OAKLAND -- When Chris Bassitt returned to the Coliseum on Saturday morning for the first time since his frightening incident on the mound in Chicago on Aug. 17, the entire A’s roster was elated to see his presence.
Nobody had a bigger smile than Frankie Montas.
Bassitt and Montas share a bond that goes back to their days playing together as Minor Leaguers for the White Sox organization in 2013. Energized by seeing his good friend again, Montas carried the positive vibes to the mound Saturday afternoon. He shut down the Yankees, who entered as the hottest club in baseball as winners of 13 straight, over seven scoreless innings in a 3-2 win at the Coliseum.
The victory snapped a six-game losing streak for Oakland, which matched a season high for the club.
“It felt good just to give high-fives again,” Montas said. “We all did our part to win this ballgame. After today, we all have to bring this same mentality to the next game and keep it rolling.”
Upon inducing an inning-ending double play of Joey Gallo in the seventh to preserve a three-run lead, Montas first soaked in the ovation from the crowd of 18,337 at the Coliseum. Then, as he returned the the A’s dugout, there was Bassitt standing at the top step as the first person to greet him with a celebratory fist bump for a job well done.
“I look up to him,” Montas said of Bassitt. “He’s a hard worker. He’s a dude I’m always talking to, about anything. I think after the second [inning], I asked him to watch what I’m doing and see my sequence. He’s really smart. He has success not because of luck; it’s because he knows what he’s doing out there.”
The A’s task wasn’t easy against a surging Yankees offense that had outscored opponents, 75-35, over its previous 13 games. Armed with a fastball that maxed out at 98.1 mph and a filthy splitter, Montas neutralized New York’s slugging lineup, allowing just two hits and one walk with six strikeouts.
“Against that lineup, with a win streak going and the way they’re swinging the bats, I don’t know how you can pitch any better than that,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “It looked like he had an edge from the very beginning. Had all three of his pitches working. A much-needed outing for us. Fantastic.”
To replace the All-Star production from Bassitt is a near-impossible task for Montas. However, he has done his best to help ease the loss of the A’s ace with some impressive numbers in recent months. Over his last 11 starts, Montas has posted a 2.27 ERA in 67 1/3 innings pitched.
On June 25, Montas’ ERA stood at 4.79. With the stellar work he’s turned in over this 11-game stretch, that overall ERA has bumped all the way down to 3.66.
“The guy is throwing 97-plus with an 88 mph splitter and mixing in a 91 mph slider. He’s tough to square up,” said A’s second baseman Tony Kemp, who drove in the game’s first run with an RBI single in the second. “Early in the year, when he was having his struggles, he was just missing middle-middle too much. He knew he needed to mix in a couple more balls to throw guys off their zone. That’s what he’s able to do.
“He knew he had to step up, and that’s exactly what he’s doing.”
Making quick work of the Yankees at just 98 pitches through seven strong frames, Montas handed it off to an A’s bullpen that featured a new look in the ninth. After Andrew Chafin’s scoreless eighth, it was Sergio Romo who was summoned to protect a three-run lead over usual closer Lou Trivino.
Though Romo surrendered a two-run blast to Aaron Judge, the right-hander finished it off for his first save of the year.
Given Trivino’s recent struggles -- he has allowed a go-ahead run in the ninth inning in each of his last three appearances -- Romo could continue to see future save opportunities, at least in the short term.
“We’ll probably give Lou a little bit of a break,” Melvin said. “He’s had a little bit of a tough stretch. But these things flip around. It’s not uncommon. We just want to get him a couple of lesser outings. Our best team is with him closing the game, so we hope to get him back there.”
The A’s still remain 3 1/2 games back of the Red Sox in the American League Wild Card race after Boston also won on Saturday afternoon. It’s not an ideal situation, especially considering they possessed the first AL Wild Card spot just two weeks ago. But these A’s have proven capable of late-season comebacks before.
Step one was ending the losing streak, which Montas made sure of as the stopper on Saturday.
“It felt good just to get the monkey off our back,” Kemp said. “This team doesn’t give up. We’re always fighting and moving on to tomorrow. We have a good short-term memory. That’s the best part about this team. We’re able to flush the bad.”