By Morris Phillips

The A’s lost their indispensable starting pitcher, but they held on to their home run stroke on Sunday afternoon.

The day started with the news that Sean Manaea, the team’s wins leader with a 12-9 record, will miss his next start on Thursday and go on the disabled list with shoulder impingement, more popularly described as tightness in his shoulder.  Manaea has made 27 starts this season without missing a turn, and given that he returns in the next two weeks, is still on track to better his career-high 29 starts set last year. But the A’s lose their only remaining season-opening starter just as the schedule hits its most demanding stretch with the team scheduled to play the next 10 days without a break.

And the teams response to the sour news on the eve of their final series against AL West-leading Houston?

Another series victory–this one high in the degree of difficulty–over the Twins with a 6-2 win featuring four home runs, two off the bat of Matt Chapman. The A’s have dropped just one series since mid-June, and they pulled this one out by winning three straight days at Target Field after dropping the opener on Thursday.

“We’ve been hit with a lot of adversity and we’ve been able to keep pushing forward and finding ways to win, having different guys step up,” Chapman said of the day’s events.

If the A’s have an approach to such situations, it’s simple: grab a bat and swing. The four home runs gave the team a major league-leading 114 homers in road contests (65 games). Three of the four home runs came off Twins’ reliever Matt Magill, and none from the game’s biggest home run hitter, Khris Davis. But even without Davis weighing in (the slugger was 1 for 5 on Sunday with three strikeouts) the A’s got plenty from red-hot sluggers Chapman and Stephen Piscotty, who led off the sixth inning with a shot that gave the A’s a 4-1 lead.

Jed Lowrie and Chapman hit back-to-back homers in the seventh to finish Magill and the scoring for the afternoon. The A’s escaped the series without taxing their bullpen, and that’s even with spot starter Chris Bassitt being lifted with two outs in the fifth inning. Manager Bob Melvin opted to use Blake Treinen in the ninth with a four-run lead and the closer did his part, keeping his ERA below one (0.97).

Bassitt was recalled from Nashville to make the start, which was originally part of a plan to buy an extra day for each member of the starting rotation. While Bassitt survived, he struggled with his command, throwing a bunch of pitches to get into the fifth, and issuing three walks. But Bassitt got some big outs, allowed just one run, and was followed by five relievers, none throwing more than one inning, in keeping with the plan for the A’s to lean heavily on its stocked bullpen.

Now with Manaea disabled, Bassitt will likely stick around with Frankie Montas returning to the rotation, and Daniel Mengden joining the club as a long reliever initially. It’s not the best of situations having the rotation so unsettled with the next seven games against the Astros and Mariners, but the A’s won’t hesitate to pull any pitcher at any juncture if he struggles.

The A’s improved to 45-16 in their last 61 games that have transformed their season, and moved a season-high 27 games above .500. All the winning, and league-leading performers have Oakland in line for a playoff appearance, but catching either the Yankees or Astros are essential to keeping the club out of a win-or-go-home playoff appearance on the road. The A’s have opened a significant, five-game gap over the Mariners, but that could change with the upcoming series at home against Seattle. For now, the club will turn its attention to the World Champs in the last three of 19 meetings.

“There are some implications. It’s the last time we play each other head-to-head, and we’re neck-and-neck for first place in the division,” Chapman said, deftly employing back-to-back anatomical descriptions of the critical, upcoming series.

Houston’s Gerrit Cole faces Oakland’s Brett Anderson in the opener on Monday. All three Houston starters scheduled have double-digit win totals, the three A’s starters–including Edwin Jackson and Trevor Cahill–have five wins or less.