Oakland Athletics: Three Keys To Beating Astros
By Joey Lopez
The Oakland Athletics finished a four-game sweep of the New York Yankees over the weekend, but will now welcome the AL West leading Astros on Monday night.
The A’s entered the year knowing that the Astros would be tough to beat. It should come as no surprise, then, that the Astros currently sit 14.5 games ahead of the A’s entering Monday.
Bob Melvin and his crew, however, expected slightly better results this year. Injuries and lack of production from several veterans have contributed to the A’s troubling season.
As a result of the team’s less than perfect start, the A’s cut ties with pitching coach Curt Young and designated Trevor Plouffe for assignment last week. Young was the face of blame for the team’s 3rd worst ERA in the AL. Plouffe, meanwhile, never found consistency at the plate.
The A’s called up Matt Chapman and have started embracing their younger players. The moves seemed to have jolted the team’s confidence a bit, as their sweep of the Yankees would suggest.
Oakland Athletics
Riding a four-game winning streak, the A’s welcome the Astros to the Coliseum on Monday night. If the A’s wish to continue their upward trend, these three KEY things will need to happen:
KEY 1: GET SOLID PITCHING FROM DANIEL GOSSETT (AND REST OF ROTATION)
The A’s will roll out with rookie Daniel Gossett, who was rocked in his first start against the Marlins. In his short start, Gossett managed to get through just 3.1 innings of work while allowing seven runs (six earned) on six hits.
Against the talented Astros lineup, the A’s will need Gossett to step up and limit the damage. Getting a solid five or six innings from Gossett will be key for the A’s if they wish to capture a win on Monday.
The A’s will follow up with Sonny Gray on Tuesday, Sean Manaea on Wednesday and Jesse Hahn on Thursday. The A’s have a shot at winning any time Gray steps onto the mound, but nothing is guaranteed.
Manaea was riding a solid streak prior to his start against the Yankees, but he is a bounce back candidate on Wednesday. As for Hahn, the A’s right-hander has looked strong this month (2.81 ERA in June).
If the pitching continues to improve, the A’s have a shot not only to split the four game series, but capture a series win. The key to any series win will be Gossett’s performance on Monday night.
KEY 2: KHRIS DAVIS
The second key is relatively simple. Khris Davis is a huge part of Oakland’s offensive attack and if he’s hitting well, the A’s offense is much deadlier. With the Astros fending off injuries to their starting rotation, Davis has a perfect opportunity to continue his solid month of June.
In 66 at-bats this month, Davis is hitting .288 with 2 HR and 13 RBI. After hitting .186 in May, Davis has looked much better this month offensively.
In his games against the Astros this season, Davis is hitting .368 with 5 HR and 7 RBI. Getting that kind of production from Davis during this four game series will be key for the A’s.
KEY 3: THE BULLPEN
The A’s are better off, in my opinion, without Santiago Casilla in the closer’s role. The A’s have plenty of other options to fulfill that role.
Sean Doolittle has looked good since coming off the DL and should be Bob Melvin’s choice moving forward. The A’s have already watched Casilla blow three saves this year. When he isn’t blowing saves, Casilla simply adds unwanted drama late in the games.
Moving away from Casilla and embracing someone like Doolittle makes sense if the A’s want to succeed against a tough Astros team.
Along with Ryan Madson and the surprising Daniel Coulombe, the A’s will have plenty of options to help contain the Astros.
SERIES PREDICTION: SPLIT.
The A’s have a shot at splitting this four game series with the Astros, but a lot will need to go their way in order to do so. First, the A’s will need to get a strong performance from Gossett, but an even stronger one from Gray. If the A’s can establish strong pitching this season, the A’s should be able to muster up a little offense against a banged up Astros rotation.