Inside: A’s give Sonny Gray an extra day to think about swirling trade rumors.
Club gives Melvin 1,000th career win on Davis’ home run
OAKLAND >>
The A’s already appear to be preparing for life after Sonny Gray.
Before Saturday’s 5-4 win over the Twins, the club announced that Gray’s scheduled start was pushed back from Sunday to Monday, the day that just happens to be the trade deadline. Monday’s game against the Giants starts several hours after the 1 p.m. deadline.
Manager Bob Melvin emphasized that the move was made in order to allow Jharel Cotton to pitch Sunday on a regular four-day rest, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that the announcement came shortly after multiple reports came out that the New York Yankees are involved in heavy trade discussion with the A’s for the prized pitcher.
“We’ll give Sonny an extra day and he’ll pitch on Monday,” Melvin said. “I guess there is the potential (for a trade) but for us, regardless, we felt like it was the prudent thing to do. He’s been pitching every fifth day and out there for typically seven innings so keeping Cotton on schedule as well just seems like it works out better for everyone.”
Pushing Gray back a day also gives the other starters in the rotation an extra day of rest, allowing Paul Blackburn to step in and pitch on regular rest on Monday should Gray indeed get dealt before the deadline.
• Melvin became the 64th manager in baseball history to win 1,000 games, but the win didn’t come easy. Trailing the Minnesota Twins by a run in the ninth, Rajai Davis blasted a walk-off two-run home run off Taylor Rogers to send his manager into the history books. Adam Rosales hit for Jaycob Brugman and led off with a walk to set up the grand finale that also snapped the A’s six-game losing streak.
Davis said the players were well aware of Melvin’s impending historic win and had even been discussing over the past week what to do with the ball once they clinched the victory. He was glad that the ball ended up under the left-field bleachers, giving the club a chance to retrieve it.
“We had been talking about whoever catches the last out, make sure to hold on to it,” Davis said. “Hopefully they can find it for him and frame it real nice so he can set it up on his wall.”
• The home run by Davis capped off what was a fourhit day for him.
• Starter Chris Smith did not have his best stuff, allowing four runs on seven hits. The much-maligned A’s bullpen picked him up in a big way. Ryan Dull, Santiago Casilla, Josh Smith and Daniel Coulombe combined to pitch four shutout innings.
•The A’s had plenty of chances to score before the late heroics, including perhaps their best opportunity in the second inning. After Yonder Alonso led off with a walk, the A’s loaded the bases with two outs, but a pop out in foul territory by Marcus Semien ended any chance of a big inning from happening.
• Pitcher Andrew Triggs, recovering from June hip surgery, said he expects to be off crutches in a couple of weeks. Triggs is confident that he will be ready to throw with no issues by spring training.
Triggs said the hip surgery was similar to the one that Sean Manaea underwent shortly after being drafted by the Kansas City Royals in 2013. Seeing his teammate have success years after the operation gives Triggs hope that he could return to the impressive form he displayed in the first month of the season that saw him go 4-1 with a 1.84 ERA.
• Chad Pinder played right field for Triple-A Nashville on Friday and went 1 for 3 with a stolen base. Appearing to be fully healthy from a hamstring issue, Melvin expects Pinder to be back and ready to play Monday against the Giants.