Young players power sweep
On a warm August afternoon, with their team long since rendered irrelevant in the 2017 standings, Matt Olson and Matt Chapman showed why the A’s remain hopeful about their long-term future.
Olson and Chapman each went 3-for-4 with a home run in Sunday’s 8-3 victory over Texas at the Coliseum. The win completed a three-game sweep for the A’s, only their fourth series sweep all season.
Starting pitcher Jharel Cotton did his part, matching his career high with nine strikeouts in six strong innings.
Olson (age 23) and Chapman (24) count as bookend building blocks — young, sturdy corner infielders with power. Exactly the kinds of players the A’s want to keep around until (or if ) they build their long-awaited new ballpark in Oakland.
“It’s not a surprise to us, but it’s important that they’re playing well at a time like this,” manager Bob Melvin said. “This is not just a September call-up thing.”
Chapman and Olson live with teammates Ryon Healy and Chad Pinder in Walnut Creek. That’s a vital quartet for the A’s as they try to revitalize an offense once again lagging behind most American League
teams.
“I think we’ve got a good thing going here, and we want to ride it out as long as we can,” Chapman said of the young hitters.
Olson and Chapman flexed their muscles in the second inning of Sunday’s game. First, Olson unloaded a long home run to right field, with Matt Joyce aboard, to push Oakland ahead 2-1.
Chapman, the next batter, followed with his own majestic homer, launching an A.J. Griffin pitch over the wall in left. That quickly, in the space of three pitches, the A’s seized a 3-1 lead.
And their fans — amid another long, disheartening summer slog — savored a sign of potentially brighter days on the horizon.
Olson has nine home runs in 116 major-league plate appearances this season, an impressive ratio. He also hit 23 homers at Triple-A Nashville, giving him 32 overall in 2017.
Plus, he simply looks the part of a power hitter, at 6foot-5 and 230 pounds.
“I’ve felt pretty good most of the year,” Olson said. “It’s the same game up here, and I’m trying to keep it going.”
Chapman brings similarly tantalizing power, with 10 homers (and 16 doubles) this season in 201 plate appearances. And his widely lauded defense helped finish off the Rangers.
Texas trimmed the deficit to 4-3 in the eighth, then loaded the bases with one out. Mike Napoli, facing closer Blake Treinen, ripped a line drive toward the left-field corner — and Chapman, playing third base, quickly lunged to his right to snag the ball, racing to the bag to double off Elvis Andrus.
The A’s added four runs in the bottom of the inning, fueled by Rougned Odor’s throwing error and Marcus Semien’s two-run single.
Cotton also counts as a potentially key figure in the A’s rebuilding plans. Club officials became excited about Cotton’s future late last season, when he went 2-0 with a 2.15 ERA in five starts after Oakland acquired him from the Dodgers in the Josh Reddick/Rich Hill trade.
This year, though, Cotton mostly has struggled. But the A’s can find solace in his past two starts: 62⁄3 solid innings Aug. 20 against Houston, backed up by six more good innings Sunday. His fastball reached 95 mph at times, and his hypnotizing, 78 mph changeup kept Texas hitters off balance.
“It’s a learning experience, man — the good starts, the bad starts,” Cotton said of his unsteady season. “I feel like I’m going in the right direction now. My confidence is definitely rising.”