They didn’t complete the sweep of the Astros, who regained sole possession of first place in the AL West, but for the second time in a week the A’s took two of three against their toughest division foes, Houston and the Seattle Mariners.
Neither of those teams are going away. Add in the A’s, and all three are expected to claw it out to the end. Astros starter Justin Verlander, who picked up his 200th career victory, mentioned that during his postgame news conference Sunday after his team’s 9-4 win in front of 29,143 at the Coliseum.
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You knew the Astros would come to play Sunday. Their gut-wrenching loss Friday, followed by a 7-1 beatdown Saturday, should have told you that. It’s hard to sweep the defending World Series champions. And after two losses like that, even harder.
Here are some takeaways from Sunday’s game.
Sean Manaea’s second short start in three outings
There’s good Manaea and there’s bad Manaea. It’s never really in between. He breezed through the Astros lineup in the first two innings, giving up just one hit in that span. The first 15 pitches he threw were fastballs until he struck out Yuli Gurriel on a nasty changeup low and away to end the frame.
That gave reason to believe that Manaea would turn in a good start.
“I tell you what, the first couple of innings, I thought it was as good of stuff as we’ve seen,” manager Bob Melvin said after the game. “You know, (Manaea was throwing) 92, sharper breaking ball, good changeup.”
The A’s starter retired the first two batters in the third, which was more proof that he had control. The A’s lineup was looking good, too. Matt Chapman and Khris Davis both homered in the first off of Verlander, giving Manaea a two-run cushion.
Then, suddenly, it felt like an avalanche hit the A’s. Martín Maldonaldo doubled. George Springer singled. Alex Bregman beat the shift and shot a ball through the right side to score Maldonaldo. Then Gurriel parked one into the left-field bleachers that hooked around the foul pole for a three-run blast.
Jonathan Lucroy wanted the ball down and away, but Manaea missed with the changeup in, and all Gurriel had to do was drop the head of the bat on it.
“They just had some hits, and we made some mistakes,” Lucroy said. “Springer had a good swing on that changeup. Maldonaldo had a good at-bat. And obviously, Gurriel hit that homer, which kind of changed it. We were trying to go down and away, and he threw it down and in, and (Gurriel) just golfed it up. It’s one of those things where your starting pitcher didn’t have his best stuff against a lineup like that, it’s going to be a tough day.”
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Evan Gattis homered in the fourth, and by the fifth inning, Manaea appeared tired, as all his pitches were elevating. He couldn’t record an out in the fifth and just like that, his day was done.
“I wasn’t getting outs,” Manaea said. “I just kept giving up runs, and my job is to give the team a chance to win and just didn’t do that today.”
The A’s are being prudent with Manaea’s pitch count to save him for down the line. But what should be somewhat of a concern is that Manaea has thrown 100 or more pitches just twice this season (though it’s worth mentioning he threw 99 in his Aug. 1 start against Toronto).
Manaea’s velocity has fluctuated throughout the year, and some scouts have alluded to him having a dead arm. He threw just 67 pitches Sunday. In his Aug. 7 outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Manaea lasted just 2 2/3 innings (though he went 7 2/3 to beat the Mariners in his following start on Aug. 13). The A’s have no issues going to their bullpen early, but not that early. You need more from your starter, particularly your best pitcher.
On the opposing side, Verlander didn’t have his best stuff, either. But he exited after recording one out in the sixth with runners on the corners, at least giving his team a chance. The great pitchers figure out how to grind out a start as much as they can.
On days when Manaea doesn’t have it, he has to figure out how to at least be decent.
Davis’ dominance of Verlander
Davis owns Verlander. One June 14, the last time the starter pitched at the Coliseum, Davis homered off of Verlander. He came into Sunday’s matchup 3 for 8 with two homers against the All-Star right-hander. Davis left it 6 for 11 with four homers.
Davis showed the gap-to-gap ability against Verlander that makes him one of the more feared power hitters in baseball. The first homer that Davis hit went beyond the State Farm sign in left-center field. The second homer was also hit over the other State Farm sign — to right-center on a line.
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“When you have multiple home runs off guys, it stands out on my card,” Melvin said. “But as I look down at my card, he has multiple home runs on just about anybody. So it’s a nice little feather in his cap. Guys in the middle of the order, you want to be able to handle good pitching. Not everybody can do that. He can.”
Before each pitch, Davis raises his left hand with his palm facing toward him and begins motioning his hand back and forth. It’s his way of telling himself to stay inside the ball, something he does better than most power hitters, who sometimes have a tendency to pull off pitches. The home run to right was textbook Davis. It is befuddling that teams continue to pitch him outside.
Chapman’s improved plate discipline
Chapman’s homer against Verlander was also impressive. It registered at 106 mph off the bat at a 29-degree launch angle to straightaway center field.
But that wasn’t the most impressive thing about that at-bat.
Chapman simply doesn’t chase anymore. He was down 0-2 in the count, with Verlander pumping 97 mph in his sleep. The younger Chapman probably would have been walking back to the dugout.
But look where this 0-2 pitch is on the corner. Chapman doesn’t even bite.
The second pitch Verlander missed a bit more outside. But look where the third pitch is.
Again, Chapman didn’t flinch.
Verlander didn’t want to surrender a walk with the meat of the order coming up. And Chapman wasn’t going for it. So Verlander knew he had to throw a strike, which led to this.
“We were kind of waiting for this,” Melvin said of Chapman. “You know guys are going to develop and some of them at a quicker pace and some not. And he’s developed pretty quickly. That’s why he’s hitting in the spot that he is, and that’s been the difference is, that he’s not chasing. He’s not striking out on balls out there. He’s making them throw it over the plate, and the numbers would suggest that’s the reason why.”
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Entering the game, Chapman had swung at pitches out of the zone just 24.7 percent of the time (league average is around 30 percent). Another player who also swings out of the zone just 24.7 percent of the time?
Yankees superstar Aaron Judge.
Some perspective
The A’s are now one game behind the Astros — they gained a game in this series. Lucroy repeated after the game that if the team wins two out of three in their remaining three-game series for the rest of the season, they’ll win the World Series. He also mentioned that he, again, told his teammates that.
Verlander took notice of the A’s, too, saying that the team isn’t a fluke.
“They do such a good job of battling starting pitching, pitching in general,” Verlander said. “I think there’s a lot of ballgames where there’s a tight game and their bullpen is a shutdown bullpen and allows their team to come back and score a couple of runs.”
Houston will travel to Seattle, a team that beat the Astros four straight times just a week ago. And the A’s will host to the Rangers, who have been playing well. But if you’re the A’s, you couldn’t ask for a better scenario.
“Obviously, we wanted that sweep but came up short,” A’s right fielder Stephen Piscotty said. “But we came in and took care of business, so we feel real good about that. It’s one of those things where I think we proved it to ourselves that it’s not as if we’ve been beating teams that have been (injured). We had the Mariners and Astros back to back and went 4-2, so we feel really good about that.”
— Reported from Oakland
(Top photo: Darren Yamashita/USA TODAY Sports)