Game #153: A’s Crown Royals, 1-0

The A’s and Royals battled through a thirty minute rare Oakland rain delay, eleven innings and a combined thirty one strikeouts (19 K’s by the A’s pitching staff!) before the A’s dramatically walked off in the bottom of the eleventh inning to clinch the series and keep pace in the Wild Card race. It was the A’s tenth walk-off win of this magical 2019 season.

Game Thread #1
Rally/Game Thread #2

Hero of the Day - Part 1
Homer Bailey and the A’s bullpen (Petit for two innings, Diekman for an inning, Wendelken for an inning) were today’s unsung heroes, striking out nineteen and limiting the Royals to four hits and three walks thru eleven innings of work...

Hero of the Day - Part II
Chad Pinder hasn’t necessarily dazzled with the bat during the 2019 campaign but his contributions all over the field have helped put the A’s in the position they are today. In the seventh inning of today’s game, with the score locked at 0 and the Royals threatening, Pinder did this:

Hero of the Day - Part III
Mark Canha aka “MC Canhammer” was the final hero of the day, delivering a clutch two out RBI single to right field to plate Jurickson Profar (who walked to lead off the inning and stole second) and give the A’s another crucial victory in the road to the playoffs...

Magic Number Update
The victory reduced the A’s magic number to 8 games in order to clinch a wild card spot.
The Rays (currently in the second wild card slot) face the Dodgers down south tonight and the Indians (currently a half a game behind the Rays) take on the Tigers in Cleveland. If the Rays lose tonight, the A’s will have a commanding three game lead over Tampa Bay for the first wild card slot with nine games remaining on the A’s schedule. Go Dodgers!

A’s Bullpen Usage
Bob Melvin and the A’s front office has quietly moved JB Wendelken towards the plus side of the Oakland bullpen over the last few days and he didn’t disappoint today, throwing 1 ¹⁄₃ innings of scoreless baseball with two key strikeouts. Wendelken, who was pitching for Triple AAA Las Vegas just two weeks ago appears to have passed Lou Trivino and Blake Treinen (***see injury update below) on Melvin’s right handed relievers list. The A’s will have some interesting decisions to make come playoff time. Yusmeiro Petit continued his dominant 2019 season with two scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth innings, striking out four of the six batters he faced, including all three Royals batters he faced in the ninth inning. Jake Diekman struck out the two batters he faced in the tenth inning. Diekman hasn’t exactly dominated since being acquired from the Royals on July 27th, but his stuff is electric and when he can throw strikes like he did today, he is a major asset to the A’s bullpen.

Treinen Out
Blake Treinen’s rough 2019 season took another downturn today as it was announced after the game that he is still struggling with back issues and will be shut down for the rest of the regular season (and possibly the playoffs?).

David Dewitt ‘Homer’ Bailey Jr
Homer has lived up to his name and pitched incredibly well at home since being acquired by the A’s. With his seven scoreless innings today, he now has a 2.42 ERA in six starts at home wearing the green and gold. Bailey was dominant today mowing down eleven KC batters. MLB’s excellent A’s beat reporter, Martin Gallegos noted how well Bailey’s split finger fastball was working today after his first six innings

Off Day Tomorrow and then Texas Comes to Town
The A’s will experience a much needed off-day tomorrow and then gear up to face the Rangers for three weekend games. Mike Fiers, Sean Manaea and Tanner Roark will take the mound for the A’s over the three games. It is a great time to be an A’s fan, let’s go Oakland!

“Baseball was, is and always will be to me the best game in the world.”
-Babe Ruth