NFL: Niners face road test without two team captains; Raiders’ Gruden to face familiar foe in new stadium.
A’s: Magic number for first division title since 2013 reduced to one
OAKLAND >> In a season delayed and at times overshadowed by COVID-19, the A’s on Saturday night were poised to celebrate their first division title in seven years remotely, of course.
The A’s did what they had to do to wrap up the American League West title by beating the Giants 6-0 in the afternoon, then had to wait for second place Houston’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. About three hours later, the nemesis Astros spoiled the party, rallying for a 3-2 win in Houston.
That means the A’s need one win or Astros loss over the final week of the regular season to wrap up their first AL West title since 2007. But there didn’t figure to be a big watch party Saturday night.
“I’ll probably just check in on the MLB app,” first baseman Matt Olson said after the A’s win over the Giants and as the Astros game was just getting underway.
Jesús Luzardo, after baffling the Giants for six innings, said, “In the world of Covid, I’ll probably celebrate by playing video games in my apartment.”
The A’s already are officially in the playoffs. They clinched their third straight postseason appearance less than 24 hours earlier.
But there was little fanfare for that milestone, either. There were no popped bottles of champagne, no beer showers or boozy celebrations after their postseason ticket was punched with the Seattle Mariners’ loss to the San Diego Padres shortly after the A’s 6-0 win over the Giants.
It did elicit a round of applause from the Oakland Coliseum grounds crew when the Padres officially beat the Mariners — the game was being shown on the park’s big board — and then the massive scoreboards flashed the message PLAYOFF BOUND. But there were n t-shirts, no big cheers from the home clubhouse. For now, the final steps toward loftier goals are just coming into focus.
“I think we have a lot bigger goals,” said Chris Bassitt, who pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings on Friday. “Playoffs is huge, but I think this team is extremely hungry for a lot bigger things than the playoffs. It’s awesome, but we acted like we won a game and that’s it.”
Olson, on Saturday, did concede, “When you win and do it, it’s better than waiting for someone else to lose.”
Now the A’s have am opportunity to do that today in the series finale against the Giants.
The A’s were on clinching alert Saturday night in large part due to their rookie lefthanded ace-in-waiting.
Luzardo hasn’t had much trouble showing off his immense talent. He’s spun opposing lineups into a tizzy with that high-90s mph fastball that twists into a twoseamer, a lively changeup and a slider that also registers as a curveball.
Where he’s found trouble is facing a lineup for a third time through, often his toughest innings occur when the rookie doesn’t make the sequencing adjustments needed against opponents that have grown familiar. He got a shot at half the Giants’ lineup a third time through, and did it in an efficient nine pitches despite giving up a leadoff single on Donovan Solano’s swinging bunt.
After the game, Luzardo wasn’t shy about acknowledging the accomplishment.
“I’m glad I was able to get through the lineup a third time through,” he said. “I was mixing it up better, keeping them off balance.”
The left-hander finished with six scoreless innings and seven strikeouts on five hits and no walks on 90 pitches. The start was a far cry from his previous against the Giants, where that potent lineup hunted his two-seamer and knocked Luzardo out of the game before the second inning.
A more balanced approach a third time through the lineup helped, but perhaps a brand new slider grip did the trick. Luzardo said he had been tinkering with it for a while, but got a good feel for it in his bullpen session right before his start Saturday.
“I just gripped it and said, ‘I’m going to throw this with conviction,’ and it worked,” he said. What came out was a breaking ball that, at times, looked like a curveball, sometimes with a little more slide, and even sometimes looked like a cutter.
That cut action came when Luzardo started throwing the pitch at a eyebrow-raising velocity, ranging from 87 to 89 mph a number of times. For reference, with his old grip, his slider and curveball (slurve) averaged 83-84 mph.
“I’ve never thrown a slider above 85, so it was pretty cool,” Luzardo said.
He got a little help from his defense during one of the Giants’ only legitimate scoring threats. Even Longoria and Solano knocked two of the five hits Luzardo would allow. With two outs, Mauricio Dubon cracked a ground ball to shortstop Marcus Semien, who couldn’t get a clean grip as Dubon flew up the line.
“Once Marcus couldn’t get a clean grip on ground ball, I figured he was going to be safe, I think it was Dubon,” he said. “I started watching Solano. Sometimes guys can get aggressive rounding third in case something happens. He took an aggressive turn and was able to get him.”
It kept Luzardo’s scoreless game intact.
“Huge,” Luzardo said. “I mean it saved that inning and saved me a run at end of day so it was huge. That’s the play we expect out of Olson.”
The A’s couldn’t give Luzardo too much run support against Giants right-hand starter Kevin Gausman. The A’s didn’t get a base runner until Mark Canha’s walk in the fourth inning — no one on second until a wild pitch sent Canha into scoring position. Their first hit off Gausman was also their first run with Olson knocking a single into shallow center field.
The A’s could grind through enough tough at bats to force the Giants into a pitching change. There, the A’s broke it open with a lot of help from a shoddy Giants’ outfield.
Manager Bob Melvin considered having Khris Davis pinch hit for Jake Lamb with a runner on against left-handed reliever Sam Selman. But, why ice a hot bat?
Lamb hit his second home run in five games with the A’s.
“He’s got a few key hits recently,” Melvin said. “Feels like very day he comes up with a key hit.”
Lamb has hit safely in all five games he’s suited up for the A’s. He now has six RBI with two home runs and is batting .400 with a 1.171 OPS.