Athletics swept by Orioles after allowing seven unanswered runs in loss
On "A's Cast," Chris Townsend, T.J. McFarland and Steve Sax discuss the Athletics' 8-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday at Sutter Health Park.
Athletics swept by Orioles after allowing seven unanswered runs in loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
If what you just saw there isn't one of the great examples that this is the big leagues, you're playing against the best.
After you just lost to the Orioles eight to five, as Jenny and Dallas are signing off, you're going to Texas.
Guess what, boys?
You get Jacob deGrom tomorrow.
Yeah.
Truly one of the best of his era.
A tough one here at the ballpark in West Sacramento.
Chris Townsend alongside Steve Sachs and T.J. McFarland.
T.J., you gave us the keys earlier for Jeffrey Springs, and once again, this ballpark, it just, it's a bad fit and he can't keep the ball in the yard.
Yeah, unfortunately, he got bit by those home runs today, and, with runners on, that's, that's not a recipe for success.
He, he was able to keep the ball down early.
He was able to subdue that offensive lineup early, but the floodgates opened up after those, three run home runs.
It really set the tone.
And Steve, when you look at the young guys, they continue to produce offensively.
Yeah.
Two more hits now for Henry Bolte.
That's 35 in the month of August.
Yep.
Lawrence Butler continues to stay hot, so the offense, they're putting runs on the board.
Yeah.
That's a nice thing to see.
There are some bright points, with this club right now.
You just mentioned a couple of them.
I think one thing that's interesting about the Henry Bolte point is the fact that this guy doesn't have to even barrel the ball up, hit it in the gap, or hit a line drive.
If he makes contact and it gets a little bit of chaotic, situation in the infield, it's gonna be a base hit, and then he's gonna outrun a lot of these, a lot of these, infield hits.
And now that you're off to Texas, which, you know, the old ballpark was miserable to pitch in.
The new ballpark, it's good to pitch in this new ballpark in Texas.
It is.
It's a pitcher friendly park, for sure, and, and I think going into that series, just like any team needs to be in baseball, is have a quick memory, right?
You take the positives out of this.
Yeah.
You take what you can to learn, but tomorrow facing deGrom, you know?
Yeah.
Nobody's gonna feel sorry for you.
You gotta, you gotta step up the next day and, and win another series.
Yeah.
Yeah, congratulations.
You get Jacob deGrom tomorrow.
Yeah.
But for both you guys, when, when you're losing like this, just how tough is it to keep Even though you're a young player, it's the big leagues, it's the greatest thing ever.
You've, you've dreamt about this your entire life, but still- Yeah losing wears on you.
Yeah.
Well, it's like T.J. Says, you gotta have a short memory about this.
And, you know, the, the, the effervescent attitude about some of these young guys on the team, it's gonna go, it's gonna bode well.
When they leave here, they go to Texas, and they get to step in there, against Jacob deGrom.
You always wanna go against one of the best that's had, you know, a great history of especially striking guys out.
You can't wait to grab the bat and go up there and really change that narrative.
So we'll see if these guys, especially these young guys with these great attitudes, can come up and do that against him.
If there's anybody who wants to go toe-to-toe with Jacob deGrom, it's Gage Jump.
Oh, yeah.
He does.
We had him earlier this week on A's Cast Live.
It's, it's great to talk to him because he's tough, he's fearless.
He's critical on himself 'cause he has such- Yeah high expectations, but he is super talented.
If you're a young pitcher, deGrom could be in the Hall of Fame someday.
How fired up are you to go toe-to-toe with Jacob deGrom?
Of course, you wanna face the best.
You wanna be on the other side of a potential Hall of Famer.
You're chomping at the bit to potentially subdue that lineup and say you've beat deGrom, right?
Yeah.
Right.
There's, there's really no other player that you'd wanna beat.
Exactly.
But for him, being a young guy trying to establish himself, this is a great spot for him to, to set the tone.
And when people say, "Oh, the pitchers, they don't really It's, he's, I'm not facing him," no, you're looking As a pitcher, aren't you looking at that other guy?
Yes, you are.
Every single time he has a long inning, you're trying to have a quick one.
You're trying to tire him out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You're trying to go toe-to-toe.
Absolutely, it's, it's one-on-one there.
All right, let's get to the Toyota Turning Point.
I was hoping it was gonna be the first three innings for the A's.
We had it all planned out, and unfortunately, the Orioles, well, they had different plans for our show.
Because they would score three in the fourth inning, and then here they are in the fifth inning, and it would start with an infield base hit, followed by the dreaded walk.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know what?
I don't really mind that walk right there.
It's, it's Alonso.
You don't wanna open up the game.
The problem is you gotta capitalize on that left on left matchup.
He had good intentions with that slider, but it just caught too much of the plate.
Yeah, and a little bit too much of Gunnar Henderson today, too.
Guys, what a day he had.
A four for four day.
He's running all over the ballpark.
He's making plays on the infield.
This was just a day that, wasn't a good matchup for him.
