Even with jumbled lineup, A’s take series vs. Royals
KANSAS CITY, MO. » Babies, beanballs and lengthy IL stints had the A’s in a bit of a roster jumble.
The A’s beat the Royals 9-8 on Thursday, securing a win in the four-game series before heading into a gutcheck, three-game set at Yankee Stadium.
In last place in the AL Central, the Royals aren’t contenders, but they did put up a good fight after Monday’s rout.
But the A’s are without Ramon Laureano and Stephen Piscotty. Wednesday they lost Khris Davis to paternity leave and Chris Bassitt should follow suit sometime soon. Matt Chapman sat out all but the bottom of the ninth inning Thursday, precautionary after he was hit in the head with a fastball Wednesday. Seth Brown was called up — he went 4 for 5 with two RBIs in the win. Sheldon Neuse joined the team from Las Vegas just in time for the trip to New York.
Chaos happens, and that won’t really stop. But, through the gusts of chaos some pillars stand tall. Like, Mark Canha and Marcus Semien.
Let’s not forget that Semien has played 215 consecutive games for the A’s, all starts.
Consistency can breed dispassion, so it’s worth noting again that Semien is one of the best hitters in the game. Manager Bob Melvin said, at
this point, it’s worth elevating that standard.
“It is really hard to come up with more superlatives. He’s an MVP candidate, he really is,” Melvin said. “For what he does, the leadoff spot, the position he plays, the power, the average, the on-base, the durability, there’s nothing like it, really.”
We know of his Gold Glove-caliber defense, perhaps made sweeter with an infield partner with Chapman’s range. He’s also maintained a 5.3 WAR, among baseball’s 10 best.
Semien has spoken a bit about attention to the little things that contribute to his offensive consistency. He’s not hitting with the same consistent power as Christian Yelich and Mike Trout, but he carries a .359 OBP and, this second half, has accumulated a 141 wRC+ (22nd best in majors) and a .979 OPS.
His own personal growth away from strikeouts and into more competitive at-bats (and, thus, a higher OBP) is due, in part, to his leadoff-hitter’s approach. He may leap on a few first pitches, but he values the 3-2 count, more value on that one slider he used to bite into the dirt. This year, Semien has a .505 OBP and a 1.053 OPS and just 18 strikeouts with a full count. It’s not just about walking or lowering strikeout rates, Semien is usually in full control of his at-bats.
In four games against the Royals, Semien didn’t walk once but had 10 RBIs and two home runs on eight hits. There’s no one hitter who carries the A’s on a given day, the little things make this lineup deep no matter how jumbled or injury-riddled it may get.
• Chapman played the ninth inning at third base and is expected to be in the lineup for Game 1 against the New York Yankees
• The A’s aren’t scoreboard watching yet. The win keeps Oakland 1 ½ games back of the Cleveland Indians for the first wild card, one game ahead of Tampa Bay for the second spot.
• Bassitt dealt 4 2/3 innings. A Chad Pinder error inflated his run count to five, but he earned just three after giving up a two-run homer to Jorge Soler.
• The rotation struggled to eat innings in Kansas City, forcing Melvin to use nearly every arm in his bullpen for five-plus innings. This is not ideal, given the team’s next destination. Getting three wins out of all the pitching changes over these last few games was crucial. “It was big, and we had to win this game today,” Melvin said. “When you go through our entire bullpen, guys and have to cover five-plus out of the bullpen. Now we’re going into Yankee Stadium. And the way they swing the bats, we had to win this game today.”