Winning, keeping track of hurricane
BALTIMORE — While chasing the Astros in the AL West and the Yankees for the top wild-card spot, the A’s are also keeping an eye on Hurricane Florence and hoping none of their games against the league’s worst team gets rained out.
On a day the team learned that top starter Sean Manaea is likely to be out for an entire year after shoulder surgery, ever-resilient Oakland beat the bedraggled Orioles 3-2 at Camden Yards to remain three behind Houston in the AL West.
Mike Fiers, one of the four fill-in starters added since March because of the injuries to Oakland’s rotation, allowed one run in six innings to earn his career-high 12th win.
“Pitching well on a great team, I feel like if I do my job, I’m going to get a win,” Fiers
said. “As long as we win the game, no matter how it’s done, we’ll take it right now.”
Tuesday, Fiers allowed four hits and a walk and he struck out seven. He said his curveball command was off early on, but it got better after the third inning.
The A’s are unbeaten in Fiers’ seven starts since he was acquired from Detroit on Aug. 6, and he’s beginning to look like a strong option to start the wild-card game or a postseason series opener. He has a 2.72 ERA since joining Oakland, and his 2.62 ERA since May 30 is the second lowest in the league.
“Just solid, consistent innings,” said outfielder Stephen Piscotty, who had a three-hit night. “We love playing defense behind him. He attacks the zone. His pace is great. You can tell he’s a veteran guy, knows what he’s doing. We have a lot of faith in him.”
Baltimore starter Alex Cobb lasted just two innings Tuesday because of a blister, and in the third, the A’s pounced on Mike Wright Jr. for three runs, with Matt Chapman doubling in Jonathan Lucroy, Khris Davis pushing across Chapman with a base hit and Piscotty adding a two-out RBI single.
Piscotty is batting .395 during his 12-game hitting streak, and manager Bob Melvin said, “His best at-bats seem to come in big situations.”
The Orioles’ only run off Fiers was a one-out homer by Jonathan Villar in the sixth. How much timing can matter: In the third, Villar had come up with two on and one out and hit into an inning-ending double play, slickly turned by the A’s: first baseman Matt Olson to shortstop Marcus Semien to Fiers.
Villar also added an RBI single off Lou Trivino with two outs in the eighth, but rookie center fielder Ramon Laureano turned in his nightly defensive gem to end the inning, racing in and plunging headlong to grab a liner by Trey Mancini.
“He’s brought another level of defense to center,” Piscotty said, adding, “I knew he’d have to lay out to make the grab, and it’s not always 100 percent you come up with it, but with him, it seems to be that way.”
Jeurys Familia worked a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his first save with Oakland; Blake Treinen had worked three in a row against Texas and Melvin said he wanted to get him an extra day off. “His workload has been pretty extreme,” Melvin said. “When you’re winning quite a few games, you’re going to have to rotate some of these guys around.”
With heavy rain expected to hit the Baltimore area Thursday, the team’s schedule might be disrupted, with the most likely scenario an early game Thursday, currently scheduled to be a night game.
The A’s don’t want to miss any games against the Orioles, who are a major-leagueworst 41-103. Oakland is 47-14 against teams below .500 and has won all four games against Baltimore; the only mutual day off for the teams is Sept. 24, the day between the A’s series at Seattle and Anaheim. That would make the day after the regular season the most likely makeup date if the game were required for postseason considerations.
Liam Hendriks is expected to start Wednesday as the “opener,” with Frankie Montas or Daniel Mengden likely to follow him. Brett Anderson is scheduled to come off the DL to start Thursday — giving Oakland 22 pitchers and 38 men on the active roster.