THREATENED
Club’s tailspin at Minute Maid Park combined with Oakland’s resurgence makes for unexpected August intrigue
No Astros team since 1966 had lost nine consecutive home games. The only two that did played inside the Astrodome, toiling during the franchise’s infancy. Little was expected, and brighter days were promised.
More prosperous times are here. Still, this 2018 team — possessing the sport’s best rotation and hopes of repeating as World Series champions — reached the mediocrity their forgotten predecessors established.
The stretch stunk, wretched baseball manager A.J. Hinch likened to “garbage” Tuesday, minutes after his team lost its ninth straight game inside Minute Maid Park.
A day later, the malaise mercifully concluded. A 12-run bludgeoning of the Rockies finally resuscitated a wilting offense. The most unsightly stretch of the Astros’ season was
finished.
The return of George Springer is “almost certainly” imminent. Jose Altuve’s gradual return to batting practice also is a welcome sign for a team that’s 9-12 since the All-Star break.
“We weren’t focused on breaking the streak,” starter Gerrit Cole said. “We were just trying to not get pushed down too much, because there was a lot of good that we had done.
“It’s always important to get a win. It’s always important. We’ve got two teams right on our tail.”
The Astros, rid of their most unexpected stretch of the season, boarded an airplane bound for their most important trip of the year. It arrives against an Oakland Athletics club with a season just as unforeseen as the last week the Astros experienced.
Before the season, FiveThirtyEight foresaw 76 total wins for the Athletics. The analytically driven projections site afforded the club a 16 percent chance to play postseason baseball.
When the first pitch is thrown Friday night at Oakland Coliseum, the A’s will trail the Astros by two games. If not for a 2-0, 12-inning loss to the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday, the deficit would be one, a stunning resurgence by a franchise with a noted reputation around baseball.
Hinch spent the first three seasons of his major league career there, a prized third-round draft pick of the stingy, notoriously low-budget organization that spawned “Moneyball.”
“It’s a revolving roster when you talk about the Oakland A’s every year,” Hinch said last week, “but they are a real threat. Because when they have a lead, they win games now.”
Since the All-Star break, Oakland’s 2.85 bullpen ERA is the lowest among all American League teams. The A’s are 17-7 during the span. Just two other major league clubs — the Phillies and Padres — have produced a sub-3 clip in the second half.
Closer Blake Treinen is the only qualified reliever in baseball with a sub-1 ERA. In the last three weeks, Oakland acquired Fernando Rodney and Jeurys Familia — two closers from selling teams — to place around him.
In 581⁄3 innings, setup man Lou Trivino has 16 holds and nearly 10 strikeouts per nine innings. Trivino was an 11th-round pick of the A’s in 2013. Five years in their farm system generated this breakout year.
Third baseman Matt Chapman, the defensive wizard who has recently
pleaded with a reticent fan base to pack the aging ballpark, is an organizationally cultivated talent.
He buoys the offense with veterans Jed Lowrie and Khris Davis, showcasing the mixture of
youth and veteran acquisitions that make runs like this plausible.
Two of the five members of
their rotation were acquired in June. They signed 34-year-old journeyman Edwin Jackson to a minor league deal in June. Former Astro Mike Fiers was acquired from the Tigers this month, too.
Oakland’s starting pitchers have a 1.84 ERA during the last 14 games. Eleven have been wins. Jackson, in his 16th major league season and pitching for his 10th team, has a 2.48 ERA.
He opposes Charlie Morton on Friday evening without an earned run on his line during his last 191⁄3 innings.
Sean Manaea, with a no-hitter this season, looms Sunday to face Justin Verlander. The two games preceding it will provide fascination and, perhaps, a new division leader — something few thought could be possible.
“At the time when the schedule comes out, you don’t know what it’s going to be like,” Hinch said. “You don’t know which teams are going to be good, who’s going to have injuries, who’s going to be playing pretty well or hot when you see them.
“A lot of times it doesn’t matter who you play; it matters when you play them.”