Oakland Athletics vs Chicago White Sox: Chris Bassitt has stellar outing in A's big postseason win with fair amount of drama.
OAKLAND — History wasn’t on the A’s side Wednesday. But with their season on the line, they caught an early break, built a nice cushion and then hung on tightly at the end.
The A’s held off the Chicago White Sox 5-3 in Game 2 of the best-of-three American League wild-card round, forcing a winner-take-all matchup Thursday at the Coliseum.
The victory, Oakland’s first in the postseason since Game 3 of the 2013 ALDS against Detroit, snapped a six-game playoff skid and a five-game losing streak in elimination games.
“We knew the numbers,” said pitcher Chris Bassitt, who was superb on the mound Wednesday. “I feel like the monkey is off our back and now it’s play baseball from here on out.”
There was something lighter about the team after the game, perhaps because the weight of that monkey was so heavy.
“We won,” manager Bob Melvin said. “That’s all that matters. It wasn’t comfortable. But we did just enough offensively to win. Bassitt was terrific. We just gave up a few runs at the end.”
Melvin put the ordeal mildly.
Let’s break it down, starting with the heart-pounding moment when visions of the A’s meltdown against the Kansas City Royals in the 2014 AL wild-card game came flashing back.
Liam Hendriks, who had allowed all of one home run and five earned runs this season, had a little trouble. Melvin said before the game the closer would pitch Wednesday “no matter what.” Apparently, that meant Hendriks would be asked to pitch the final two innings of the elimination game.
Hendriks took over for Bassitt after Tim Anderson’s leadoff single in the eighth and surrendered a two-run home run to Yasmani Grandal, slicing the A’s advantage to 5-2. Hendriks escaped further damage with two strikeouts. Sean Murphy framed a strike three call perfectly to get Nomar Mazara. Rookie Luis Robert struck out swinging at a fastball to end the threat.
More trouble loomed for Hendriks in the ninth as Nick Madrigal, the ninth hitter in the Chicago order, singled to center to ignite a two-out rally. Anderson followed with his third hit of the day and Yoán Moncada walked to load the bases, prompting Melvin to get his closer out of the game. Chicago’s entire dugout was on the front step and an Oakland meltdown seemed possible.
Jake Diekman came in and walked in the White Sox’s third run. Cheers from the opposing dugout got louder and 2014 visions more vivid with José Abreu’s bat looming. One swing could put the White Sox ahead.
Then Abreu swung. The AL MVP candidate hit into a soft groundout.
Game over.
Hendriks threw 49 pitches, which doesn’t sound ideal for a closer heading into another elimination game. But he had only thrown 55 pitches in three appearances over the past week and likes to pitch back-to-back days. Melvin did not rule him out for Game 3.
“I guarantee you he’s available for at least an inning,” Melvin said.
“Bassitt was terrific”
Bassitt doesn’t hide his feelings. After a win in Chicago against the team that traded him in 2014, he wasn’t afraid to tell reporters what that all meant to him.
“Every time I pitch against these guys for my career I’m going to try to prove to them that they made a mistake,” Bassitt said that August 2019 day.
Bassitt stated his case again Wednesday, tossing seven scoreless innings with enough fuel to take the mound in the eighth. Anderson’s leadoff single brought an end to Bassitt’s day. Anderson scored when Grandal homered, marking just the second run charged to Bassitt in 34 innings this month.
“I’m proud of him and happy we’ve been playing together since we got drafted,” said Semien, who came to Oakland with Bassitt from the White Sox organization in the 2014 trade. “Just to be on that stage with him and see him do well was amazing.”
Bassitt became the A’s first winning postseason pitcher since Jarrod Parker in 2013. Bassitt lowered his ERA to 2.18 this season.
“He’s been lights out for us all year,” outfielder Mark Canha said. “He’s the same guy every day and he’s the same guy today that he is in the regular season. Joking around in the dugout and light-hearted competitor.”
Given Chicago’s success against left-handed starters — 15-0 this season, including in Game 1 on Tuesday — Bassitt’s performance could make the A’s decision about which pitcher to start in Game 3 easier. But Bassitt, a right-hander, threw caution to that thinking.
“They’re good against either side,” he said. “They gave me trouble all game long. Obviously, I threw a good game, but it was a dang headache for seven innings.”
Canha helped relieve pain a bit. The left fielder channeled his inner Joe Rudi, making a leaping catch at the wall to rob Moncada of extra-base hits and, presumably, an RBI or two in the third inning. It didn’t quite have the acrobatic leap Rudi had in the 1972 World Series, but Canha turned the ball with a .590 expected batting average into a Canha corn.
Melvin, a Bay Area native, recognized the play instantly as Rudi-esque.
“That was exactly what I thought when he caught that ball,” he said. “Just a different wall. This one is padded.”
48 years later….#RepTheTown pic.twitter.com/M4fbR26vxY
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) September 30, 2020
“But we did just enough offensively to win”
There’s no louder cheer from the A’s peanut gallery than when Khris Davis does something that harkens back to the Khris Davis of 2018.
Davis, along with this righty-heavy A’s lineup, is familiar with Chicago leftie Dallas Keuchel. How he pushes hitters off with his cutter, and works the other side of the plate with his sinker and changeup. The cat and mouse game he plays with hitters as he chases them around the box.
Davis just missed a cutter middle-middle in the first inning. He ate up a sinker in his next at-bat, pummeling it into the right-field bleachers for the A’s fifth run. He blew a kiss to his cheering family in the suites as he rounded second base, and his teammates offering up his signature salute greeted him rounding third.
“The guys really rally for him,” Melvin said.
Any sliver of the power Davis demonstrated in 2018 could be the spark that ignites a deeper run for an A’s offense that is hit-and-miss when it comes to lathering up offense.
Davis’ cold start this year had him designated to a platoon role that earned him infrequent at-bats, but incremental progress he made behind the scenes is having dividends that haven’t necessarily shown in his numbers. His teammates notice the old Davis is back after an oblique injury in 2019 knocked him so far off track.
“For the last month, I know he hasn’t played much,” Bassitt said. “I promise you, guys in the clubhouse are like, ‘Man, the explosion off your bat is back,’ and he’s starting to believe it too.”
More redemption came before Davis on Wednesday. Matt Olson, who could barely keep his head above the .200 average mark, put the A’s first runs on the board in the first inning. He cashed in a bases-loaded gift via Tommy La Stella and Ramón Laureano hits and a Tim Anderson throwing error on Canha’s grounder.
Semien hit a two-run home run in the second inning to extend the A’s lead to 4-0. He pointed to his wife, Tarah, and sons, Joshua and Isaiah, cheering in the suites as he rounded the bases.
When Semien struggles, he likes to find his family in the stands to balance him. He hasn’t been able to do that this year as he struggled to repeat his 2019 MVP finalist form. His first postseason home run was perhaps guided a bit by a few tweaks in his stance that could bear more fruit in a longer season. He knew where he could look after this one, at least.
“I knew where they were in center field,” he said. “It was perfect time to acknowledge them.”
