By Art Spander
OAKLAND — There’s something different about September baseball, something special. If you’re in the pennant race, and the Athletics very much are.
They won another one Wednesday, not easily, even against a team with the second worst record in the American League, Kansas City.
The A’s scored a run in the 11th, the only run of a 1-0 game, another walkoff win, another confidence builder.
There are bad teams in the majors, but in truth there are no underdogs. It’s all in the pitching, and the Royals had that. So did the A’s, which is why Oakland stayed ahead in the wild card scramble.
At the right time they also had the hitting, Mark Canha doubling home Jurickson Profar. That it was also Canha T-shirt giveaway day seemed appropriate.
Tuesday evening the score was 2-1. That was followed by the Wednesday shutout. Two games and only one run allowed.
You’ve heard the axiom that if the other team doesn’t score it’s impossible to lose. And if it scores only one run, your chances of losing are reduced enormously.
Pitching wins, and from starter Homer Bailey, who was replaced in a 0-0 game after 7 innings, through the three relievers who followed him — J.B. Wendelken earning the victory — the A’s had tremendous pitching.
Now they have a sense of what might be accomplished.
“We played really well against New York and Houston,” said Bailey. “We know if we can kind of get to the dance, we can do something.”
Yes, getting to the dance is a phrase normally used in connection with college basketball, the NCAA tournament, but Bailey is excused. After recording a season high 13 strikeouts, he can say almost anything he wishes.
Bailey came to the A’s from the Royals in a July trade. His best pitch is the split-finger fastball that has batters swinging at what they can’t hit.
“Homer’s much more consistent with his split now,” Royals manager Ned Yost told MLB.com. “He doesn’t miss much to lefties. Curveball was good. He spotted his fastball extremely well. I didn’t see him miss a location all day.”
There was morning rain Wednesday at the Coliseum. Batting practice was called off, and because the field was wet the start was delayed for 28 minutes.
When play finally did begin, however, it virtually flew, eight innings requiring only two hours. Of course, with no runs and few runners, a game should move along.
Whether the 16,714 fans cared doesn’t matter, but most still were around at the final out and waving those Canha T-shirts in celebration.
“They played us tough,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said of the Royals. “You could see they were attacking our weak points, but in the end we got the big hit.”
The big hit and the big win. The focus has changed now, for Melvin, for the Athletics.
“The finish line’s in sight,” he said. “You can talk about winning a series early in the season, but now each game is important. Guys step up. It’s a different animal now. Ten games to go. We know our work is cut out for us. We have to try to win every game, not just win a series.”
The A’s won this series from K.C. after a stumble. They came home with six straight wins, a great road trip, very much in control of the wildcard berth. Six straight wins. Then a return to Oakland and a blown ninth-inning lead. Yikes.
But this is a solid Oakland team, one that has beaten the Yankees and Astros. No panic, and lately almost no runs allowed.
The A’s have three games on this last home stand of the regular season, all against the Rangers. Then one more week on the road.
“This is fun,” said Melvin. “I’m even watching scoreboards.”
The rest of us are watching the A’s.