Athletics doomed by horrific ninth-inning collapse in gutting loss to Cubs
On "A's Cast," Mark Townsend and Shooty Babitt break down the Athletics' loss to the Chicago Cubs on Thursday at Wrigley Field.
Athletics doomed by horrific ninth-inning collapse in gutting loss to Cubs originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
Bush.
This is really key.
It's a good pitch, fights it off, breaks his bat, goes the other way.
Incredible.
You just knew things weren't gonna go well for Kuno in that situation, because that was a well-placed pitch, but that was just a better at bat, just fighting.
I always talk about guys that can foul pitches off, extend at bats, just get a piece and don't strike out, 'cause something good can happen if you put it in play.
Bregman would fly out, and then here's Happ again.
And now here's a double.
They don't s- the runner scores, so okay, you know, you're still, you're still managing things here.
And then all of a sudden you really start to get worried here.
This was a tough one.
It hits off the mound, that funky spin for Alika Williams there at short.
Yeah, I've been behind a f- a, a ground ball like that, and when it hits off the mound like that, that next bounce, that top spin can get up on you in a hurry.
Seiya Suzuki with pitch hit, base it into left field.
Starting to really get hairy.
Yeah, we knew that something was, you know, not looking good right here.
I mean, these guys are coming up having quality at bats and not missing good pitches.
It's location, two-two fastball.
He's not gonna miss that.
And that's 100 miles an hour.
And you know, we talk so much about guys that can manipulate the baseball and make it, make it move both ways.
That's what happens when you cannot g- execute a pitch like that.
PCA just gets enough of it to get it over the second baseman, and it's ball game over.
Getting back to the 100, you know, so many guys throw 100 miles an hour now.
Obviously, the evolution of players, we talk about how everybody's throwing harder.
That also means the hitters see it.
They're seeing velocity at such a high level at a younger age.
These guys are growing up with it.
Obviously Swanson's a veteran player.
But 100 miles an hour, what it used to be isn't the same now.
These guys have gotten used to it, and if you don't locate it, they're gonna barrel it up.
Well, you look at the sequences of the pitches by, Medina in that last inning.
First pitch slider for a strike that he stole on the corner.
I thought that was a great pitch where he could come back and set him up with a fastball on the inner half and then go back to that pitch.
But once he tried it again and he pitched this far off the plate, it didn't seem like he had the confidence to throw the pitch again.
So now the hitters are looking for one thing and one thing only, because I don't think he's gonna offer another breaking ball up, and that's what they were looking for.
So you're exactly right.
I mean, these dudes can hit 100, 102 all day long if it's right down the middle.
If you don't have secondary stuff that you can go to to get them off that fastball, typically you're gonna see those type of results.
And also a point to bring up, too, is two guys that you would like to see and we're kinda getting used to seeing late in games.
First is Hogan Harris.
But Hogan Harris pitched again yesterday, 32 appearances.
So you could see, we have to understand that you got a card.
Every manager in baseball is gonna get a card, and it's gonna have all your relievers on it.
Who can go on this day, who you should use, who's on fumes, and who's a no-go.
I have a feeling today with as much as Hogan Harris has been pitching, back-to-back days for Sterner, both those guys, yeah, probably Sterner was, like, if needed, probably Hogan Harris was a no-go.
Yeah, but you had to feel comfortable sending anybody in that bullpen out with the type of lead that we had then.
I mean, all you had to do is make a few pitches, you know, get a couple outs.
I mean, like, it was, like I said, it's tough getting that 27th out, but I felt comfortable with everybody they sent out there.
you look at, Leiter.
I mean, this dude had nine, innings pitched without giving anything up, and he was dealing out there.
So I felt good about those guys.
Kuno is a guy, I said, man, look here, I feel like this guy could close in any situation, which he's proved to have good stuff.
Yeah.
It was just not our day.
And the most toughest thing to do, I don't care who you are or who you're playing, when the situation is, it's so hard to sweep a team.
It just always is.
They seem to find out.
Something crazy happens when you have an opportunity to, and it was no different then.
