A’s offense powers up as Gray gets closer to old form in win
Starter survives tough fifth inning to win as A’s pound three homers
ARLINGTON, Texas — In the middle of yet another game where is seemed that Sonny Gray was going to let an inning explode on him, Bob Melvin stepped in.
The A’s manager went out to visit Gray after three runs had scored in the Rangers’ fifth inning because sometimes “you have to remind him who Sonny Gray is,” Melvin said after the A’s closed out a 6-3 win over Texas.
And who is Sonny Gray?
“Sonny Gray is one of the best pitchers in the American League,’’ the manager said.
He was last year, certainly, one of the three finalists for the A.L. Cy Young Award. In 2016, not so much. This year he was, at 5.49, just 0.06 points, away from having the worst ERA in the major leagues. He’d had four starts where he’d allowed seven runs, including his last one against Tampa Bay.
So after giving back 60 percent of a 5-0 lead, Gray needed the reminder. It worked. With three runs in
and two men on base, Gray retired Nomar Mazara and Ian Desmond, who have 31 homers between them, to get out of the fifth. The Rangers, now 0-6 at home against Gray in his career, were never heard from again.
Gray, who also pitched a quick 1-23 sixth inning, said the final two outs of the fifth might well have been his biggest outs of the year.
“Yeah, I think so,” Gray said when asked. “I’ve had some innings that would get away from me this year. So to make the pitches I needed to make there in order to get those guys out was something that I hadn’t been able to do a lot of this year. Then I was able to go out for the sixth and have a clean inning.’’
As for needing reminding he is Sonny Gray?
“Just in those innings,’’ he said. “The first four innings and even the sixth inning, that’s the pitcher who I want to be, that’s the pitcher I’ve been my whole career, not only in the big leagues but my whole life. I don’t know what it’s been this year. I really can’t explain it. It seems like every game there’s that one inning with three, four, five earned (runs).
“It was good that he (Melvin) came out there and got me back on.”
With the win, the 46-55 A’s are 8-4 since the AllStar break, the second-best record in the A.L. (The Angels are 8-3.) If Oakland is going to continue to win two of every three games and make a push at .500, the A’s are going to need Gray to be Gray. And his teammates know this.
“It was huge; he was cruising for so long, and then had a long inning,” right fielder Josh Reddick said. Reddick hit a two-run homer and an RBI single, and his diving catch in the ninth ended the game. “After that, he came back and battled. And he gave us another 1-2-3 inning after that.”
Most of the offense that didn’t come from Reddick came from left fielder Coco Crisp, whose homer in the fourth started the A’s scoring and whose RBI double in the ninth ended it. Crisp leads the major leagues in batting average with runners in scoring position at .436 (24 for 55), but he was more interested in talking about Gray getting his second win in his last 15 starts.
“I mean, Sonny’s a stud. He’s going to be just fine,” Crisp said. “You have your years where you go through a tough stretch, and it builds character. Through those times, it’s all about trying to figure out how to get out of it, to come out of it, and then later in your career you’ve been here, and you can correct things a lot faster.
“Let’s just say it is a learning curve.”
The A’s have sent their n scheduled starter for Saturday, Daniel Mengden, to the minor leagues, leaving a couple of open spots in the rotation for this weekend in Cleveland. Oakland is expected to bring back lefty Dillon Overton, who was sent down July 19. Mengden, who had a good MLB debut month in June with a 1-3 record and 2.89 ERA, was 0-2 with a 9.00 in July.
Rich Hill, Oakland’s n winningest pitcher at 9-3, 2.25, said he believes his blistered finger will allow him to start Sunday against the Indians, if he’s not traded first. He made 20 throws without any covering on the blister Tuesday, then 35 with it heavily bandaged, then 15 with just a Band-Aid. The plan is for him to throw a bullpen session Friday in Cleveland, then start Sunday.
To take Mengden’s n place on the roster, the A’s promoted right-handed reliever J.B, Wendelken from Nashville for the third time. He arrived mid-game Tuesday night.
tephen Vogt rejoined the team after a three-game family medical leave. A family member has been quite ill.
Melvin said there are n no immediate plans to make a change at closer. While acknowledging that Ryan Madson has struggled with three blown saves in the last eight games over two weeks, the manager said, “obviously, John Axford has some experience doing that, but at this point, we still have confidence” in Madson. However, Madson needed a day off Tuesday, so it was Axford who closed.
With Vogt back, the A’s n are keeping Bruce Maxwell as the backup catcher and have sent Matt McBride to Nashville.