Schwindel blast, Bassitt gem lift Oakland to win
Frank Schwindel launched his first bigleague home run — then waited to make sure it counted. His towering fly ball reached the second leftfield deck at the Coliseum. It appeared to fall well inside the foul pole. Schwindel rounded the bases and returned to a raucous A’s dugout. Only then did two umpires don headsets for a review.
Schwindel, called up from TripleA on Tuesday and in the A’s lineup at DH on Wednesday night against Texas, had endured a long wait already. The first baseman, who turned 29 on Tuesday, has played in 832 minorleague games in which he’s hit 134 home runs. A fleeting call
up by Kansas City in 2019 yielded one hit, a single, in 15 atbats.
Wednesday, he jumped the second pitch he saw from lefthander Kolby Allard, a fastball at 92 mph. It left his bat at 108 mph and flew an estimated 395 feet. The replay review proved a formality. Schwindel needed to wait only 46 seconds more. His home run upheld, he tilted his head back, eyes closed, and raised both hands skyward.
Schwindel’s tworun shot in the second inning was enough scoring for the A’s and Chris Bassitt threw seven scoreless innings in a 31 win over the Rangers. It made Schwindel the first player to hit his first career home run in his first atbat with the A’s since Terry Steinbach in 1986. Schwindel had 16 in 44 games with TripleA Las Vegas this season before his callup.
It also marked a fast return from a move meant to bolster the A’s against lefthanded pitching. Manager Bob Melvin said Schwindel would mostly provide an option at DH. Entering Tuesday, the A’s had a .662 OPS from the DH spot, secondlowest among AL teams. Mitch Moreland, the A’s lefthanded DH, and Schwindel have each homered in the last two games.
In a bit of trivia, Schwindel became the 2,000th player to play in a game for the A’s in franchise history. His homer capped a threerun second inning. Matt Chapman drew a leadoff walk and Chad Pinder followed with a single. Sean Murphy drove in Chapman on a sacrifice fly ahead of Schwindel’s blast.
Bassitt required minimal support. He threw seven scoreless innings, scattering three hits and striking out seven. He has completed seven or more innings in seven of his last 11 starts. As of Wednesday night, his 1062⁄3 innings pitched led the AL and was tied for secondmost in the majors. His ERA dipped to 3.04 and he is unbeaten in his last 15 starts.
Bassitt has allowed two or fewer runs in all but two of those outings. He has achieved that with nullifying runners in scoring position. Opponents are 2for29 in those situations against Bassitt in his last five starts and 15for87, a .172 average, this season. The Rangers were hitless in four such atbats against him Wednesday.
They did not move a runner past first base until the fifth inning. Eli White doubled with one out. Bassitt induced a popout by Jonah Heim and a comebacker from Nick Solak. Texas’ best chance came an inning later. Isiah KinerFalefa singled with one out and Bassitt issued his lone walk to Brock Holt. Adolis Garcia beat a possible doubleplay ball to leave men on first and third.
Joey Gallo had homered twice Tuesday night. He took Bassitt to a full count. Bassitt threw a 91mph cutter. Gallo grounded it to first baseman Matt Olson. Bassitt pumped his fist as he turned toward the dugout. His last batter, Heim, hit a 397foot drive to center that died at the warning track. Bassitt exited at 102 pitches. The A’s are 134 in his starts this season.
Bassitt’s outing allowed the A’s to close out the win using only Yusmeiro Petit and Lou Trivino out of their bullpen. Petit worked a scoreless eighth inning. Trivino notched his 13th save, though it was adventurous. Gallo hit a solo home run, the first earned run allowed by Trivino since May 5, ending a run of 20 appearances without one. Texas’ next two batters hit singles. Trivino struck out Heim and retired Solak on a flyout.