Chris Bassitt shook off a not so good first inning to pitch seven strong innings. He even left with the Oakland Athletics having a 3-2 lead. Then manager Bob Melvin made an inexcusable decision by bringing his closer Lou Trivino in during the eighth inning.
At that point Bassitt was only at 90 pitches there was no need to go to the bullpen. Melvin’s starter was cruising and that wasn’t the time to go to the bullpen. So what happens? It all went downhill. Trivino walked Reese Mcguire the no.9 hitter who got replaced with a pinch runner ({Jonathan Davis), gave up a single to former A Marcus Semien, Bo Bichette reached first on a fielder’s choice as Jed Lowrie made a great play to get the ball to Elvis Andrus at second base. Unfortunately he didn’t have enough time to get the out at first.
Davis scored on a wild pitch, Vladimir Guerrero then got intentionally walked. The A’s still got the opportunity to get out of the jam with a double play, Bichette then stole third. Teoscar Hernandez singled scoring Bichette and runners were on first and second still and there was still only one out. Randal Grichuk singled in Guerrero Jr and that was it for Trivino.
Melvin again seemingly obliviously appeared to not realize that Trivino was struggling until it was too late. The Toronto Blue Jays then added two additional runs after Adam Kolarek came in. Which meant after the top half of the eighth inning the A’s went from being ahead 3-2 to trailing 7-3.
It also didn’t bode well for the A’s that Tyler Chatwood entered the game. He hadn’t allowed a run in his first eight appearances, yet a two out walk to Olson changed that as Sean Murphy doubled him in. Matt Chapman ended the threat by striking out, he had three on the night which increased his total for the season to 46. That’s a rate of 43 percent.
Jordan Weems came in for the ninth and walked the first two batters he faced. Bichette hit a ball sharply yet the A’s were unable to come up with the double play, putting runners on first and third.
Guerrero Jr put the game out of reach with a two run double. Which begs the question in a game that was still close in the ninth what was Weems doing in the game? Tonight was a reminder for A’s fans about how frustrating Melvin is when it comes to bullpen management.
His decision-making tonight was horrible and it likely cost the A’s a win.