Bullpen crumbles at hands of AL West rivals
Oakland’s strong bullpen crumbles at hands of AL West rivals
Ramón Laureano couldn’t suppress his tears. Zoom video call pixels couldn’t hide them, either.
This strange season complicated by a global pandemic ended the way any other A’s trip to the postseason has since 2006 — with Oakland well short of reaching the World Series.
The A’s fell to the Houston Astros 11- 6 at Dodger Stadium on Thursday to lose the American League Division Series 3-1.
This exit was familiar for Oakland but maybe even more bitter. It came amid a tumultuous few months impacted by the coronavirus and at the hands of the division rival they thought they’d finally conquered. It smothered an achievable goal this team set eight months ago to win the World Series.
“It’s a bad feeling,” Laureano said with a pause to breathe back tears. “But hopefully it doesn’t happen again. Next year we’re just going to keep our head up. Keep working. Keep dreaming about moving forward and winning a World Series. And, yeah, that’s it.”
Compounding the agony of defeat is how this series against Houston unfolded for the A’s. All the factors they could control in the regular season betrayed them in this series.
The same bullpen that compiled a league- leading 2.72 ERA during the 60-game season could not contain the Astros’ powerful and determined lineup. In four games, the A’s bullpen allowed 13 earned runs — 17 unearned — in 19 innings, amounting to a 6.15 ERA.
The bullpen’s duality was no starker than in the series decider Thursday, when J.B. Wendelken, Joakim Soria and Jake Diekman allowed six earned runs (two each).
“You look at the numbers over the course of our regular season with the bullpen, it was — we have a lead after the sixth, we usually won,” manager Bob Melvin said. “It didn’t happen this series. We struggled to hold them down the entire game at times. It was a good offensive team that hit their stride at the right time.”
It could be as simple as that. The Astros are loaded with good hitters proven to excel in the postseason. The A’s relievers weren’t throwing particularly hittable pitches — save for a few pitches left up. After the loss in Game 1, Chris Bassitt said he struggled to keep his pitches down in the zone in the Los Angeles heat.
And the A’s rotation couldn’t contain much, either. Bassitt, Sean Manaea, Jesús Luzardo and Frankie Mont a s, who pit ched Thursday — were not able to get past the fifth inning in any of their starts.
T h u r s d a y, Mo n t a s started strong but things went south in a hurry when Houston erupted for five runs in the fourth.
In all, the A’s starters accumulated an 8.82 ERA in four games. The A’s pitching staff gave up 32 runs in four games. The Oakland offense finished with 20 runs against an Astros staff missing its ace, Justin Verlander, as the Astros rode the energy of a young bullpen that redeemed itself after struggling throughout the regular season.
That the A’s bullpen was their strength heading into the postseason seemed to be their best advantage. As opposing hitters grow more savvy and familiar with starters, particularly as they face them a second or third time through the lineup in big games, a team’s success can ride on throwing a fresh arm on the mound. It keeps hitters honest.
“In the postseason you tend to go to your bullpen a little earlier when you have a strength,” Melvin said. “We just couldn’t hold them down in any facet, as far as the pitching went.”
That created mountains for the A’s offense. Without Matt Chapman — or even with him — the A’s don’t necessarily match up headto-head, especially from a power standpoint.
“They kind of just outslugged us,” Mark Canha said. “In the end, it just came down to hitting the ball over the fence. And they did a little better than we did. I don’t know how else to explain it.”
The Home Run Derby played on repeat through
out the series. The 24 total home runs hit at Dodger Stadium is the most in a five-game postseason series in baseball’s history.
Laureano accounted for two of those home runs, and all of the A’s runs Thursday. He hit a three-run home run off Astros starter Zack Greinke for a 3-0 lead in the second.
But the Astros had four homers in their pocket. Michael Brantley’s two-run home run in the fourth cut
into the A’s early lead.
Carlos Correa, motivated by the villain label the Astros have worn in the aftermath of their sign-stealing scandal, hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning off Montas that gave Houston the lead for good.
Correa has talked the talk in the postseason, and he and Houston’s talented lineup have walked the walk, particularly Thursday.
The Astros blew it open
against the bullpen, hitting home runs off Wendelken and Diekman. Laureano’s second home run off Greinke was the A’s last one until a last- ditch two- out rally in the ninth inning.
“Any lead early in the game is not enough on either side,” Marcus Semien said. “Maybe in the regular season, or in Oakland when the ball isn’t traveling as far. But in this series, you just have to keep adding on. And they did that today.”
Though the A’s 12 home runs in the series set a franchise postseason record, they nearly had a few more.
Mat t Olson a lmo st cleared the short right-field fence in the fourth but Josh Reddick robbed him with a terrific catch.
Down by five runs in the seventh with two runners aboard, Semien hit what looked like a sure-fire home run that might have ignited another rally, or at least drawn them closer for the ninth inning.
But the ball died at the wall, and Houston left fielder Kyle Tucker made the catch.
The A’s took a thrilling comeback victory in Game 3 with a little home run magic from Chad Pinder. There would be no magic behind Semien’s; The A’s postseason hopes died with that ball.
Tasked with answering for their exit, the A’s appeared dazed by the season’s sudden end. They’ve only played 67 games in 2020. Some players said they feel like they’re just getting started. Now, they’ll have a long offseason to cope.
“As athletes, you have to take failing. It’s a failure,” Canha said. “We wanted to win the World Series. Anything short of that is falling short of our goal. Every failure as a competitor is an opportunity.”