Athletics, Astros Both Ailing as They Prep for Series to decide AL West winner

Injured infielders a major concern for both Oakland, Houston as they limp into a five-game, four-day series that could settle the AL West title winner for 2020.

With a big week, the Oakland Athletics can all but cement the American League West title.

With a big week, the Houston Astros can reaffirm their status as three-time defending AL West champs.

The thing is, neither team is playing particularly well. The A’s, back on the diamond after five games postponed – including one in Houston – to a positive coronavirus test, lost two of three over the weekend.

Good news for the Astros, except that Houston found itself swept in a four-game series in Anaheim against the Angels. So, Houston (21-19) come in trailing the A’s (23-14) by 3½ games. Three wins by the A’s gets Oakland to a 5½-game lead with what would be 18 games left on the A’s schedule. Three wins by the Astros would leave Houston down by 1½ games with 15 games left on the Astros slate.

And both teams are hurting. The A’s, already missing shortstop Marcus Semien, are awaiting a report on the status of third baseman Matt Chapman. His right hip injury could keep him from playing in the series that runs through Thursday with a doubleheader Tuesday. Semien is hoping to be back by Tuesday or Wednesday.

The Astros were already without their third baseman, Alex Bregman, sidelined by a hamstring injury, says he’s healthy, but the training staff hasn’t signed off. He likely will be activated sometime during the series with the A’s, but manager Dusty Baker says the team will be cautious with him. And over the weekend, second baseman Jose Altuve landed on the injured list over the weekend with a right knee sprain and definitely won’t face Oakland.

“It’s a key series every time we play them as the season goes along,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “It’s getting more and more important, especially since this is the last time we play them this year.

Oh, yeah, the two sides will be struggling for pitching, too, with a Tuesday doubleheader on the schedule for Tuesday, the makeup of a game of Aug. 28 that wasn’t played as the Astros joined in a national sports protest for a day over social justice and systemic racism in the country.

The A’s could have done themselves a huge favor with a win Sunday against the San Diego Padres, but for the second time in three days, a replay challenge of a call at the plate cost them a run. In a game as close as this one was, the fact that Robbie Grossman was called out when most available evidence indicated he was safe was galling.

“Don’t even get me started at this point,” Melvin said. “Let’s go forward and I’ll try not to get frustrated by it.”

Don’t get Grossman started either, not with this call being sustained or with Matt Olson’s safe call as the first run of Friday’s game being overturned.

“I just hope; we’ve got to win one at some point,” Grossman said. “Everyone saw it, but they’re the ones who make the decision. If I’d been called safe, then it probably would have stayed safe.

“I thought I was safe. I thought through (watching) the video I was safe. And they’re the only ones who thought I was out.”

The A’s were up 1-0 at that point and Grossman’s second-inning non-run would have made it 2-0. That made a difference, because the Padres scored two in the third. The A’s would crawl back into a tie in the third, but a fourth-inning run put San Diego up 3-2 just as starting pitcher Garrett Richards was getting into a groove retiring 13 batters in a row at one point. A Fernando Tatis two-run homer in the seventh effectively put the game out of reach, although the A’s Sean Murphy added a long solo shot in the bottom of the inning.

And now two limping teams meet at the Coliseum for five games in four days with the AL West title in the balance.

Both teams need to get past the injuries and focus on the players they have healthy.

“You look around, and everybody has some injuries,” Melvin said. “The one thing about (the Astros) is that they have a terrific lineup whether they have some guys out or not. It’s still a tough lineup to navigate around. It’s a very good team, no matter what.”

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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