OAKLAND, Calif.- Due to late defensive mistakes, the Houston Astros handed the Oakland Athletics their whopping 62nd loss of the season, bringing them 14 games under .500 and keeping them dead last in the AL West, 5 games behind the Mariners.
In pre-game interviews, Marcus Semien, Oakland’s inconsistent, yet talented No. 1 shortstop, told the Teen Observer staff that his team was looking to “defend their home turf” and “make some necessary adjustments” following a rough series against the Orioles. At first, it seemed as if the A’s would do just that, coming back from being down by one in the first inning with two solo home runs in the second and fifth. Though Oakland’s defense was shaky against the top team in their division, they kept the Astros at bay for a good portion of the game.
Things got interesting around the top of the eighth inning, when hits by Carlos Correa and Colby Rasmus of Houston put the Astros up 4-2.
The painful part about the latest of many losses for the A’s was that the late rally by their opponents was countered by a last-minute comeback at the bottom of the ninth, with Stephen Vogt and Brett Lawrie both making their way around the bases to tie the ballgame. To shake things up even further, the Lawrie run was a result of a single by Bobby Burns who reached the plate a split second before the Astros’ first baseman caught the ball. The call on the field that Burns was safe stood after a brief review by the MLB and several minutes of nail biting for A’s fans in the stands. After eight innings of stagnant baseball, the mellow crowd at O.co Coliseum had a game to watch.
The excitement, however, was short-lived, as Houston’s Jed Lowrie smashed a 93 MPH fastball into left field, buying just enough time for Jose Altuve on second base to score for the win in the 10th inning.
The outcome of this contest is a prime example of why the A’s have had such a disappointing season thus far. On paper, Oakland has some excellent, young pitchers and a strong core of consistent batters, but their lack of cohesion on defense yields amateur mistakes that override any offensive success they may be capable of.
Though many argue that the A’s deserve to be higher in the standings, there is simply no excuse for the rookie mistakes that they make on the field. There are miscommunications that happen in the Athletics’ outfield on a regular basis that have no place in major league baseball. At this point in the schedule, Oakland needs to focus on patching up the basic holes in their game in preparation for next season.
Though Dog Day at O.co Coliseum is over, the dog days for the A’s are certainly not over.