The Oakland A's like to use the late innings to piece together enough offense in wins. Against a tough starter in Astros' Lance McCullers Jr., the A's might carry out one of their specialty comeback wins against a young, fragile Houston bullpen. But what happens when those late innings are shaved off?
The A's played and lost, 4-2, in their first seven-inning game in Saturday's doubleheader. They wouldn't get the privilege of opening up the opposing team's bullpen. This one was nearly all McCullers. He had the A's whiffing and looking at a filthy array of knuckle curveballs, sinkers and a ton of change-ups that appeared interchangeable with his sinker.
"McCuller has been tough on us before," manager Bob Melvin said after the game. "He very rarely gives you a fastball to hit. A lot of breaking balls in fastball counts, lot more change-ups to right-handers than we've seen in the past."
McCullers pitches with a 63% ground ball rate _ all that downward movement kept the A's homer-happy offense out of the air. Ramon Laureano bounced back from a slump with a 2-for-3 game. Mark Canha, who drew a walk with two outs in the second inning, tried to score from first base on Laureano's double in the second inning. He was called out on the bang-bang play, and the call stood following an A's challenge.
The A's manufactured a run off Robbie Grossman's leadoff double in the third. Stephen Piscotty singled up the middle to put runners on the corners. Astros third baseman Jack Mayfield chose an easy out at first on Matt Chapman's chopper down the third base line, which scored Grossman. In the sixth inning, Chapman would get the A's second RBI on a slap-single to score Grossman, who'd reached third on a soft ground ball that McCullers air-mailed into foul territory.
Chris Bassitt was on ice for a few days. The A's right-hander had been scheduled to start first in Thursday's series finale against the Texas Rangers. Oakland chose not to play in a protest against racial injustice sparked by video of police shooting Jacob Blake. The A's obliged the Astros for their protest and game postponement on Jackie Robinson Day.
So, a few days late, Bassitt finally took the mound and had his shortest start of his season. He couldn't find his best fastball command, which resulted in a three-inning, four-run day in which he allowed two home runs. Kyle Tucker's three-run homer with two outs in the first inning set the tone. Josh Reddick's solo blast in the fourth inning gave way to Bassitt's second walk allowed and a single.
"Just a little off with his command," Melvin said.
Lou Trivino rode the wave, retiring the side in order and another scoreless fifth inning. He'd been struggling with keeping inherited runners on base _ he'd allowed three of the last four he'd inherited score _ so this was a positive step as Trivino looks to regain his 2018 form.
