SEATTLE — A 4-3 loss to the Mariners on Friday night followed an unwelcome pattern for the A’s over the past two months.
The A’s have played the most one-run games among American League teams. In past seasons, they thrived in such situations, compiling a .607 winning percentage in one-run games from 2018-2020.
This season started in a similar vein as the A’s won 11 of their first 15 one-run decisions. Since then, though, they had lost 12 of 16 entering Saturday, making for an overall sub-.500 mark.
“Whether we’re coming back and just coming up short, or you look at a game like (Friday) night where one little thing ends up beating you, and we’re a little deficient right now with runners in scoring position — some of our situational at-bats aren’t great,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We haven’t been scoring as many runs in the last month, month and a half or so — maybe it just kind of adds up.”
“I don’t think there’s one thing I can pinpoint. But I do know that when we’re in close games we always have the feeling that we’re going to win; we have a good chance to win. It’s just not happened here for a couple months.”
As Melvin indicated, a few factors have played into the near misses. Friday night, the A’s came back from a three-run deficit to forge a 3-3 tie entering the seventh inning. They loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the seventh but did not score. Seattle scored the go-ahead run in its half of the inning with help from two wild pitches by reliever Jake Diekman.
Of the A’s past 12 one-run losses, though, it was just the fourth in which they led or were tied in the seventh. In all eight where they trailed in the seventh, they had scored two or fewer runs to that point.
The A’s were 34-19 in games decided by three runs or more entering Saturday, but high-scoring outputs have been rare lately. And scarce run support can create a thin margin for error for the pitching staff. The A’s awoke Saturday averaging 3.7 runs over their past 22 games, lowest in the majors in that span.
That has not been for lack of chances. But situational hitting has been spotty. The A’s carried a .258 batting average (eighth in AL) and .733 OPS (11th) into Saturday with men in scoring position, figures that fell to .214 and .650 with two outs. With the bases loaded, their .220 average was second-lowest and .562 OPS the league’s lowest.
“We haven’t been as good offensively, but our starters keep us in every game,” Melvin said. “It feels like no matter what our starter comes out of a game one run ahead, tied or one run behind. We’re just having a little trouble in the latter innings, which has not been the case here for quite some time.”
A’s starters owned the AL’s third-lowest ERA (3.62) through Friday with a 2.78 mark in their past 24 games. Perhaps none has embodied their task more than Sean Manaea. The left-hander has received one or zero runs of support in eight of 20 starts but is 7-1 in 12 starts with at least two runs of support.
“One-run games, close games, I still believe we’re going to win those,” Manaea said Saturday. “One-run games you don’t really have much room for error. But if you love pitching, those are the kind of games that you live for, competing out there and just really helping the ballclub in any way you can.”
Briefly: Diekman recorded the 90,000th pitching strikeout in A’s franchise history Friday, punching out Jarred Kelenic. … Catcher Sean Murphy, not in Saturday’s lineup, was “a little banged up” but scheduled for a day off Saturday or Sunday, Melvin said. … Melvin said if the A’s are active before the July 30 trade deadline “it might be toward the latter part right before the deadline, is my guess.”
Matt Kawahara covers the A’s for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: mkawahara@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @matthewkawahara
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July 25, 2021 at 09:39AM
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A's finding the short end of one-run games - San Francisco Chronicle
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