Athletics Can’t Cash in, so Opportunity to Clinch West on the Field has to Wait

The Oakland Athletics came into Sunday with a chance to lock down the American League West title with a win, but the San Francisco Giants weren’t having any of that. The Giants scored a 14-2 win, and now the A’s will have to put the West title, however briefly, on hold.

The A’s got the game they wanted, a chance to clinch the American League West title on their own, winning their way to the title rather than having it handed to they by an Astros loss.

The Astros, playing earlier in the day, rallied late for a 3-2 win over Arizona, keeping the Oakland magic number to lock down its first AL West title since 2013 at 1.

The trouble is, the A’s didn’t do much with the opportunity they’d wanted. The odds were in their favor, Oakland coming in with a 9-1 record against left-handed starting pitchers, and the Giants were obliging by starting a lefty, Tyler Anderson.

He apparently hadn’t heard about the A’s dominance of lefties. Anderson allowed just four hits in 5.2 innings, and both of the runs against him were unearned.

The A’s lefty, Mike Minor, had thrown a shutout his last time out. This time, however, he was dinged for a couple of two-run homers and was out of the game midway through the sixth inning as the A’s had a three-game winning streak end in a 14-2 loss, delaying any celebrations they might have been thinking about.

Oakland now heads to Los Angeles for a three-game series that begins Tuesday night in Dodger Stadium. By that time, the question might be settled. The Astros, who are six games back in the West, play Monday night in Seattle, and an Astros loss would big the A’s the West title.

The A’s will also be entering the postseason playoff bubble, pacing up for a trip that will last at least a week and a half (through the first round of the playoffs) and could last a month (through the World Series).

First things first, though. Oakland has a day off Monday, the last one of the regular season, after which come seven games in six days to close things out and serve as a bridge to the postseason.

And the day off can come in nicely for some of the walking wounded among the A’s. Catcher Sean Murphy was hit a couple of times by back swings from Giants hitters this weekend, as was fellow Jonah Heim. Both are a little banged up.

So, too, is center fielder Ramón Laureano, who was hit by a pitch with two out in the ninth inning. He leads the American League having been hit a dozen times; the only other player in the AL in double figures is teammate Mark Canha, who’s been plunked 10 times.

Canha wasn’t hit Sunday, although Jake Lamb joined Laureano in getting plunked. Canha said he’ll use Monday to get away from baseball – as much as one can in a bubble – but will monitor the score as the game progresses in the Pacific Northwest. Whatever happens, happens, and he expects the A’s to be back on their game come Tuesday in Dodgers Stadium.

“You want to wrap it up going into the off-day, but it looks like we’ll have to wait until two days from now,” Canha said. “I think today we came out today like we always do. We expected to win, and we expect it’s going to be another day when we come out and play well and take advantage of opportune moments.

“It just so happened that we didn’t do that today. I don’t think anything changes.”

And that’s good with A’s manager Bob Melvin

“We seem to be a team that responds pretty well,” Melvin said. “Of course, we wanted to clinch today. We wanted to do it; we were on a roll the last couple of games, it just didn’t happen.”

Minor, whose slider did good things the last time out in Seattle against the Mariners when he threw a seven-inning complete game shutout, found that the slider wasn’t as much in command. Two of them were hit out of the park, one each by Chadwick Tromp and Darin Ruf.

“The slider was the worst pitch today,” Minor said. “Maybe it was the right pitch, but it was poorly executed.”

Everything else, including a grand slam from Brandon Crawford off J.B. Wendelken was just window dressing as the A’s bullpen, which came into the game with the best ERA in baseball, got riddled by the Giants, who reached the A’s relievers for eight earned runs.

Meanwhile, the A’s collected just five hits, and their two runs, both collected by a Lamb bases-loaded single, were unearned.

So, all in all, not a great day, but a good day for a day off for a team that is 33-20 and six games up in the AL West with seven games to play. And given that the A’s will be West champions once they win again or the Astros lose again, Oakland’s position remains among the best in baseball.

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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