Chris Bassitt shines, Mark Canha hits walk-off in A’s win
‘OAKLAND — Chris Bassitt has the look of a pitcher that’s ready to start the postseason.
And through nine innings Friday, Oakland A’s hitters looked like they could use some more time to get up to speed.
But trailing by one in the 10th inning, Ramon Laureano doubled to score Nate Orf from third base. Mark Canha then followed that with a two-run home run to right to give the A’s a wild 3-1 win over the Seattle Mariners at the Coliseum.
Canha’s homer gave the A’s their sixth extra-inning victory this season, as Oakland now owns the second-best record in the American League at 35-22. They play a doubleheader with the Mariners on Saturday, wrap up the regular season with one game Sunday and start the playoffs Tuesday.
“Crunch time. We’ve got a lot of guys that are clutch,” Canha said. “Ramon’s one of those guys and I consider myself one of those guys. The moment’s never too big for us as a team. That just felt like a lot of the wins we’ve had this year. We have that special ability to win in dramatic fashion.”
In the top of the 10th, with Evan White at the plate, Jake Diekman’s fastball got past catcher Sean Murphy, allowing Dee Strange-Gordon to score from third base for the game’s first run.
Up until Laureano’s double, the A’s had been 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and had left nine runners on base. Canha’s homer, his fifth of the season, came on a 93 mph Joey Gerber sinker.
The win helped Oakland improve to 21-8 at the Coliseum this season, including wins in five of the last six games.
“Our hitting is kind of struggling a little bit but I’ll go to war with these guys all day, any day,” Bassitt said. “I don’t care what their stats or averages are. When the game is on the line, I want all these guys over anyone else.”
Mark Canha delivers the walk-off two-run homer in the 10th to give the A's a thrilling 3-1 win. pic.twitter.com/kaWkm32fqd
— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) September 26, 2020
Even though he ended up with a no-decision, Bassitt’s effort Friday — needing just 81 pitches to get through a season-high seven innings — wrapped up a stellar regular season.
Bassitt (5-2) retired 14 straight batters from the first to the sixth inning. The Mariners then put runners on first and second with one out in the sixth, but Bassitt got Kyle Lewis to strike out and Kyle Seager to pop out.
Bassitt has been performing at a high level all month.
Entering Friday, he had not allowed a run in two of his last three starts and was 3-0 in that time with a 0.46 ERA. It was the first time he had won three games in one month in his career, and now it would appear he has a chance to be the American League’s Pitcher of the Month for September.
In other words, the perfect way for him to enter the postseason.
“He’s been so consistent for us you almost expect it out of him,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “Seven innings was plenty tonight with what’s coming up in potentially his next start. He knows where everything is going and has a good feel for his breaking ball. Really good game again, and similar to what we’ve seen all year.”
Bassitt, in his fifth season with the A’s, has never pitched in a big league playoff game. But if he stays on normal rest, he’ll pitch in Game 2 of the A’s first round series in Oakland against a to-be-determined opponents.
“I’m not too worried about that,” said Bassitt, adding that Melvin “and the front office are going to make a decision that’s best for the team.”
Melvin said earlier Friday that he has finalized who his starters for the playoffs, adding that who starts for Oakland would spend somewhat on who the A’s face in the first round.
The A’s entered Friday with the third best record in the American League. If they stayed as the No.3 seed, they would likely face the Houston Astros in the best-of-three first round.
However, there’s also a chance the A’s could finish first or second in the AL and face either the Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox or the Minnesota Twins. All one of those teams would figure to more formidable than the Astros, who lost to the Texas Rangers in extra inning on Friday to fall to 29-29.
Regardless of who the A’s face, their bats need to wake up.
Before Friday, the A’s were hitting ,218 in 22 games this month, After hitting 42 home runs with 133 RBIs in 27 games in August, Oakland came into its series with the Mariners with 20 homers and 95 RBI this month.
“A lot of indecision,” A’s hitting coach Darren Bush said Friday afternoon of the struggles at the plate. “Guys want to have success and are being a little indecisive and passive, which makes you miss pitches. Then you try to get a little aggressive by expanding the zone and miss pitches you should hit. Just a little indecision going on.
“The guys are up there fighting and battling and will continue to.”
Coming into the series, the A’s had been held to six hits or fewer in 10 of their last 11 games and were batting .194 (66-for-341) in that span. As a team, Oakland was hitting .222 for the season — fifth lowest in the majors. As a franchise, the A’s have hit under .232 just once (.223 in 1908).
Against the Mariners, the A’s also didn’t do themselves any favors on the basepaths. Marcus Semien was tagged out trying to advance to third base with one out in the third, and Robbie Grossman was picked off at first base for the second out of the seventh inning.
“We just talk about picking a zone and staying in that zone to look for the pitch you want to hit instead of going up there trying to find the baseball,” Bush said. “Get up there, have a plan and stick to your plan. Fight to get that pitch.”