Well, and what he did defensively in this series- Yeah I mean, it shows his talent.
And also, I know we talked about this yesterday, and we need to be fair.
You gotta give credit to the Orioles.
Now, 68 and 69, Cleveland did get the win today, so they're just one game back of the last wild card.
And here we're gonna see a little montage of Gunnar Henderson, obviously a supreme talent in our game.
Got a long time, been up and down, but this series truly, Steve, showed his skills.
Yeah, it, it does.
And what I like about him, too, can he hit a, hit the ball out of the ballpark?
Yeah.
Check.
He can do that.
Can he hit the ball the other way and situationally hit?
Absolutely.
You saw the, the, you know, just the athleticism in the infield, too.
Going to his left, going to his right, it doesn't matter.
He- He's a good player.
I mean, you talk about the flights out of here.
For the A's going, they're leaving to go to Texas, but for the Orioles, I mean, they're- They're right in this thing.
They gotta be sky high They're riding high right now.
They're playing great baseball and like you said, both sides of the ball.
They're not only offensively, but defensively.
And to be honest, they showed a lot of fight today.
Yeah We, we thought we had all the momentum, and they had one big inning that was able to change that.
And that's what happens when you have meaningful baseball.
That's what happens when guys are- Yeah are really grinding it out to try to get to the playoffs.
All right, my get-off-my-lawn moment.
Did anybody notice who stayed in the game after he gave up runs, and an old school- Yes pitcher does what?
He doesn't get pulled from the game.
Right.
He just keeps throwing and throwing and throwing.
And at the end, who comes out on top today?
Yeah, Bassitt.
Yeah, that's who does it.
'Cause he didn't get pulled early.
Right, and, and, and that's a great point, Townie, because a lot of people say today, and I understand their point, of, "Wins don't matter."
Well, you know what?
And today it did matter, because if he doesn't stay in, has the intestinal fortitude to kinda stay in the f- i- in the hunt even though he's down by four runs, guess who got the win because he stayed in there and grinded it out?
Chris Bassitt.
Well, maybe give credit to the Orioles manager, that it wasn't a quick hook.
I mean, 'cause everybody- Could've been, yeah every, there's a lot of quick hooks now.
You don't allow a guy to give up runs anymore.
You need How many times have we talked about we need innings from our starters?
Even if he gives up some runs- Yeah you gotta still go out there and don't burn the bullpen for the next series.
But in Chris Bassitt's case, he stayed in like a fighter.
He got knocked down, but he kept fighting.
Yeah And he allowed his offense to get him back in the game, and he's walking out of here with a win.
Yeah, absolutely.
I, I don't think Bassitt at any point, even if the manager came out today, he wouldn't have let him take the ball from him.
There was no chance.
He's an alter, ultra competitor.
He knows what he's doing.
And veteran-wise, he knows that even though he gave up a couple of runs, right?
He gave up five early runs, he was able to settle down, get back in the zone, and knew that all he needed was just to keep the game close to give his chance, his team, his team a chance to win.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I You saw the stats before the game.
I mean, they're barreling up 5% of his pitches.
Well, they did a little bit more than that today, and it didn't bother him.
He hung in there and, he stayed in there till his team really got the momentum offensively, which shot him forward, and then he notches the W today.
So it's a, it's a great testimony to just stay in there.
I get the script every single day of what you wanna do, and you're paranoid about getting through the third time through the order with the starting pitcher.
And you wanna bring in new arms, new looks and everything.
But if you start to do that every single day, you lose sight of what's ahead of you, and all of a sudden your bullpen's logging- Yeah 12 outs every single game.
And as you know as a bullpen guy, if you're expecting 12 outs or more every single game, and you think you're gonna do that for six and a half months, no chance.
It's not gonna happen.
And as a bullpen guy, you needed him to be an anchor today.
That's what you wanted.
And like I said, I don't think there was any point in that game where he was actually gonna come out.
He was gonna get every pitch that he, it was, was getting, which was over 100.
Yeah And, as a bullpen guy, that's what you wanna see.
Yeah.
You, you're relying on that starter, especially in this type of game, to get through, a, a lot of innings.
Yeah, and as Townie mentioned, going the third time through, that's a very, very, common stat that we see today.
But you know what?
When I face hitters, they didn't pitch you the same way the third time through.
They pitch you differently.
And why show e, everything the first or second time through?
I got a little surprise for you the third time through, and that's why guys were able to pitch complete games so much more frequently, I think, in the past as they do now, is they show everything right away.
It's 100% max effort, and, they last five innings.
Bingo.
Yeah.
What you said, bingo.
Yeah Right?
What, what you saw in at bat three and four was not what you saw- Nothing in your first at bat.
No.
But now these guys- No are taught give him everything you got early- Right, right and then we're gonna come get you for another inning.
That's right.
That, that's what it is, and that's how it's actually set up to be.
And I think you guys, we might see a pendulum, little switch coming up in the next several years because that way is gonna tax your bullpen to death, and we're seeing it now.
