The Oakland A’s turned a series of unlucky, confusing umpiring calls into a comeback victory in the series finale at Minnesota on Sunday. The A’s 7-6 win over the Minnesota Twins handed them the series win and improved their record to 25-17. With that, the A’s hold onto first place by a half game with the Houston Astros, hot on their tail, coming to Oakland next.
“If you want to look at one game and say, ‘What are the Oakland A’s made of?’ This is the game,” A’s starter Chris Bassitt said.
Bassitt has a knack for lending color commentary to the games he starts, but he bit his tongue when asked his thoughts on some controversial umpiring and replay reviews that clouded the game early for the A’s.
“I’m usually a man of a lot of words. Right now, I don’t know what the hell to say without angering people. I have no idea how we won,” Bassitt said. “Any baseball fan, anyone watching a game that actually has an opinion, knows how bad the first couple innings were. I’ll leave it at that.”
Frustrations with the umpiring started to bubble in the second inning, when Matt Chapman went for second base on his RBI single and was called out. Replay didn’t show shortstop Andrelton Simmons lay down a clear-cut tag on Chapman, but the call was upheld — eliminating an opportunity to add on.
Bassitt had to endure the replay sting in the next half inning. Miguel Sanó appeared to be hit on the hand with a pitch, but Bassitt argued the ball hit the base of Sanó’s bat, as the ball traveled fair and well down the first base line for what could have been a turned double play for the A’s. Having used their challenge earlier, the A’s couldn’t ask for a review. Minnesota outfielder Max Kepler made it pay with a go-ahead, three-run home run on a mistake pitch over the plate.
The A’s are 1-of-8 on challenges this year.
Frustrations boiled over in the third inning when, with the bases loaded, Ramón Laureano made a tough catch in center off Kepler’s drive and nailed Jorge Polanco at home. The Twins challenged the call, and the call was reversed when replay showed catcher Sean Murphy didn’t get the tag on Polanco in time.
Laureano had suited up for his next at-bat and hovered in the on-deck circle during the replay review. He shouted at umpires from the dugout steps when the crew in New York reversed the call, determining Murphy’s tag was late and the Twins extended their lead to 4-1.
The comeback: Chad Pinder kicked off the fifth inning with a double and Murphy singled to score him. Elvis Andrus — who entered the game 8-for-23 over his last seven games after a cold start — poked a single the other way and Canha singled to load the bases and force Twins starter Kenta Maeda out of the game with the score 4-3.
Seth Brown hit a ground ball down the third base line and Andrus flexed his base running IQ, forcing catcher Ben Rortvedt into interference during the run down. Andrus embellished the contact with a little flop, but the ruling tied the game. Not the first smart base running for Andrus, who provoked and scored on a balk against the Boston Red Sox.
“He’s very clever, he stole two runs on this trip,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He plays with so much energy and positivity that rubs off. When you’re going through a frustrating game, to have a guy that’s constantly positive and talking in the dugout is really settling for the rest of the guys.”
Chapman’s sac fly scored the go-ahead run and an infield hit in the seventh inning completed his three-hit day and gave the A’s a 6-4 lead.
Andrus and the A’s offense’s resiliency rubbed off on Bassitt, who was flustered by the questionable calls. Bassitt settled in and finished his five-inning outing allowing those four runs only with six hits, four strikeouts and two walks.
The counter punch: After not allowing a home run in any of his 17 appearances this season, Jake Diekman gave up the go-ahead home run to Sanó in Saturday’s loss and allowed the game-tying, two-run home run to Andrelton Simmons in the eighth inning on Sunday. It was a sign of some fatigue for a core of bullpen arms that have been used in a majority of games — Diekman, Yusmeiro Petit and Lou Trivino are among appearance leaders in MLB.
Sergio Romo and Burch Smith pitched scoreless innings before the late-inning dramatics. Trivino recorded his seventh save.
A’s come out on top: Bad luck turned to a bit of good luck in the ninth inning when Laureano singled with one out and Josh Donaldson’s error turned Matt Olson’s check-swing bouncer into a scoring opportunity. Chapman struck out swinging, but Laureano scored the go-ahead run when the pitch ricocheted to the backstop.
“Talk about resilience,” Melvin said. “That’s a hard-fought win after last night’s game. People keep asking me about ‘How do you respond from something like yesterday?’ These guys keep doing it. A lot of heart on this team.”
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