A’s can’t complete sweep as Indians win big at Coliseum
Potent Indians avert sweep with a blowout victory
OAKLAND >> Like all good things, the A’s winning streak had to end at some point.
Entering the day winners of six in a row, the A’s were unable to complete a second consecutive sweep as the Indians poured it on in Sunday’s 15-3 loss in front of 16,164 fans at the Coliseum for Root Beer Float Day.
Things can escalate quickly when you’re up against a potent lineup like the Indians possess.
Jed Lowrie represented the tying run as he came up with two outs in the seventh inning after Mark Canha grounded into a force out to bring home a run and put the A’s (46-39) within two, trailing 5-3. But after Canha was thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning, things got ugly.
Perhaps a bit rusty after not pitching in five days, Chris Hatcher came on for the eighth and was shelled for four runs. He was pulled by A’s manager Bob Melvin without having recorded an out. Josh Lucas took over for Hatcher and was also tagged for four runs before getting finally through the inning, making it an eightrun eighth. The Indians batted around and transformed what was once a close game into a laugher in just a matter of minutes.
“It’s a product of using the same guys every day for quite a while. Some of the other guys need to pitch,” Melvin said. “Today they weren’t as sharp as we’ve seen them before.
All of them had pitched really well at times and when you haven’t pitched in six or seven days, it’s tough to locate.”
It was a rare bullpen meltdown after the A’s had grown used to automatic shutdown eighth and ninth innings from Lou Trivino and Blake Treinen during the winning streak. But the rough afternoon might not have come as too much of a surprise given the inactivity of the A’s middle-inning relievers over the past week.
After the A’s had held the Indians (45-37) to just three runs over the previous two
games, Cleveland exploded for 15 on 20 hits against, including smacking 11 doubles.
Frankie Montas kept the A’s in the game for that potential late-inning comeback Oakland has become adept at doing the past couple of weeks. He allowed three runs on nine hits and no walks, striking out six over 5 2/3 innings of work.
“I thought he was good, it was just a couple of big hits they got off him,” Melvin said, referring to a pair of doubles allowed to Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez in the fifth. “Otherwise I thought he pitched closer to what we’ve seen the last two starts.”
Montas is now 4-2 with a 3.83 ERA through seven starts this season. His typically hard fastball was
there, and he even got through the start without allowing a walk for just the second time this season, but falling behind led to most of the damage.
“I felt like after the first inning I was able to hit my spots a little more,” Montas said. “But that last inning I got behind in the count. They have some good hitters and they took advantage of that.”
Back-to-back doubles by Khris Davis and Matt Olson to lead off the fourth tied the game and got the A’s on the board for their first run.
• Although it was a tough loss, the A’s did receive some good news before the game. After weeks of uncertainty, the A’s finally have an idea on when Matt Chapman will make his return to the
lineup.
After Chapman took batting practice for the first time in over two weeks and launched a number of pitches off the wall in center field before Sunday’s game, Melvin took it as a sign that the third baseman is pretty much ready to go.
The A’s will send Chapman to Single-A Stockton today for minor league rehab, but it’s expected to be a short assignment of one game, as Melvin expects to insert Chapman back in the lineup Tuesday against the San Diego Padres if all goes well.
“He’s a big part of not only the offense but defense,” Melvin said of Chapman, who is batting .250 with 10 home runs and 26 RBIs this season.
“It allows Jed (Lowrie) to go back to his natural position at second base and just makes us better,” he continued. “You know over the course of the season you’re gonna have some injuries and have to power through a little bit. Getting him back in the lineup will be a nice little kick for us.”