Bullpen crumbles in road defeat
Tony Kemp hardly moved, at least toward the ball. The left fielder backpedaled several steps, then bent into an exaggerated lean forward. Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s drive soared over his head, 421 feet into the seats at Rogers Centre, a game-tying grand slam. It was not the nadir of an A’s bullpen collapse.
Mark Canha’s two-run homer in the top of the ninth gave the A’s a chance to salvage a win. Sergio Romo entered for the save chance and did not notch an out. He allowed three hits. Marcus Semien, the former A’s shortstop, authored the last, a three-run homer to hand Oakland an 11-10 defeat.
The A’s lost despite taking a six-run lead into the eighth. A strong start by Sean Manaea went for naught. The A’s lost for the first time this season when scoring six or more runs. Their relief corps is reeling. The infielder they let walk in free agency delivered the knockout with his 34th home run.
“It sucked,” Canha said of the loss. “We feel like we’re going to win that game, kind of an emotional game back and forth. And it just didn’t work out in the end, and it happens.
“Sometimes you go in stretches like this where you’re in a bit of a funk, where it becomes tough to win ballgames, and that’s kind of what we’re dealing with right now. But we’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing. We’re doing a lot of good things. We’re competing our butts off. If there’s a positive, take that positive away from today.”
Manaea ended the seventh inning at 86 pitches. Manager Bob Melvin saw a chance to
reintroduce Lou Trivino, who hadn’t pitched since a third straight loss Aug. 27 in the closer role. Trivino walked his first hitter, then got two outs. He could not secure a third. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lined a single. Trivino hit Bo Bichette with a curveball and walked Teoscar Hernandez to load the bases. Melvin retrieved him.
“He wasn’t the only one that gave up runs,” Melvin said. “Manaea was great through seven. We’ve got six outs to get, fourth time back around that lineup. Sean pitched great; I thought that was enough for him based on his workload here recently and the results. But we just couldn’t finish it off. And we should be able to hold an 8-2 lead. We just didn’t.”
Yusmeiro Petit entered his majors-high 68th game, one where he should not have been needed. He walked Alejandro Kirk to force in a run and bring up Gurriel. The A’s had blown a 6-3 fifth-inning lead in losing on Wednesday in Detroit. They led 8-0 on Thursday only to win 8-6. Faltering again seemed farfetched. Gurriel jumped a firstpitch 84 mph cutter anyway for a grand slam that tied the score.
“I don’t think there is any concern,” Manaea said of the bullpen. “Obviously, those are tough losses. But I don’t know; it’s just a later part of the game, so it’s a little more tense. But I know the boys are doing the job as best they can.”
Manaea compiled a 9.90 ERA in five August starts. He faced a formidable task in a Toronto order heavy on right-handed power and productive against fastballs. He attacked with the pitch anyway.
Manaea’s fastball showed life Friday, hitting 95-96 mph in the first inning. He finished his first five strikeouts on swingthroughs against fastballs. He poured in 64 on 86 total pitches. Blue Jays hitters swung at 37, missing as many (11) as they put into play.
“I feel like when I can control it and throw it to either side of the plate, I think my fastball is really good,” Manaea said. “So I think that’s always the key, being able to throw it kind of where I want.”
His lone blemish came in the fourth. Guerrero singled and Hernandez homered on a 1-0 changeup. Manaea allowed one more hit, a two-out double by George Springer in the fifth, before retiring his final seven hitters.
“My tempo, I felt, was a lot
better than it has been recently,” Manaea said.
His offense backed him. Matt Chapman drove a two-run double in the first. Matt Olson lined a two-run double in the fifth. Kemp hit a two-run homer in the sixth that chased Toronto starter Alek Manoah from the game. Chapman and Kemp added run-scoring singles in the seventh.
“It’s not a good feeling when you lose like that,” Canha said. “But I don’t think anyone’s losing faith or anything. … We’re a confident group. We’re going to come out tomorrow and try to do the same thing we did today; keep competing like we have been.”