Bassitt bounces back with 6th victory
On his road to another solid season, Chris Bassitt experienced a hiccup in his June 1 start in Seattle. Known for efficiency and a dynamic strikeouttowalk ratio, the righthander poohpoohed the subpar start, took the Coliseum mound Tuesday night and led the A’s to a 52 victory over Arizona.
Bassitt was back, and that meant the Diamondbacks were doomed. Requiring just 88 pitches, he surrendered two runs on four hits and a walk while striking out six.
Through six innings, Bassitt was perfect except for a few minutes in the second when three straight batters reached base, beginning with Christian Walker’s home run. From there, Bassitt retired 15 in a row.
The streak ended when Walker opened the seventh with a single, and he scored on Josh Reddick’s sacrifice fly.
Stephen Vogt drilled Bassitt’s final pitch to a leaping Matt Olson at first base.
Yusmeirio Petit and Lou Trivino pitched the eighth and ninth, and the A’s moved 10 games above .500.
Even though Bassitt lasted just four innings in his previous start, the A’s won that game 126 so his winning streak remained intact. It’s now six.
The A’s got no hits the first three innings and had just one baserunner, then broke out in the fourth by scoring five runs in stationtostation, noextrabasehit fashion.
The A’s kept the bases loaded for most of the inning. Chad Pinder and Matt Chapman hit RBI singles, and Sean Murphy and Elvis Andrus drew runscoring walks. The final run scored on Mark Canha’s fielder’s choice.
The rally began when Jed Lowrie grounded to short — no one was present because the Diamondbacks were shifting him to the right side.
The Pinder atbat was significant. He entered as a pinchhitter for right fielder Seth Brown once Arizona manager Torey Lovullo pulled his starter, righty Jon Duplantier. Lefty Alex Young arrived, and A’s manager Bob Melvin went with Pinder, who not only singled home a run in the big rally but singled twice more.
Reddick and Vogt hit seventh and eighth, respectively, in Arizona’s lineup, and the difference in fan reaction to the former Oakland players was clearly noticeable.
Reddick is a former Houston outfielder who played on teams busted for their signstealing scandal. As for Vogt, he has remained beloved. So it’s easy to guess which player was booed and which was cheered.
Melvin managed his first home game since breaking the Oakland franchise record for wins by a manager, and a video tribute was shown on the scoreboards before the first pitch. Many A’s players and Melvin’s close associates around the game congratulated him, including the man whose record fell, Tony La Russa.
Also, Billy Beane, Phil Garner, Dusty Baker, Bryan Price, Chip Hale and Craig Counsell, plus several of his players: Chapman, Olson, Lowrie, Canha, Pinder, Petit and Bassitt.
Oh, and former A’s captan and third baseman Sal Bando of 1970s championship fame — Melvin wears No. 6 because that was Bando’s number.
Because the A’s were on the road last week for Lou Gehrig Day, they had their ALS Awareness Day and honored Stephen Piscotty before the game for winning this year’s Lou Gehrig Award, given annually to a player who “best exemplifies the giving character” of Gehrig. The jersey Piscotty wore on Lou Gehrig Day was shipped to the Hall of Fame.