Bullpen blows lead in loss to Texas
OAKLAND >> The A’s entered the eighth inning Saturday up four runs. They left down one.
Another bullpen failure, another loss — this one 8-6 to the last-place Texas Rangers.
Sergio Romo gave up a two-run home run to DJ Peters and an RBI double to Yohel Pozo, leaving the game to Andrew Chafin with two outs. Chafin hung an 0-2 slider to former A’s catcher Jonah Heim — traded to Texas with Khris Davis for Elvis Andrus — and the resulting 447-foot home run gave Texas the lead. Yusmeiro Petit gave up a solo home run in the ninth.
“A lot of it has to do with — we had a pretty decent pecking order for a while,” manager Bob Melvin said, referring to the time that preceded Lou Trivino pitching himself out of the closer’s role. “When you take your closer out of there, you do things a little differently. But, shoot, we have a lot of confidence in Romo and Chafin finishing off that game. It just didn’t
happen.”
Chafin entered his save opportunity with a .474 opposing hitters’ OPS, second among MLB relievers. One hanging slider led to his third blown save.
“He’s been really good about burying his slider,” Melivn said. “That must have been the first slider he hung all year.”
Romo picked up a save in two of his last four appearances, but left most of his pitches over the plate in the eighth inning.
With 1 1/2 games and two other teams separating
Oakland from the second wild-card spot, those mistakes could doom its postseason hopes.
Though three straight games with just one run allowed seemed to indicate the A’s bullpen was back on track, this latest meltdown makes for blown eight saves over its last 19 games. Contrast that with the bullpen’s 11 losses total over the first 123 games played.