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By Morris Phillips

After all the departures that reshaped the A’s roster for 2015, and the trade deadline deals that further diluted their lineup, it didn’t appear possible the team could play this well.

It certainly didn’t seem possible on Thursday when the A’s lost by a run for a major-league worst 26^th time.  Especially after experiencing the high of tying the game with a pair of runs in the ninth, only to lose in the tenth.

But in the last three days, the A’s have gotten three, stellar performances from their starting pitching, not committed an error, and defeated the first-place Astros each day, capping the streak with a stirring rally on Sunday in a 5-4 win.

If nothing else, the A’s are proving to be a resilient bunch, and far more formidable than their last place-standing would suggest.  Just ask the Astros.

“There’s a lot of fight in here still,” Danny Valencia said.  “And that’s nice to see.”

Lost in the revolving door, sell-high, buy-low strategy employed by A’s general manager Billy Beane is the inherent fight players possess when they’re discarded, considered not good enough or given up on.  It’s not a surprise that the A’s current poster child of the big-league orphanage, Valencia, was the MVP of the three-game streak.

Valencia was designated for assignment by Toronto after the Jays made headlines with their acquisitions of Troy Tulowitzki and David Price.  The 30-year old hadn’t played poorly, just sparingly, hitting .296 in 58 games.  Still when the stars moved in, Valencia moved out.

And the A’s stepped up to acquire the veteran, a move that has paid immediately as the infielder just completed his first week in Oakland with a .438 average, two home runs and five RBI’s.  On Sunday, Valencia delivered the game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth.

“How he got DFA’d is shocking to every single person on this team, including coaches,” Sunday’s starter, Chris Bassitt said.  “I don’t know how we got him, I really don’t.”

Bassitt hand-delivered the A’s into the seventh inning, striking out 10, allowing the Astros just one run while lowering his ERA to 2.48.  Bassitt was the odd-man out coming from spring training, but he’s the pitching the like the second-guy up in any mock rotations one could draft for the A’s in 2016.  His sinker continued to confound hitters on Sunday, and only the A’s meager offense kept the tall right-hander from winning for a second time.  Not surprisingly, when Bassitt departed, things got dicey for the A’s.

Oakland rallied for a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth, only to see their 3-1 lead disappear in the ninth with Edward Mujica in to close things out.  Mujica admitted afterward that he wasn’t where he needed to be physically after a surge in activity in recent days.  The results showed as much as Mujica allowed singles to Carlos Gomez and Jed Lowrie ahead of Colby Rasmus’ go-ahead, three-run homer.  The whole process took just 10 pitches and the O.co Coliseum crowd was stunned silent.

But the A’s weren’t done, and it was apparent as soon as Mark Canha, leading off the bottom of the ninth, hustled out of the batter’s box following his routine, ground ball to short.  If one play typified the brief win streak this was it.

Canha—no speedster by any measure—busted it down the line while Houston’s standout, rookie shortstop Carlos Correa elected not to charge Canha’s grounder.  In a bang-bang play, Canha was clearly safe, surprising everyone, except Canha.

“I went as hard as I could,” Canha said.  “I don’t think Correa probably thought I could run like that.”

A few pitches later, Canha was headed to third with more spirited baserunning following Josh Phegley’s single to right.  Three batters later, Canha scored the tying run on Josh Reddick’s infield single that careened off Houston pitcher Luke Gregerson.  Valencia followed with the game-winning hit with two outs, and the spectre of extra-innings staring the A’s in their collective faces.

Sunday’s game began on somber, but hopeful note, with the first pitches thrown out by members of Hayward police officer Scott Lunger’s family.  Lunger was killed in the line of duty on July 22, and along with the pre-game ceremony a jersey with Lunger’s name and badge number was visible in the A’s dugout.

On Tuesday, the A’s travel to Toronto where the Blue Jays attempt to build on an eight-game win streak prompted by their trade deadline pickups.  On Tuesday, Kendall Graveman will get the start for Oakland.