A’s win, head to Houston for showdown series.
Brett Anderson Defensive wiz batting .348 since break, has 20 HRs
MINNEAPOLIS >> Matt Chapman may not get the love he deserves in the American League MVP voting at the end of the season, but you can bet he’ll enter 2019 considered one of the top 10 players in MLB.
With two home runs in Sunday’s 6-2 win over the Minnesota Twins, Chapman boosted his season average to .282, with 20 home runs, 31 doubles, six triples, 49 walks, and 50 RBIs.
Hot since the All-Star break, Chapman will look to lead the charge against the Houston Astros in the final matchup between the two clubs in the season, beginning today in Houston. The three-game series will be crucial.
Currently 1½ games back of the Astros in the AL West, the A’s will have a shot at upgrading their second wild card spot into a division lead if they can sweep.
“There’s some implications,” Chapman said. “We’re neck and neck for first in the division, so I’m assuming it’s gonna be a lot of fun. I know everybody here and on their team knows what this series is. You gotta treat it like a normal game, but I’m excited.”
The A’s enter the series without ace Sean Manaea and have no idea how long the lefty with be out.
Manaea, the last remaining member of the A’s original starting rotation to not miss a start so far this year, was placed on the 10-day disabled list Sunday with a left shoulder impingement. For a rough comparison, right-hander Trevor Cahill had a right elbow impingement earlier this year, and returned as soon as his ten days were up. But every arm is different.
Manaea went out for his pregame throwing session prior to Sunday’s game against the Twins, but decided to cut it short after just five throws. He’ll fly back to Oakland today and meet with team doctors.
“Overall didn’t feel great and we certainly didn’t want to push it given where we are in the season,” A’s manager Bob Melvin
said.
The A’s wouldn’t be battling for a division title without Chapman.
Fans already know about Chapman’s defensive wizardry at third base as he continues to coast to a Gold Glove in his first full big league season, leading all of MLB with 26 defensive runs saved. He finished the series in Minnesota going 9 for 19 with three home runs and five RBIs to help the A’s take three out of four.
But with his bat coming along the way it has in the second half, Chapman may be only scratching the surface of what will be a career of monster offensive numbers to go along with his defense.
“It’s getting good balls to hit now. Anytime a hitter goes through a good stretch they’re swinging at good pitches, but he’s really quickly adapted to laying off some balls away,” Melvin said. “
Even some strike threes that you’re seeing called on him are balls, too, which are frustrating. But that’s allowing him to move the ball over a little bit and get good pitches to hit. He’s taking to it pretty quickly at the big league level.”
Chapman gave the A’s the early lead with a booming solo shot to left off José Berrios in the first inning. He homered again in the seventh to center off Matt Magill to extend the A’s lead to three runs. He finished 3 for 5 with a pair of RBIs.
Chapman is maturing as a hitter. He’s taking pitches that were once too good for him to resist until he finds the perfect pitch to hit.
But just because Chapman
is laying off bad pitches, that doesn’t mean he can’t still be aggressive. The first home run came on the fifth pitch of the at-bat on a curveball that Berrios left over the heart of the plate. The second homer came on a firstpitch fastball from Magill over the middle and in the zone.
“I still think I’m ready to hit every pitch and when I feel that way I tend to walk more, oddly enough,” Chapman said. “You’re not bouncing back and forth between plans, you’re hunting your pitch and when you don’t get that pitch, you take it. Then when you are ready to hit, you go. That’s been working.”
The proof is in the numbers. In his first 81 games of the season up to the AllStar break, Chapman was batting .243 (69 for 284) with 10 home runs, 17 doubles, three triples, and 35 walks.
In 33 games after the All-Star break, Chapman is hitting .348 average (48 for 138) with 10 home runs, 14 doubles, three triples, and 14 walks. That adds up to 27 extra base hits, the most in MLB over that time.
•Chris Bassitt, who was called up from Triple-A earlier in the day to make Sunday’s start in place of Manaea, did not have his best control, but he managed to hold the Twins to one run over 4 2/3 innings.
With 46 of Bassitt’s 84 pitches thrown as balls, Melvin pulled the righthander with two outs and a two-run lead in the fifth.
“It kills me to have to go get him in the fifth, but the stakes are a little higher where we are right now,” Melvin said. “He understands that, too. But he came in and did a nice job for us.”