Piscotty’s heroics, A’s winning streak put on hold

Tigers-a’s suspended until September

DETROIT – Bob Melvin will be the first to admit that he’s no meteorologist.

Still, the Oakland Athletics manager thought his team could have gotten three final outs required to make 5-3 the final score of Sunday’s series finale with the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park final before the rain really started coming down.

“When they pulled it, it wasn’t raining barely at all,” Melvin said before relaying that the umpires explained to him that they were told “once it started raining that it was going to rain really hard and to get the tarp on the field.”

Because the visiting A’s took their 5-3 in the top half of the inning in which the game was delayed and later suspended, Major League Baseball rules state that the Tigers must have a chance to finish their

at-bats before a suspended game can be ruled an “official game” and the score is made final.

Which is an unfortunate thing for Melvin’s club, seeing as how Stephen Piscotty’s two-rbi double in the top of the inning would have potentially ended the team’s stint in the Motor City as victors of four straight games if Liam Hendricks would have been able to get the final three outs before the game was called.

Even so, Melvin said he understands the umpiring crew’s perspective: “If they have orders to do that, I get it. I’m not a weatherman either, it just wasn’t raining very hard.”

The game will be resumed on Sept. 6 prior to a matchup between the two clubs in Oakland later this season. And while the A’s will have to wait until Monday for a chance at tying their longest winning streak of the year, there were still a couple things to smile about in the Oakland clubhouse afterward.