Never, ever, ever, say a team is dead until the last out of a series is recorded. Everything was looking up for the Houston Astros going into the seventh with a 7-4 lead, just three innings away from clinching the series. The Oakland Athletics failed to hold onto two leads of theirs, again. Thankfully, the Astros too were unable to hold onto their leads, and the continuous resilience the A’s have shown throughout the playoffs, came through in the seventh. The A’s came back to tie the game with three runs in the seventh and two go-ahead runs in the eighth, to force a game four. Here are the takeaways from another slugfest at Dodgers stadium, that ended with the A’s emerging victorious 9-7.
Astros Cold Regular Season Bats Are Now Heating Up
Star players like Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa all had fairly underwhelming regular seasons, which could explain why many have counted out the Astros this postseason. This series however, they have been seeing the ball well putting up respectable .364, .417 and .400 batting averages. The Astros also gotta love Aledmys Diaz coming off the bench to play in Josh Reddick’s place, and hitting a home run. Again it’s unbelievable how the ball is carrying this series. With these three players now producing, the Astros lineup has looked increasingly threatening.
Is Zack Greinke Fully Healthy?
Veteran Zack Greinke was scratched from pitching in this game due to an ailing right arm. Greinke was just named the Astros game four starter this morning, but is Greinke going to be 100%? Will he be able to bring his best stuff against some hungry A’s bats?
Liam Hendriks: The New Bullpen Rager
Seven years ago the A’s had a raging closer by the name of Grant Balfour. His rage fueled the team when he would come out of the bullpen to close out games in the ninth. He became so popular among A’s fans that they themselves started their own raging dance, the “Balfour Rage”. Balfour’s rage and ability to finish off close games was a big part of the A’s short lived postseason runs between 2012-2014. Now the A’s have another raging Aussie as their closer. That closer is Liam Hendriks, who has been more than just a ninth inning closer in the postseason. Hendriks pitched three shutout innings in game three. While the five home runs by the A’s lineup were a true display of power, Hendriks ability to finally give the A’s a shutdown bullpen performance late in the game, ultimately powered the team. After closing out the last series against the Chicago White Sox, manager Bob Melvin described Hendriks’ performance as “Herculean.” This has earned him the nickname Herculiam among fans, as t-shirts are already trending. It’s great to have a hard throwing lockdown closer who can also give you a few innings. That’s exactly what the A’s get out of Hendriks and exactly what has gotten A’s fans raging again.
Powerful Pinder
A name that no one, including A’s fans probably did not anticipate being their most talked about hitter this postseason, was Chad Pinder. The utility infielder came through again with the game-tying three run homer in the seventh, which perhaps changed the course of this series. In the deciding game of the Wildcard series, he came up with a pinch hit 2-run RBI base hit that ultimately won the series for the A’s . Pinder’s role has increased this postseason. The absence of All Star everyday third baseman Matt Chapman has required him to step up at third base, which he has done. His three run homer was a true example of that special opposite field power that Pinder poses. This guy might very well be the breakout star of the postseason.
Can The A’s Still Win This Series?
Not only is winning the series looking more realistic given that they now only have to win two more games, but it certainly looks like the missing factors for the A’s that lost them games one and two, are starting to come together. At least they certainly came together in game three. The A’s offensive production finally got the support they have been lacking all series, the ability of the bullpen to hold onto their leads. This is ironic, as the bullpen had no problem doing this in the regular season. The A’s also scored their two go-ahead runs in small ball fashion off of a pair of sacrifice fly balls which is huge, given that the A’s have pretty much been solely dependent on the longball up to this point in the series. If these factors can continue to come together, a miraculous comeback by the green and gold might be in the works.
