Game lost — and maybe Chapman, too, to injury
After dropping their rubber match to the Padres on Sunday, the A’s were hoping they hadn’t incurred a bigger loss during the game.
Third baseman Matt Chapman left a 53 loss before the fifth inning with what the A’s initially diagnosed as a right hip strain. Chapman was set to have an MRI exam, manager Bob Melvin said.
“It’s been off and on bothering him some,” Melvin said, “but it got to the point where he had to come out of the game.”
Melvin said Chapman aggravated the injury on a fourthinning play on which he fielded a groundball to his left and spun to throw to first base. Melvin said he did not think the injury “had anything to do with” Chapman’s hitting struggles in the series — he’d struck out 10 times in 11 atbats after returning from the A’s fiveday layoff.
The A’s have played their past four games without shortstop Marcus Semien because of side soreness and begin a series against the Astros on Monday with heavy AL West implications. Melvin said it’s “not great timing, period, to lose a player like (Chapman) . ... But to lose a guy like Chappy would hurt if it was an extended period.”
Oakland will carry a 31⁄2game lead into the fivegame series with the Astros, which includes one game of a Tuesday doubleheader in which the Astros will be the home team at the Coliseum in a postponement makeup. The Astros swept both games of a doubleheader when the teams met Aug. 29 in Houston but have lost five of their past seven games.
“We know them,” A’s left fielder Robbie Grossman said. “I’m ready for the series. I know everyone in that (A’s) clubhouse is ready to play them, and every game from here on out is an important game.”
“It’s a key series,” Melvin said, noting the A’s will have fewer than 20 games left afterward.
Both teams have injury issues. The Astros placed second baseman Jose Altuve and starter Lance McCullers Jr. on the injured list over the weekend and are hoping third baseman Alex Bregman, who last played Aug. 19, might be available for the series.
“One thing about them is they have a terrific lineup whether they have some guys out or not,” Melvin said. “Just a good team that has some injuries and still is a very good team, no matter what.”
Semien, meanwhile, was tentatively scheduled to take batting practice on the field Monday and could return “soon thereafter” if all goes well, Melvin said. The A’s finished Sunday’s game with Vimael Machin playing shortstop and Chad Pinder at third base.
Trade acquisition Tommy La Stella, manning Semien’s usual leadoff spot Sunday, doubled and singled in his first two atbats and was driven in both times by Matt Olson singles.
Olson’s second tied the game at 22 in the third inning. The Padres retook the lead as Mike Fiers walked Wil Myers to open the fourth and Jake Cronenworth lined an RBI double into the gap in rightcenter.
Fiers, pitching on 10 days’ rest, threw 90 pitches to complete five innings, allowing five hits and three runs. The righthander — whose public comments sparked MLB’s investigation into the Astros’ signstealing scandal last offseason — is not scheduled to pitch in the upcoming Houston series as recently acquired lefthander Mike Minor will start one game of the doubleheader.
“I felt really good, it didn’t feel like I had that long off,” Fiers said. “I’m glad I was — you definitely need to be pretty good against that (San Diego) lineup. ... Every one of those guys can hit it out of the ballpark, and they put together good atbats. Their lineup is deep.”
Replay remains a bane for the A’s. In the second inning Sunday, Grossman tried to score from third base on a third strike in the dirt and was ruled out on a close play. The A’s challenged the call as one replay appeared to show Grossman’s foot cross home prior to the tag by starter Garrett Richards. The call was upheld.
“Are we going to win one at some point? I don’t know,” Grossman said. “I thought I was safe. I thought through the video I was safe. And they’re the only ones that thought I was out.”
The A’s also had a run erased Friday on an overturned call at home. An official statement on Sunday’s ruling said: “After viewing all relevant angles, the Replay Official could not definitively determine that the runner’s foot touched home plate prior to the fielder applying the tag.”
“When you think you have a run and you don’t have a run, that’s tough to swallow, even with replay,” Fiers said. “But after it’s called an out, there’s not much we can do but keep playing.”
Richards retired 13 consecutive A’s between Olson’s thirdinning single and Sean Murphy’s solo home run in the seventh. Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a tworun homer in the top of the seventh — the 15th this season for the 21yearold shortstop, tying him with Mike Trout for the majorleague lead.