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OAKLAND — Anything less than a sweep of the scuffling Orioles would have been a disappointment for an A’s squad looking to finally sprint away from that .500 meridian. It was about this time last year that Oakland started to run away toward its wild-card berth, and with four teams with winning records (Tampa Bay, St. Louis, Los Angeles Angles and Minnesota Twins) next in line, success against a losing one seemed at least the best step to start a similar sprint.
And that they did: An 8-3 victory on Wednesday got those brooms out as the A’s outscored the O’s 27-7 in the three-game series. Here are three takeaways from the series finale.
Chris Bassitt isn’t a strike thrower
Bassitt and pitching coach Scott Emerson came to a conclusion prior to his 11th start Wednesday: He is not a strike thrower, and shouldn’t try to be one.
“I was trying to be a strike thrower for two, three outings and it’s more like, whatever you got, fastball, slider, changeup, just throw the crap out of it,” Bassitt said following the win.
That change in mentality sparked Bassitt’s 5 2/3-inning, two-run, two-hit, three-walk outing which started off with 5 1/3 no-hit innings. He threw the heck out of his droopy slider and plate-painting fastball to the tune of six strikeouts and worked his sinker for a handful of groundouts.
It was a key start that stopped the bleeding for Bassitt, who took the mound having compiled a 5.88 ERA over his past five starts, his strikeout rate dipping down to 6.58 per nine innings. His first five starts saw a 1.93 ERA with a 10.47 strikeout rate.
Bassitt kept ahead in the count and in control of the Orioles until the sixth, when Jonathan Villar knocked the Orioles’ first single and Bassitt’s mind started to wander.
“To be honest with you, for some reason I put in my head that Chris Davis was going to hit a home run off of me,” Bassitt said, “And I, for some reason, just blacked out and pitched around him for some stupid reason. I don’t know why.”
Bassitt tossed Davis four balls and couldn’t get out of base on balls mode against Chance Sisco, allowing the Orioles an RBI dribbler and manager Bob Melvin an opportunity to pluck his starter off the mound after 99 of the better pitches he’s seen from the righty.
“Best we’ve seen him in the early game in a while, he had a no-hitter going and he gave up a hit, and it looked like he wasn’t as good after that, walking guys,” Melvin said.
A Bassitt able to stay out of his own way — trying to throw strikes is a feat his teammate Brett Anderson can pull off, he noted — could be a positive for a pitching staff trying to solidify its identity and confidence as this season progresses.
Liam Hendriks in the 8th
Lou Trivino is struggling. The right-handed late reliever who spun a 2.92 ERA and four saves in 69 appearances last season is now scuffling through a mechanics nightmare. A 4.93 ERA and five losses since May 29 paints a dismal start to his 2019.
Luckily for the A’s, Hendriks has just the right stuff — a high-90s fastball with strikeout-worthy slider and curveball — to step into Trivino’s back-end role, for now.
He entered the seventh inning with O’s on the corners and limited the damage. He followed it up with a clean eighth.
“He’s pitching as well as he ever has in the major leagues, and he has an expanded role where he’s pitching before Blake (Treinen) right now and he’s taking advantage of it,” Melvin said.
Sean Manaea and Jesus Luzardo are on their way
Manaea (who’s recovering from shoulder surgery) will pitch 60 to 65 pitches in a simulated game in Arizona on Thursday, Melvin said. And if all goes well, he should be on his way to a rehab assignment soon after.
Luzardo was recently promoted to Triple-A Las Vegas and could very well get a promotion in the next month should he show out.
“He’s going to have to have results,” Melvin said. “If the results are there, we’ll look to bring him up. I’m not going to put a timetable on it.”
The short of these two pieces of news: the A’s rotation could be rich with Manaea and Luzardo arms not long after the All-Star break.
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