of scoring – not to mention their winning streak, three games to be exact. First pitch is at 10 p.m.
