ARLINGTON -- Playing three games in the span of 24 hours can take a toll on any ballclub, and that appeared to be the case for the A’s on Saturday night.
Oakland’s potent offense ran out of gas in the nightcap of a doubleheader, falling 3-1 to the Rangers as they were swept over two games on the day at Globe Life Park.
Mark Canha did his best to ignite the stagnant offense in the fourth inning with a solo blast off Rangers starter Adrian Sampson. Canha elicited some emotion from the right-hander as he paused a few seconds to admire the homer that sailed over the left-field wall. Sampson appeared to motion to Canha with his glove as a way of telling him to speed it up, often a sign of a frustrated pitcher who could be vulnerable, but in Sampson’s case, he seemed to get stronger.
After averaging six runs per game over their previous 21 contests, the A’s recorded only one hit the rest of the way against Sampson, who finished off a complete game.
”He just kept us off balance,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “I don’t know if we’re dragging a little bit. It’d be nice to get some sleep at some point. But that’s no excuse. Our at-bats probably weren’t as good as you’ve seen here recently, but you have to give [Sampson] some credit, too.”
Chris Bassitt did his best to keep the A’s in the ballgame, but he was unable to make a one-run lead stick as he surrendered two runs in the fifth and another in the sixth. His season-high 107th pitch of the night -- his last -- resulted in an RBI triple by Danny Santana to put Texas ahead by two runs with one out in the sixth.
“When you don’t score much, three runs look like a lot,” Melvin said. “He threw a lot of pitches and saved the bullpen some. We’re starting to get back to where we’ll have quite a few guys available. But if we score five runs, we’re talking about how well he pitched. His stuff was pretty good.”
While the third time through the order is usually when a pitcher begins to run into trouble, Bassitt actually entered the night reversing that trend as opposing hitters were batting .095 (4-for-42) the third time through the order against the right-hander, which was best in the Major Leagues. However, the theory proved true for Bassitt on Saturday as Rangers hitters went 2-for-5 with a walk and two RBIs their third time facing him.
Though he was frustrated with certain calls in his final inning pitched, Bassitt realized with the way Sampson pitched, there wasn’t too much he could have done better to combat such a strong outing.
“You see their starter do what he did and just tip your hat to him,” Bassitt said. “There’s really nothing you can do. A guy goes complete game with one run, congrats. You’re going to win that 95 or 96 times out of 100.”
The Streak lives
The longest active on-base streak in the Majors continues to belong to Ramón Laureano, who singled off Sampson in the second to push it to 27 games.
Up next
The A’s turn to Frankie Montas on Sunday as they look to leave Texas with a split of a four-game series. Montas has emerged as their top starter, surrendering three earned runs or less in 11 of 12 starts this season, but that type of performance won’t matter much with another offensive output like the one on Saturday night.
“It’s tough. To sit around like that after a game we didn’t play too well in the afternoon, and then just didn’t swing the bats in the evening, it doesn’t sit too well,” Melvin said. “We have to pick it up on Sunday.”