A’s win series vs. White Sox to advance
Oakland wins first postseason series since 2006 with win against Chicago
OAKLAND » The Oakland A’s took the Chicago White Sox’s best punch Thursday and didn’t flinch. Oakland overcame a tape-measure home run and a three-run deficit to advance to the ALDS for the first time since 2013 with a 6- 4 win Thursday afternoon.
They’ll play their division foe, the Houston Astros, in the American League Divisional Series nextweek after winning their first winner-take-all game since Game 7 of the 1973World
Series against the New York Mets.
The weight of decades of do- ordie game failure didn’t crush this A’s team. This young core has been together long enough to sew their own tight bonds and long-term goals after back-to-back wild card failures in 2018 and 2019.
“Not everybody has been part of all that,” manager Bob Melvin said of the broken streak. “We’ve had some tough ones in the last two years, but the gold issue was towin the division and try to get the first round off and get to a series. We got to a series, lost
the first game, and really responded well. It was rewarding obviously.”
The pandemic won’t allow the A’s — or any team — to celebrate with burning champagne showers in their home dugouts. They have some steam to blow off given the nature of this series; after almost falling victim to a perfect game in a Game 1 loss, the resilient A’s kicked themselves into
another gear and popped off two gutty wins against one of the toughest teams in the American League.
“Getting that opportunity after that first game to come back and redeem ourselves, that shows the spirit we have and ability to bounce back no matter what happens,” Hendriks said.
With no champagne or beer shower, the A’s celebrated by playing a game together. Last year, the A’s stayed loose by playing basketball in the clubhouse. This year they rejoiced in a round of putt-putt golf. Hendriks said has been putting in the nude. After throwing a 19 pitch save to clinch the win Thursday, Hendriks had other plans for celebration.
It had been quite the roller coaster 24 hours for the A’s dominant closer. He entered the ninth inning of the two-run game hoping to redeem himself after a 49-pitch outing Wednesday in which he nearly blew a five-run lead. Manager Bob Melvin let him have the eighth inning so he could tackle the heart of Chicago’s order, as well as get long-awaited work in. The plan nearly went south, and Hendriks wasn’t sure if he should pitch Thursday with the game on the line.
An inspiring bullpen session assured him he’d be alright. He returned to an expanded grip on his slider and struck out the side after a leadoff single to send
the A’s to victory. A’ S WI NINA BULL PEN MARATHON» The grass between either bullpen and the mound could be shredded to nubs after this game. Between both teams, 17 pitchers were used toget through Thursday’s series decider.
The White Sox rotated through nine of them. Manager Rick Renteria went to his bullpen extremely early, pulling starter Dane Dunning with two outs in the first inning after he allowed a pair of hits.
“We talked about it after the game. Typically we don’t do well in those bullpen situations,” Chad Pinder said. “Their bullpen is an incredible bunch and I think that just going into the series the preparation we did on their bullpen, knowing what their go-to pitches were , and working counts and not giving away at bats. I give credit that our lineup could stick it out today.”
Typically, the A’s struggle to adjust to new pitchers. They like to hunt mistakes from relievers after getting a good feel for a starter and grinding out longer at bats. Against a White Sox bullpen riddled with hardthrowing rookies, the A’s at bats were at their best.
Down 3- 0 by the fourth inning, the A’s forced a seismic shift in momentum. Sean Murphy barreled up Codi Heuer for a two-run home run.
Murphy could be easily pegged as the Athletic to change the game with one swing. He’s arguably been the A’s best hitter, gaining momentum after a slow start most catchers experience, anyway. It was his eighth home run of the year, and the 424-foot blast was nowhere near his longest.
Renteria pulled Heuer and opted for left-hander Carlos Rodón to face Tommy La Stella, who worked a walk. Marcus
Semien followed with a single and Renteria intentionally walked Pinder — who subbed in for Jake Lamb at third — to get to Mark Canha and to load the bases.
Canha and Olson worked back- to- back bases-loaded-walks to give the A’s the 4-3 lead, which the White Sox erased in the top of the fifth before Oakland struck again, using Chicago’s mistakes against them.
The A’s lathered something up against Chicago reliever Evan Marshall in the fifth. The right-hander couldn’t quite find the strike zone, and the threebatter minimum rule gave the A’s full chance to take the lead. With two outs, Marshall walked a pair and La Stella reached on a catcher’s interference.
Pinder came up with the big hit, slicing a ball past Anderson’s glove at short to score two and a lead the A’s would never surrender. It was a moment that nearly didn’t come to fruition as Pinder worked back from a mid-September hamstring strain with extra sting in light of Matt Chapman’s season-ending hip surgery. WHAT’S NEXT? » The A’s will go back to a familiar foe for the ALDS. They play the Houston Astros starting Oct. 5 for a five-game series. The A’s took the regular season series 7-3 from their AL West rivals — and therewas a kerfuffle mixed in there. There’s still no love lost between the two teams months after the Astros were exposed for stealing signs in their championship season.