Barber: A’s closer than they appear in playoff contenders’ rear-view mirror

SAN FRANCISCO

“I didn’t even look at the scoreboard today,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said after his team’s 6-2 win against the Giants on Sunday afternoon. “But the guys mentioned it when they were coming off the field.”

What they mentioned was Seattle’s loss to Colorado, the Mariners’ fourth consecutive defeat, a result that puts Oakland just three games out of the second American League wild-card spot. It’s possible the A’s primary playoff contender is feeling the pressure.

The A’s? They seem blissfully ignorant of the magnitude. They don’t freak out when they fall behind in a game, as evidenced by the eight times they have come back to win in the eighth inning or later during the extended hot streak on which they embarked one month ago. And they don’t freak out when they fall behind in a series.

The Giants drubbed the A’s 7-1 behind Madison Bumgarner at AT&T Park on Friday night. San Francisco has its own postseason aspirations, and was poised to advance them after that opening salvo in the Bay Bridge Series. But the A’s stormed back to claim yet another series - as they did against the Astros before that, and the Indians before that, and the Padres before that, and the Indians before that, and the Tigers before that, and the Padres before that (before splitting a four-game series versus the White Sox), and the Angels before that.

Look at the teams Oakland has played during its current 21-6 run, Major League Baseball’s best record in that span. Houston is the defending champion, and as good as any team in baseball. Cleveland is in first place in the AL Central. The Giants hadn’t dropped a home series since April 10, going 10-0-2 since then. The A’s shrugged and whipped all of them.

From a pitching perspective, Sunday’s win was emblematic of what the A’s have done all year. From a hitting standpoint, it was a departure.

On the mound, the A’s are turning baseball into a six-inning game. Remember when the Giants beat the Royals in the 2014 World Series? That Kansas City team had a bullpen that clamped down on opponents like a spring-loaded trap. If the Royals had a lead through six innings that year, Kelvin Herrera would come in to pitch the seventh, Wade Davis would throw the eighth and closer Greg Holland would handle the ninth. It was monotonously infallible.

The A’s back end isn’t quite at that level, but it may be closer than you think. Closer Blake Treinen is headed to the All-Star Game with 24 saves. His setup man, Lou Trivino, has been nearly as good in 2018, with a 7-1 record, a 1.22 ERA and a WHIP of less than 1.000. And now Ryan Buchter has carved out a spot as the seventh-inning man.

Here’s what they did against the Giants on Sunday: Buchter pitched the seventh and struck out all three batters he faced (Brandon Crawford, Gorkys Hernandez and Steven Duggar). Trivino pitched the eighth, issued a walk to Alen Hanson, got a double play and left with no further damage. Treinen pitched the ninth, walked Andrew McCutchen, and struck out Brandon Belt, Buster Posey and Crawford. Ten batters, six strikeouts, no hits.

Oakland starter Sean Manaea had thrown just six innings and 74 pitches when Melvin removed him, and had been quite effective. But with relief like that, he knew he had no beef.

It was an interesting day at the plate for the A’s, though. They are tied for sixth in the majors with 126 home runs as we enter the break, though they play in an infamous pitchers’ park. This is a team with power. The A’s are less adept at stringing runs together in subtler ways. In the first two games of this series, they were 0 for 16 with runners in scoring position.

Sunday, they hit like it was the late 1960s. After Jed Lowrie walked, Oakland got consecutive singles from Mark Canha, Stephen Piscotty, Matt Olson and Matt Chapman. The last three each went to right-center field, each got a runner home, and each sent a different runner from first base to third. It looked like a glitching video game.

And they did it all against Andrew Suarez. He might not be a household name, but he’s been one of the Giants’ most effective starters in 2018. Suarez had gone six consecutive starts without giving up more than two runs.

“I think what impressed me the most is, you know, he’s got a real good sinker, and we’re gonna have a tough time getting him in the air,” Melvin said. “So the guys were just first-to-third, first-to-third, first-to-third. And that’s a different dynamic for us.”

Sometimes the A’s stick to their script. Sometimes they deviate. But they keep winning, and they’re the only ones who aren’t surprised.

“I think the thing I was most impressed by in the Houston series,” Melvin said, “is when they walked off the field the last game, the look in their eye was, ‘We expected to do this.’ … These guys just expect to win every day.”

We treat the All-Star break like a midpoint, but after the A’s play the Giants in Oakland on Friday, they’ll be about 60 percent of the way through the regular season. And they’re in great shape. The Mariners are clearly within reach, especially in light of their 10 head-to-head games before October. And if Seattle folds, the A’s might not have a ton of competition for their playoff spot; the next closest team in the wild-card race is Tampa Bay, which is currently 5½ games behind Oakland.

So… is it time to obsess over the standings? No, according to veteran second baseman and first-time All-Star Jed Lowrie.

“I think it’s too early to scoreboard-watch,” he said. “We know where we are, but there’s still a lot of games left. I would say with a young team in particular, you’ve got to narrow the focus even more.”

But Manaea, the charismatic young pitcher, isn’t playing it so close to the vest. “I’ve been thinking about it since the beginning of the season,” he said. “It’s starting to get that feeling, that playoff kind of vibe.”

A lot can go off the rails in the next 2½ months. The Giants will get first crack at wrecking the train, with a three-game series that begins Friday. But we’re at the All-Star break, and the A’s are more than relevant. They’re on fire. It’s kind of remarkable.

After Sunday’s win, someone asked Melvin what he’d like to get more of from his team when play resumes.

“What we’ve been doing recently,” he said. “I got no complaints with what guys are doing.”