CAUGHT YA!
A’s move into a tie for first place, crush eight doubles in rout of Astros
OAKLAND >> The postgame atmosphere inside the A’s clubhouse Saturday wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. A little bit of music could be heard in the background. Some players sat down to eat, keeping their conversations barely audible. Others got changed and left without much fanfare.
In other words, moving into a first place tie in the American League West with Houston after their 7-1 win over the Astros before a crowd of 32,204 didn’t seem like a huge cause for celebration for the A’s.
Even after a stunning two-month run of success, there’s still a lot of work left to do.
“The energy that we have in the dugout or in the clubhouse,” A’s catcher Josh Phegley said, “it’s felt like we’ve been in first place for two months.”
The A’s belted eight doubles — tying an Oakland record — and received a sterling effort from pitcher Trevor Cahill to reach first place outside of April for the first time since Aug. 25, 2014.
On June 18, the A’s were 12 games out and lan-
guishing in fourth place in the division. A month later, they had improved to 13 games over .500, but remained eight games back of the defending World Series champion Astros, and three back of Seattle for the second wild card spot.
But by going 19-7 since the All-Star break, the A’s have pulled even with the Astros at 74-49. The A’s can complete the sweep and move into sole possession of first place with a win today when lefthander Sean Manaea faces Houston ace and Oakland nemesis Justin Verlander.
With six weeks to go in the regular season, it’s a horse-race in the AL West.
“I really don’t think we’re chasing anything. We’re just playing,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We know where we are in the standings and we’re one game better than we were yesterday. I don’t think there’s a pause at a certain time where this team goes, ‘Oh, look where we are now.’
“It’s hungry every day and it’s more confident every day based on the run that we’ve had. We know there’s a lot of games left.”
Cahill allowed just one hit, a single to Yuli Gurriel in the second inning, before he retired 17 of the next 18 batters. On his 100th and last pitch of the game to end the seventh inning, Cahill got Marwin Gonzalez swinging on a curveball for his seventh strikeout.
“I don’t know that I’ve seen Trevor pitch better than he did today,” Melvin said. “Even the old version. This version at times is better than the old version. He’s got a changeup, he’s got a cutter. He’s got more weapons to go to.”
After Cahill struck out Josh Reddick with a knuckle-curve to end the fifth inning, Reddick threw down his bat and helmet in disgust before tossing his gloves onto the Coliseum turf.
“I think my curveball
was a lot better,” Cahill said. “I was able to throw it for strikes early on, I wasn’t trying to do too much, and I was able to put that extra gear on the two-strike ones.”
Cahill’s outing was just the latest in a string of impressive performances by A’s starters.
Coming into Saturday, A’s starters had yielded two runs or fewer 13 times in 15 games, going 8-1 with a 1.94 ERA in that span. “We’ve done pretty well,” Cahill said. “It’s a lot easier with the bullpen that we have. We don’t have to go out there and get that second wind and go into the seventh or eighth. Usually, the guy’s cruising.”
Khris Davis doubled down the left field line to drive in two runs in the first inning, and connected on one of four Oakland doubles in the sixth as the A’s scored three
more runs to take a 5-0 lead.
Phegley also doubled twice. His first, in the sixth inning, scored Stephen Piscotty from third base and knocked Astros starter Dallas Keuchel out of the game. The A’s picked up nine hits off of Keuchel in 5 2/3 innings, with all five runs that they scored being earned.
Phegley’s second double, in the eight, helped the A’s tie an Oakland single-game record. The other time they had eight doubles in a game was Sept. 11, 2013 against the Minnesota Twins.
• Reddick had some critical comments Friday night about replay officials after Houston’s 4-3 loss to the A’s, as a reversed call on a play at the plate allowed Oakland to tie the game in the ninth inning. They won in the 10th on Matt Olson’s home run.
“Replay is meant to get the call right. Tonight, that didn’t happen,” Reddick wrote on his Twitter account within minutes of the loss.
The Astros led 3-2 in the ninth when Oakland’s Nick Martini doubled to right field with Ramon Laureano at first base. Laureano was called out at the plate, but after a
lengthy replay review, the call was overturned.
“Everything I saw, he was out,” Reddick told Houston reporters.