By Morris Phillips
The A’s got a much-needed day off on Saturday. But they didn’t take advantage of that break on Sunday.
The A’s avoided a marathon stretch of 18 games in 18 days when Saturday’s game in Arlington was rained out. But the A’s still appeared to run out of gas on Sunday, right after building a 7-2 lead in the fourth inning.
On Friday, the A’s were down five runs and rallied for an 8-6 win. On Sunday, it was the Rangers’ turn. Danny Santana put his signature on the win with a game-tying, two-run triple. Santana then scored what would become the winning run on Delino Deshields’ well-timed bunt single.
“That’s a game we normally don’t lose,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We just had one guy get whacked around a little bit in the eighth inning.”
Ironically, Santana was making his big-league season debut, pinch hitting for first baseman Pat Wisdom in the eighth inning. With runners on first and third, Santana ripped a Joakim Soria pitch into the right-centerfield gap, scoring Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera with the tying runs.
Soria was replaced by Yusmeiro Petit, who retired Jeff Mathis on a pop-up. Deshields then laid down a bunt that turned into a run-scoring single when catcher Josh Phlegley fielded it and threw a split-second late to first base.
The A’s had an opportunity to answer in the ninth, but Jose Leclerc struck out three batters in the ninth–the last two with a runner aboard–to close it out.
After hitting two homers and scoring seven runs in the first four innings, the A’s went scoreless the rest of the way.
Stephen Piscotty and Matt Chapman homered, and Khris Davis and Marcus Semien had run-scoring doubles in the A’s big start that chased Texas starter Adrian Sampson after four innings. Sampson allowed eight hits, seven earned runs in his first start after two previous relief appearances.
But four Ranger relievers followed Sampson and scattered two singles and a walk across six innings of work.
Meanwhile, the A’s normally reliable bullpen imploded. Soria suffered the majority of the damage, and J.B. Wendelken allowed a solo shot to Elvis Andrus in the seventh.
Andrus tripled off A’s starter Brett Anderson in the first, scoring DeShields. Then, at third base, Andrus got creative, stealing home on Anderson’s pick off throw to first.
“I started calling (Nomar) Mazara to try to get more, more, more, because I wanted (an unaware Anderson to attempt a second, pickoff) again. I talked to (third-base coach Tony) Beasley and said, ‘If he does that again, I’m going to home plate.’ So he just told me, ‘Make sure you’re safe.’”
Anderson produced a quality start, allowing just the two, first inning runs. The veteran went six innings, allowing two hits, two walks and one batter hit by a pitch.
The A’s have Monday off then open a homestand with a night game against the Astros on Tuesday. Marco Estrada goes for the A’s, Shelby Miller for the Astros with both pitchers enjoying additional days between starts.
