Here is an early reaction, maybe an overreaction, to the Oakland A’s first four losses of the season: The Astros look more than ready to reclaim the American League West division title from the A’s this year.
Granted, the first four games of the season don’t even begin to tell whole story. But this opening series did not paint the prettiest picture for the A’s, who suffered their first four-games sweep at the Astros’ hands since June 2017. Culminating in a 9-2 loss on Easter Sunday, this was just the second four-game loss to Houston in franchise history.
“We don’t feel good about it. A little bit embarrassing,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We played really poorly and they played great.”
And this 2021 A’s team is no A’s 2017 team. This roster has been restocked and revitalized to not only contend for the postseason for a fourth-straight year, but make a deep run that’s eluded the franchise for decades. Oakland isn’t off to the best start against a team also jockeying for a deep postseason run, and they’re not out of the clouds yet as the defending world champion Los Angeles Dodgers visit the Coliseum for three games next and the travel to Houston for three more away.
This is the first time the A’s have lost more than three straight to start the season since they went 0-5 in 1987. It’s the first time the A’s have been on the receiving end of a four-game sweep since July 2017 against the Blue Jays in Toronto.
That’s the scope of a disappointing start to this full season for the A’s, rife with higher expectations. What’s going wrong, exactly? The A’s aren’t executing on any front. Houston outscored the A’s 35-9 in the series.
Sean Manaea had the start Sunday and pitched well. His breaking ball was falling out of the zone and he was working the outer half of the zone with his low-90mph sinker. The Astros may thrive off mistakes, but they don’t need an opposing pitcher to make one.
The Astros collected five runs off Manaea. Kyle Tucker’s first-inning home run came on a decent sinker. Jason Castro didn’t get all of an outside pitch, but hit it 101 mph off the bat for an opposite field two-run home run. Jose Altuve knocked a two-strike slider at his feet for a double that charged a three-run rally in the third.
Manaea struck out four batters and walked three through 4 2/3 innings while throwing 101 pitches. Houston wore him down, just like they did every other A’s starter.
Through the first four games, the A’s starters have a 7.65 ERA. And the bullpen hasn’t faired any better, allowing 17 runs through 16 innings combined.
The A’s offense wasn’t able to keep step with the Astros mighty offense in any capacity. A five-run effort on Friday was the only bright spot for the A’s hitters this series. They managed to score two runs on Sunday, and Mark Canha was the centerpiece for both runs.
Canha doubled and scored on Jed Lowrie’s double in the first inning. He tripled and scored on Matt Olson’s out into the shift later on.
The A’s have said they have just not run into the “big hit”– a hit that unchains the offense and relieves the pressure off key players to produce. Matt Chapman collected his first hit of the season — a bloop single — to make him 1-for-11 to start the season with four walks. So far, Olson and Lowrie have been the most productive at the plate. Olson is 4-for-14 — he want 0-for-4 on Sunday — and Lowrie is 3-for-11.
It’s safe to say nothing is clicking for the A’s right now. Luckily, they have 158 games left. This is a team that’s trying to shake the trend of getting off to sluggish starts to the season — they’ve started slow in each of their last contending years and been fueled by mid-summer flashes. It may be embarrassing for the A’s, but it’s certainly not the end of the world.
