Oakland Athletics Walk-off Deflects Closer Snafu, But Bullpen Changes Are Still Needed
Oakland Athletics’ Bullpen Continues to Struggle
Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. The A’s get a superb outing from a starter, score late-inning runs to take the lead, only to have a member of the bullpen come in and give it all away.
Thus was the case of Sunday’s game, when starter Chris Bassitt was outstanding against the Houston Astros through 6.2 innings, allowing only three hits and one run while striking out 10. After his departure, the A’s rallied in the eighth inning for two runs to take a 3-1 lead on a walk to Josh Phegley, a single by Marcus Semien and an RBI base hit by Billy Burns, all before Josh Reddick slapped a double into the outfield to score Semien for a two-run lead.
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Even though runners were left on base as the A’s failed to score again that inning despite having just one out, three outs in the the ninth inning were all that would be needed to secure another victory for a three-game winning streak and the series win. But this is 2015, where the Oakland A’s bullpen is pieced together with some strange concoction of failed starters, big-stuff young guns and a handful of oft-traveled veterans. It is about as volatile as setting off fireworks near a hazardous materials dumpster, and saves are few and far between. The curse of Jim Johnson remains – sometimes they fail, sometimes miserably.
Enter Edward Mujica to close, the 2-4 reliever who, on Saturday, had just converted his first save in four opportunities. In Sunday’s game, he quickly allowed a single, followed by another single, followed by a Colby Rasmus 3-run HR surrendering the lead. It was deja vu all over again. Mujica was quickly yanked as Francisco Abad went 1-2-3 on the next Astros batters, but the A’s were looking at another one-run deficit loss.
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Fortunately the guys in green-and-gold, playing a game in memory of the late Hayward Police Sergeant and avid A’s fan Scott Lunger, weren’t about to go belly up. Cahna beat out a ground ball to start the rally, which was followed by a Phegley single. After Semien failed to come through, an intentional walk was handed to Burns to load the bases. The game looked like it was going to be tied when the .093 Coco Crisp hit what looked to be a sacrifice fly but Cahna, in what replays show would have scored, was indecisive and went back to third base. Thankfully, Reddick came through with two outs to tie things up, knocking an infield single off former Athletics reliever Luke Gregerson for his second blown save in the series. Danny Valencia, who had homered earlier, made sure the A’s bullpen didn’t have the opportunity to embarrass itself any further and hit a game-winning single for the walk-off.
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The season has been lost, mostly because of the A’s bullpen. Going forward for this year, and next season when there is a fresh beginning, how exactly do the A’s create a group of pitchers that will eek out late-inning wins rather than give up a gapper or long ball in the closing moments?
Over their successful years, the A’s had some of the most successful bullpens in the league. They had wily setup men, followed by stable closers. That needs to be the focus going to 2016, whether it’s developing the young arms in the farm system or supplementing the relief corps with an assortment of crafty vets. The problem with the 2015 bullpen is the lack of consistency and explosiveness from their performance. At this point, there is not one arm in the current bullpen that should return for 2016.