Mariners 10, A’s 8: Oakland wastes an 8-5, eighth-inning lead and falls on Chris Herrmann’s homer in the 11th.
One of the A’s most impressive feats in this sensational season came to a halt Tuesday, when the team fell for the first time when leading after seven innings.
Even so, making it to the final week without a loss in such circumstances is a major reason Oakland clinched an unexpected playoff spot one night earlier — and the streak would have stayed alive were it not for an error by third baseman Matt Chapman with two outs in the ninth, which set up Kyle Seager’s game-tying single off Blake Treinen.
The Mariners then won it 10-8 in the 11th when Chris Herrmann came off the bench to hit a two-run homer off Emilio Pagan. Manager Bob Melvin said after the game that Lou Trivino was unavailable after coming in with a neck problem Tuesday; he’ll be re-evaluated Wednesday. Cory Gearrin has been unavailable with triceps discomfort “for a while now,” Melvin said, and Ryan Buchter and Jeurys Familia had the night off for workload reasons.
The A’s had been 68-0 when leading after seven innings, the only undefeated team in the majors in such circumstances.
“We have a lot of confidence we’re going to finish games. Our bullpen has been such a strength for us,” Melvin said. “But to go perfect over the course of a season is probably tough to do.”
Starter Brett Anderson said the fault really lies with him for failing to get out of the third. “If I do any semblance of my job, we should have won this game,” he said, adding later, “The game shouldn’t have been close.”
Oakland also was eliminated from the AL West race, with the defending World Series champion Astros claiming the division title.
Oakland’s last real order of business the rest of the week is to figure who will take the mound for the wild-card game next Wednesday, and that could be just about anyone. Anderson didn’t help his chances by failing to make it out of the third inning Tuesday, but starters Edwin Jackson — who will go in the series finale at Safeco Field on Wednesday — and Mike Fiers are definitely considerations, and a bullpen game also is possible.
“We’re leaving everything open,” Melvin said. “There are several guys in the rotation we feel like could start that game. We understand that the bullpen has been a strength for us and how far you can go with that. What we see here coming down the stretch, who’s potentially fresher than others coming in, performance going in.
“It’s definitely not decided. I don’t even know what our rotation is going to look like for the Anaheim series, less the wild-card game at this point.”
The A’s fell 2½ games behind the Yankees for the top wildcard spot, and the Yankees also hold the tiebreaker, which is intradivision record.
The location will factor — traditionally, left-handers are considered better options at Yankee Stadium to counter the short porch in right. However, the Yankees’ top power hitters, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, are right-handed, making a right-handed starter more likely, which means Jackson could be the man to get the call. He’ll be the freshest, and with Oakland willing to use the bullpen ASAP, he might have to go through the lineup only once or twice.
With the A’s clinching a postseason berth with five games to spare, Melvin is trying to rest some everyday players, so Chad Pinder got a start against a right-hander, Mike Leake, and Matt Joyce — an excellent left-handed pinchhitter who could be an asset in a playoff series — made his first start since coming off the disabled list Sept. 1. Joyce had two hits, including a two-run double in the first. Pinder, who played second base, had a single and a walk and he scored a run.
Anderson, who had worked 6 2⁄3 scoreless innings his previous start, gave up a three-run homer to Nelson Cruz in the first, Cruz’s third homer in 19 career at-bats against him.