⏩ Astros 4, A’s 2: World champions get to Sean Manaea.
Stephen Piscotty had the opportunity to stay away from work Tuesday. Two days after his mother, Gretchen, died, her son chose to go to the Coliseum and play ball.
Before his first at-bat, Piscotty received a standing ovation from the Coliseum crowd of 9,675 and a nice hand from the opposing Astros, and he acknowledged the reception by tapping his chest, then he stepped in the box and lined a sharp single to right-center.
After the half-inning, Piscotty’s father, Mike, was interviewed by A’s in-game host Kara Tsuboi and thanked everyone for supporting Gretchen Piscotty and the family.
He added, “Thataboy, Stephen, on that hit.”
Gretchen died Sunday night in Pleasanton from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. She was 55. The Cardinals had traded her son to Oakland in the winter in part so he could be near his mother.
“It was really, really incredible to watch,” A’s pitcher Sean Manaea said of Piscotty’s appearance. “I got chills his first AB when the crowd gave him an ovation. It was just a real cool moment.”
Marcus Semien added, “Great swing by him, and great gesture by the fans and everybody. I was really happy for him. It was a great moment for him and his family ... his mom watching down on him in that at-bat.”
Piscotty also made an impressive running catch of Jose
Altuve’s deep drive that ended the Astros’ fifth-inning rally. Manager Bob Melvin gave him the option to play and will do so again Wednesday. Piscotty is expected to be placed on the bereavement list when the A’s begin a three-city trip Friday night in New York.
Piscotty missed Monday’s opener. Hours before Tuesday’s game, he was playing cards with several teammates, including Semien, Matt Olson and Chad Pinder.
“Sometimes actually getting out on the field and concentrating on what (he does) is maybe a little bit of a release from what he’s going through,” Melvin said.
A donation fund for ALS research was set up by Piscotty and the A’s in memory of his mother at www.youcaring.com/piscotty. The A’s said they’d match up to $50,000, and more than $53,000 had been donated by Tuesday evening.
Cubs pitchers Yu Darvish and Jon Lester made $10,000 donations. Darvish, who doesn’t know Piscotty, wrote on Twitter, “We are all family.”
In the series opener, A’s players wrote “GP” and “RC” on their caps, the initials of Gretchen Piscotty and Rubia Castillo, the mother of reliever Yusmeiro Petit, who died April 23.
Petit pitched 12⁄3 scoreless innings that night in Texas in a 9-4 A’s win. The next day, he was placed on the bereavement list and returned home to Venezuela.
The A’s would need to replace Piscotty if he goes on bereavement, and the outfielder playing the best at Triple-A Nashville is Dustin Fowler. If Fowler is called up, it would be a significant story, with Oakland’s next series against the Yankees, the team that sent him to the A’s in the July 31 Sonny Gray trade.
Fowler awaits his first bigleague at-bat after he seriously injured his right knee in the first inning of his first game in June.
Gray is slated to pitch against the A’s in Friday’s opener.