Stephen Piscotty leads A's to 4-2 win against Padres

OAKLAND - Meet the Oakland A’s.

They’re the best team no one pays attention to. The hottest team in the major leagues. And they’re better than the Giants.

The A’s have won 14 of their past 17 games. They beat the San Diego Padres 4-2 on Wednesday. Reliever Lou Trivino took the win, closer Blake Treinen took the save, his 22nd of the season, and Padres reliever Jose Castillo took the loss.

The A’s are nine games over .500. Their record is 48-39. The Giants are merely two games over .500 - their record is 45-43. But, the Giants get the headlines, because the Giants play in an easier division.

They play in the mediocre National League West, where they’re 3½ games out of first place. They’re contenders. The A’s play in the brutal AL West with the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners - two of the best teams in baseball. The A’s are ?8½ games out of first place, and seven games out of a wild-card spot. They’re not quite contenders yet.

But if the A’s and Giants switched divisions, the A’s would be tied for first place, and the Giants would be 12 games out. The A’s would be the team everyone talks about.

Instead, they’re anonymous.

They have no stars. But that could change. The A’s have a power-hitting first baseman (Matt Olson), a gold-glove-caliber third baseman (Matt Chapman), an All-Star-caliber second baseman (Jed Lowrie), an ace (Sean Manaea), plus the best bullpen in baseball. The A’s are 33-0 when they lead after seven innings.

On Wednesday, the star was no-name right fielder Stephen Piscotty. He was 3-for-4 with three doubles and three RBIs. He is hitting .310 during his past 30 games. He is on fire. So are the rest of the A’s.

Is there something special about this team?

“Uh, yeah,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said during his postgame press conference. “We have a young group that has played together and expects to win. It’s a resilient attack. When they get behind, they don’t care.”

The A’s got behind early Wednesday. Manaea gave up a two-run home run to Christian Villanueva in the top of the second. But those were the only runs Manaea gave up in seven innings of work.

“He’s maturing a pitcher,” Melvin said. “You give up a two-spot right away, and you’ve got to put that away and say, ‘That’s all they’re going to get.’ And that’s what he did.”

Manaea, 26, is a 6-foot-5, 245-pound left-handed pitcher, roughly the same size as Madison Bumgarner. Manaea leads the A’s pitching staff in starts (17) and wins (8). His 3.33 ERA ranks 11th best in the American League.

Manaea stands on the mound covering his face with his glove, showing the hitter nothing but eyes. Like former Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte used to do. Then, Manaea raises his arms over his head and throws the ball with a low-three-quarters release. Practically sidearm. He throws a four-seam fastball, a slider and a change-up.

“Everything was working today,” Manaea said, “except for the one bad pitch to Villanueva.”

The A’s offense brought them back. In the bottom of the second, Piscotty hit a double to left-center field off Padres starting pitcher Luis Perdomo, hit the sign on the fence that says, “Do More With 7 Up.” Matt Olson scored from first base. The A’s were down 2-1.

In the bottom of the third, the bases were loaded with one out for designated hitter Khris Davis, another potential star. He has 20 home runs and 57 RBIs. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Davis singled to left field. Catcher Josh Phegley scored from third base and tied the game at two. The next batter, Olson, grounded into an inning-ending double play.

The A’s wouldn’t score again until the eighth inning.

In the top of the eighth, Melvin took out Manaea, took him out between innings even though he had thrown only 84 pitches and hadn’t given up a hit since the top of the fourth.

“It was time,” Melvin said. “We have a good bullpen.”

They sure do. Relievers Ryan Buchter and Lou Trivino gave up no runs in the top of the eighth. They kept the A’s in the game.

In the bottom of the eighth, Padres left-handed reliever Jose Castillo issued a leadoff walk to Lowrie. Then, Craig Stammen, a sinker baller, replaced Castillo to face Davis. And on a 3-2 count, Davis hit a double off the top of the left field wall. Lowrie ran to third and stopped there.

Stammen intentionally walked the next batter, Olson, and brought Piscotty to the plate with the bases loaded. “That’s the smart play,” Piscotty said. “Olson is a power guy and he’s a left-hander and a base was open. It made a lot of sense.”

Sure, it did. Until Piscotty hit a hanging sinker to right center for a double, his third of the game, and Lowrie and Davis scored.

“The term is you ‘black out,’” Piscotty said. “You’re not thinking. That’s what happened.”

Piscotty’s third double gave the A’s a two-run lead, which was more than enough. Treinen shut down the Padres in the top of the ninth. He hasn’t blown a save since April 18. Another potential star.

“There is a way we have been playing recently,” Melvin said. “We get down, come back, turn it over to the bullpen and win. It has been a pretty good recipe.”

The rest of the league is getting a taste.