Oakland A’s return to action after ‘stressful’ coronavirus hiatus

A pile of Starbucks bags littered Liam Hendriks’ Houston hotel room floor by the time he was cleared to escape the league-mandated quarantine.

“I’d gotten very familiar with Uber Eats,” Hendriks said.

Five days will have separated news of Daniel Mengden’s coronavirus positive test Sunday morning and the A’s game against the San Diego Padres Friday. Four games were postponed, which means three doubleheaders within the week are on the A’s horizon.

“We’re treating it kind of like an All-Star break,” manager Bob Melvin said.

In those five quasi All-Star Break days, the A’s spent at least two nights locked away in their Texas hotel rooms — they rested, did small space-friendly workouts and drafted for the team Fantasy Football league. Half the team, including Hendriks, left for the Bay Area Tuesday after testing negative for the virus. Others, most of whom had sat near Mengden in the auxiliary dugout, stayed back an extra day for additional testing.

While locked solo in his room, Hendriks — who is at-risk with an autoimmune liver disease — considered the worst-case scenario. With his wife, Kristi, he discussed opting out of the season should an outbreak occur within the team.

“It was stressful, to put it very lightly,” Hendriks said. “It’s been a roller coaster and I’m glad we got through that stage as a team.”

Marcus Semien had gotten an MRI on his left side the day before news of Mengden’s positive test hit his phone in a text message. He saw the negative and twisted it into an immediate positive.

“I think us being on the road, it might’ve actually been a blessing because we would have been home around our families wondering if we were positive,”  said Semien, who lives in the East Bay with his wife and two boys.

Unwelcome reality hit the A’s, and left a mark. They had two days, Wednesday and Thursday, to slip back into baseball mode. A surging Padres team is in Oakland to greet them.

“Well I’m really excited that we had a week off and we get to face the Padres,” Hendriks said, with a hint of sarcasm. “‘Slam Diego’ or whatever people are calling them. So that’s a lot of fun.”

There’s only so much preparation the team can do to make up for lost time.

Hendriks entered Friday’s game with a 1.10 ERA, 10 saves, 0.8 WAR, 23 strikeouts, a .67 WHIP and two total earned runs in 16.1 innings. Marks that put him as arguably the most dominant closer in baseball. Only Los Angeles Dodgers’ Kenley Jansen and Cleveland Indians’ Brad Hand have as many saves, a count that leads baseball.

But, he hasn’t pitched in a game since Aug. 26. He’s concerned that he and other pitchers may have trouble finding the strike zone again.

“It’s tough to get game ready,” Hendriks said. “You can throw a bullpen, you can play catch, you can do all these things but figuring out the strike zone and figuring out where your stuff is, it’s always hard. That’s going to be the biggest challenge for a lot of guys.”

For hitters, it’ll be about regaining timing. Bats will be understandably askew, but other teams’ bounce-back from coronavirus hiatus have been promising.

“I don’t expect our at-bats to the best we’ve sen all year in the first couple innings, but these guys tend to find it a little bit later sometimes too,” Melvin said.

Semien cited the St. Louis Cardinals, who won both games in a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox immediately following a two-week hiatus.

“We don’t know yet,” Semien said. “Baseball is such a weird game, you can go out there and score 10 runs. You just don’t know. Games are so much more different than cage work. I’m sure people aren’t feeling great with their cage work, because of the time off. But then, all of the sudden, you go in a game and get three hits and it’s all good.”

Notes

A.J. Puk, who is rehabbing from a strained left shoulder, threw a bullpen session at the alternate site in San Jose Friday. Puk will need to adjust to pitching multiple times within a short period of time to be fully prepared for a bullpen role. So, he is scheduled to throw another Sunday before a possible return. The left-handed pitcher hasn’t played for the big league team this season.