GLORY DAYS
A’s complete series win of potential wild-card preview after stars of past honored
OAKLAND >> Yankees pitcher Luis Severino handed the ball to manager Aaron Boone in the third inning and walked off the Coliseum mound. As he made his way back to the visitors’ dugout, Severino had a puzzled look on his face — could this be what awaits in a potential wild-card game?
With the A’s and Yankees pulling away in the standings for the two wild-card spots in the American League, the two clubs seem destined to meet in that Oct. 3 wild-card game to decide who goes on to the ALDS. After Wednesday’s 8-2 victory, the A’s have a 5 1/2game lead over the Seattle Mariners for the second wild card and trail the Yankees by 3 1/2 games with 21 remaining.
Severino, the Yankees No. 1 pitcher, would likely take the mound that night. If this was a trial run, the A’s have to be feeling good about their chances.
One night after a rare quiet night that saw them collect just two hits, it didn’t take long for the A’s to match that total. That was surpassed in the first inning as four hits and a combination of four wild pitches and passed balls from the Severino-Gary Sánchez battery led to a four-run inning.
“That’s become the trend for us all year,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “To get off to the start we did against a really tough pitcher today after a tough game yesterday just shows what these guys are all about.”
It would be Severino’s shortest outing of the season, as he was chased out of the game with two outs in the third after Stephen Piscotty’s two-run single increased the A’s lead to 6-0.
It was a nice cushion for Mike Fiers, who appeared he would need all the support he could get after wiggling out of a 28-pitch first inning in which he walked the bases loaded before es- caping unscathed. But the right-hander settled in and looked more like the pitcher he’s been since joining the A’s last month.
Fiers faced the minimum from the second to the sixth before surren- dering a two-run homer to Sánchez in the seventh to put the Yankees on the board. The 3-2 fastball that resulted in the home run was the last pitch Fiers threw. Melvin summoned Yusmeiro Petit from the bullpen, and Fiers walked off the mound to a standing ovation from the announced crowd of 21,004 fans at the Coliseum, even waving his right hand in appreciation before reaching the A’s dugout.
“I came over here and wanted to make an impression and that’s how you do it, out on the field,” Fiers said. “I had a rough one last start so I knew I needed to come back with a good one this time and pick up the guys.”
Fiers is now 4-0 with a 2.94 ERA in six starts with Oakland, and 11-6 with a 3.36 ERA in 27 starts this season.
They’re great numbers overall, and still somewhat inflated by one bad start in Fiers’ last outing against the Mariners in which he allowed five runs, three on home runs, and knocked out in just 3 2/3 innings.
Fiers very well could be opposing Severino again in that potential wild-card game. It’s a scenario Fiers said he’s definitely envisioned himself in.
“Yeah. It could be any of us,” Fiers said. “We take any game right now as a playoff game. Every game and every pitch matters. We’re not locking up in these situations, the boys are playing ball and making it tough on these other teams.”
Going back to June 22, Fiers has three runs or less in 16 of his past 18 starts. In terms of consistency, Fiers could very well be the A’s best option to start that potential wild card game.
Leading off for the first time in his big league career, Ramón Laureano was continued to impress as he has on an almost nightly basis now.
The A’s rookie is went 2 for 5 and scored a pair of runs, including the first run of the game after leading off the first with a booming double off the left field wall against Severino.
Laureano is now batting .299 since getting called up from Triple-A on Aug. 3. From great plays on defense to clutch hits, he’s shot his way up to the every day job in center field for an A’s team that appears to be playoff-bound.
“He deserves what he’s getting. Nothing’s been given to him, he’s earned it,” Melvin said. “When he first got here we were hitting him down in the lineup and made some great plays on defense, got some big hits, and worked his way up.”