Curveball specialist Morton set to test A’s
Melvin hopes Rays ace won’t be at his best in wild-card showdown
SEATTLE >> The A’s will play a wild-card game, but no starter or roster spot has been publicly etched in stone. Manager Bob Melvin hinted that location could play a part in that decision . ... Sean Manaea? Mike Fiers? Someone else? We’ll know in a few days.
What we do know is that the A’s will face Tampa Bay Rays’ starter Charlie Morton, who stuns with one of the best curveballs in the game. The A’s have faced him twice this season already — in Tampa and Oakland within 10 days of each
start. They know there is little room for error, and the postseason hasn’t been kind to this organization lately.
“I would say we hope he doesn’t have his good stuff, is what we hope,” Melvin said. “We’ve faced him before, we faced him there, faced him with Houston. He’s a premiere pitcher and that’s why they’re starting him in that game.
“In any postseason game you’ll see their best pitchers, and he deserves to start that game,” Melvin continued. “So you try to break down what he’s going to try to do to you and have the best plan going into the game, but you know there’s a chance he won’t make many mistakes, so you try to make him work.”
The A’s have fallen into clutch-hit slump in this final road trip — batting 2-for-43 with RISP — and swinging for the fences to tide them over. This may just be late-season fatigue that could be quashed with postseason adrenaline; the A’s will need to go back to their bread and butter against Morton.
The home run may be hard to come by against Morton — Jurickson Profar has one against him at Oakland this year. That was the only run he allowed, holding Oakland to just six hits with 13 strikeouts over 13.1 innings.
Morton averages an 86 mph exit velocity, 32 percent hard hit average with a middling fastball velocity balanced out by a befuddling breaking ball, so the A’s could turn into doink-hitters — stay inside the ball, go with the pitch and prevent zone expansion (this is a strategy the slap-hit happy Rays operate with, too).
Matchups might play a part in how the starting lineup is compiled. Morton has a 4.59 ERA against lefties in 96 innings and a 1.55 ERA against righties in 98.2 innings. Melvin hinted that positional player flexibility might be preferred over pitching flexibility, the A’s may carry.
Here’s how the A’s roster might look for the wild-card game.
INFIELDERS >> Matt Olson, Jurickson Profar, Marcus Semien, Matt Chapman, Sheldon Neuse, Chad Pinder (6).
OUTFIELDERS >> Seth Brown, Ramón Laureano, Mark Canha, Robbie Grossman, Stephen Piscotty (5). CATCHERS >> Sean Murphy, Josh Phegley (2).
DH >> Khris Davis (1). STARTERS >> Sean Manaea starts — Mike Fiers, Chris Bassitt (3). RELIEVERS >> Jesús Luzardo, A.J. Puk, Liam Hendriks, Jake Diekman, Yusmeiro Petit, Joakim Soria, J.B. Wendelken, Ryan Buchter (8).
Chris Bassitt would, of course, come out of the bullpen. Luzardo and/or Puk could be excellent piggybacking with Manaea against a tough left-handed lineup. The A’s starting lineup could be lefty-heavy. Seth Brown might get a start in left field an Jurickson Profar — despite some defensive wobbles — should start at second.
WILD CARD STARTING LINEUP PREDICTION >> SS Marcus Semien, 3B Matt Chapman, 1B Matt Olson (L), CF Mark Canha, 2B Jurickson Profar (S), RF Ramón Laureano, DH Khris Davis, LF Seth Brown (L), C Sean Murphy, Sean Manaea (LHP).
A’S DROP GAME NO. 162 >> What did Game 162 mean for the A’s?
They came into the game with 97 wins, matching their high from 2018. A season-ending win could at least inch them above the remarkable mark.
Instead, they lost to the Seattle Mariners, 3-1, on Sunday afternoon. They finished the season 97-65.
All the regulars got the day to rest. Semien started the game to complete his 162-start season, but fouled out on the first pitch and was subbed out soon after. Skye Bolt got the start in center field and Seth Brown got his first start of the year at first base. Franklin Barreto started at second (moving to short once Semien left the game) and Sheldon Neuse started at third.
Tanner Roark dealt five innings and allowed three runs, including a Kyle Seager two-run homer. Roark has been shaky lately, compiling an 8.50 ERA over his last four starts. PISCOTTY RETURNS >> Piscotty started Sunday’s finale, his first game action since late August, hoping to gain as much traction and into as much of a groove as he could to prove he can play in the postseason, no matter how fresh off the IL.
He went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, hitting the ball with a 91 and 88 mph exit velocity after a rough first at bat with a strikeout.
“Three straight sliders after not seeing a pitch in a while was tough, but I think the later at bats I was starting to see some pitches,” Piscotty said. “I was trying to be aggressive today to make sure I was swinging and not just up there taking. So I feel like I expanded the zone which I probably wouldn’t normally do, but as the game went, felt good. Hit the ball to right, which I liked. Good sign for me.