Tag: Jesus Luzardo

By Morris Phillips

Well, you can’t argue about a 13-game win streak, especially the A’s just concluded job with all the runs they scored and how lopsided many of the wins were.

No stretch to say that the A’s were hot enough that they weren’t going to lose to just anyone, not after constructing the biggest win streak in MLB in nearly four years.

Well, on Sunday afternoon John Means wasn’t just anyone. Means pitched into the seventh inning and refused to let any Oakland hitter get solid contact on his pitches outside Ramon Laureano’s solo shot in the fourth, his only blemish.

Austin Hays was the just the high-level sidekick Means needed, with homers in the second and fourth innings to give the Orioles a lead then give them lead for good. Baltimore added five runs in the bottom of the eighth to win convincingly.

Bob Melvin was philosophical after such a disappointing ending to a brilliant two-week stretch.

“I mean, you do want to win series but you also want to get greedy. And we’ve been greedy here recently,” the A’s manager said. “It’s about winning every game that you go out there and play. At the end of the day, if you leave and you win a series, that’s a good thing. But we wanted to win today. We wanted to win bad today.”

Means lowered his ERA in April to 1.50 by being the master of versatility, mixing in a moderate number of strikeouts (6) with a lot of weak contact on balls put in play, along with a hint of caution, three walks issued all at strategic junctures. On a day where Means threw more balls and had pitches fouled off (57 of 101 total pitches) than guys normally do and have success, the 28-year old veteran helped himself with a lot of patience and determination.

“He was exceptional today,” manager Brandon Hyde said of his ace. “The way he’s throwing the baseball right now — you feel good about your chances when John Means is on the mound. This is a guy who is going to pound the strike zone and be really competitive with multiple pitches to mix. He’s facing playoff-type lineups and going into the seventh inning.”

Means, a draft day afterthought who has worked himself into a staff number one, has seen just three starters perform better through the season’s first five starts: only Jacob de Grom, Corbin Burnes and Joe Musgrove have lower ERAs. The key for a Cy-Young level performer who has never had overpowering stuff?

Keep ’em off-balance.

“Because of the breaking balls, they can’t just look high-low anymore,” Hyde said of Means’ repertoire. “Being a little more unpredictable and his pitch mix is going to create guys not being on time. That’s the difference between this year and in the last couple years.”

The first-place A’s aren’t a playoff-type lineup just yet–not after the most fascinating and confounding 22-game start to a season in a lengthy period of big league history. But after Sunday, they know what needs fixing: an anemic team batting average of .218.

The best American League pitchers will take advantage of a lineup that makes too many outs and strikes out nearly nine times a game. The A’s and Bob Melvin are aware of it, as were Jose Berrios, Matthew Boyd and Jose Urena, the other starting pitchers that pitched well against Oakland during the 13-game streak. The A’s ability to draw walks, hit home runs, and make decisive, offensive plays in close games will only take them so far. In this case, 13 games into what could have a been a 14-game win streak.

The A’s head to St. Petersburg for a three-game set with the Rays that starts Monday. A potential rematch with Means looms for the opener of the homestand on Friday night at the Coliseum.

By Morris Phillips

Just to be clear: no masked men or well-to-do baseball players were seriously injured in Sunday’s un-socially, close-up basebrawl at the Coliseum. Combatants got face-to-face–a no-no in 2020 in itself–and choice words were exchanged, clearly audible in an empty stadium. But both sides were fully aware their actions will draw suspensions and hefty fines. More than bearhugs, the likelihood of penalties prevented things from escalating.

The dustup grabbed the headlines, but the bigger takeaway was that the A’s dealt the Astros a technical knockout with a sweep that gives them a sizeable, division lead in a pandemic-truncated season.

Simply, the A’s are hot, and that’s changing things in the AL West.

A 7-2 win completed the three-game sweep over the Astros, giving the A’s a 5 1/2 game lead (5 games ahead of second-place Texas) over their rivals. The A’s have won nine straight, and have their best record after 16 games since 2013.

“It doesn’t damper anything. We swept these guys, and that was our intent,” manager Bob Melvin said of the brawl. “That won’t damper what transpired.”

Jesus Luzardo pitched five plus innings to earn the win in just his second-ever, big league start. The 22-year old allowed two runs on five hits and outpitched 23-year old Cristian Javier in a matchup of up-and-coming arms.

Rex Grossman, Matt Olson and Matt Chapman homered off Javier as the A’s built a 5-0 lead after three innings. The A’s have homered 21 times in 16 games, the needed counterpoint to their 164 strikeouts and .214 team batting average.

Juli Gurriel’s two-run homer in the fourth put the Astros on the board, but they would be shut out the rest of the way. The A’s added on with Mark Canha’s infield single in the fifth that scored Marcus Semien, and Chapman’s RBI double in the seventh.

Laureano was hit in the back by rookie Humberto Castellanos’ pitch in the bottom of the seventh which prompted a jawing session between the batter and Houston coach Alex  Cintron who was yelling and gesturing on the dugout steps. The incident marked the second time Laureano was hit in the game, and the fifth time an A’s batter was hit by a pitch in the series.

Of course, these teams didn’t figure to be buddy buddy after A’s pitcher Mike Fiers blew the whistle on the Astro’s sign stealing scheme that aided their run to the World Series in 2017 and 2019. But the A’s somehow avoided confrontation with the earlier plunking, but not in the seventh inning with Cintron and Laureano yelling at each other as the batter moved toward first base.

“Ramon doesn’t go over there unless something completely offensive came out of the dugout,” Melvin said. “I think the league will know who that is. That person should get suspended. Hopefully, that’s the case. Nowadays, without fans in the stands and mics everywhere, my guess is they know who it was.”

“Everybody wants you to just control your temper, which you should, but sometimes things flare out of control,” Astros manager Dusty Baker admitted. Ironically, Baker was thrown out in the previous inning for verbally disputing balls and strikes’ calls made by home plate umpire Nick Mahrley. Baker departed without confronting Mahrley.

Laureano charged the Astro’s dugout, but was tackled and never reached Cintron, then Olson, from the on-deck circle, and Chapman arrived quickly in their teammate’s defense.

Commissioner Rob Manfred has promised heavy punishment for all on-field confrontations given the additional complications of the Coronavirus. Manfred delivered on that promise two weeks ago when Dodgers’ pitcher Joe Kelly was suspended for eight games after he threw a pitch in the vicinity of batter Alex Bregman’s head.

But no one charged the mound–or the opposing dugout–in the Dodgers-Astros’ bench-clearing incident. Laureano did. That probably will cost the valuable centerfielder five games or more.

The A’s travel to Anaheim for a three-game series with the Angels that starts Monday evening with Sean Manaea getting the start. Julio Teheran will pitch for the Angels.