OAKLAND, Calif. — The A’s continued to struggle at the plate, but Stephen Piscotty hit a two-run home run and Cole Irvin and three relievers combined to shut out the Texas Rangers 2-0 Sunday at the Coliseum.
The win prevented a Texas sweep and gave the A’s a 9-8 record and a 4-3 homestand before a crowd of 11,083 on youth baseball and softball day, their second-largest crowd in seven home dates. The Rangers dropped to 5-10.
It also gave the A’s something to feel good about after playing games on 17 consecutive days to open the season. After a day off Monday, the A’s will visit the Giants at Oracle Park Tuesday and Wednesday night before returning home for six games against Cleveland and Tampa Bay.
Irvin departed after five one-hit innings, throwing 85 pitches. He walked two and struck out four. The lone hit Irvin allowed came off the bat of Marcus Semien leading off the game. The drive was caught on a dive by third baseman Sheldon Neuse, who rose to his feet but couldn’t get Semien at first.
Zach Jackson faced the minimum six batters in pitching the sixth and seventh innings, Kirby Snead threw a scoreless eighth and Dany Jimenez the ninth for his third save.
The Rangers had a pair of two-out singles from Nathaniel Lowe and Jonah Heim in the ninth, with Jimenez retiring Willie Calhoun on a line drive to first to end the game. The ball glanced off the glove of Christian Bethencourt, but he easily beat Calhoun to the bag to end the game.
“Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief tomorrow, catch their breath and get back at it,” Piscotty said.
Piscotty, who missed eight days on the COVID-19 list before being reinstated Saturday, broke through for the A’s in the fourth inning. Sean Murphy was aboard with a single, and after Seth Brown flew to center, Piscotty drove a 2-2 pitch from Spencer Howard well into the bleachers in left field for his first home run of the season.
The Pleasanton native has battled injuries since the start of the 2019 season, and was limited to 72 games a year ago with a debilitating wrist issue.
“I think this year, I’m definitely trying to have more fun and it’s more fun when you’re healthy, no doubt about that,” Piscotty said. “I don’t know, just to get in there, get to play. It feels natural, feels good, and I’m just going to chase that feeling.”
Piscotty, who also had a double in his first game back Saturday, squared up a drive to center that was caught in the sixth and earlier in the game made a nice play in right on a sinking liner.
“It’s great to see Stephen healthy and you can see the joy I think in the way he’s going about playing the game,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said.
Irvin made it through five innings in his previous start when he didn’t have his typically good stuff. That wasn’t the case against the Rangers as he pitched successfully both in the strike zone and just off the plate with sliders and a cut fastball.
“As much as you want to be living in the zone, sometimes you don’t want to be in it too much or you might get hit,” Irvin said. “I’m still learning how to pitch a little bit more at this level, making pitches look like they’re going to be on the plate and missing off.”
Although Irvin said it would be strange not coming to the ballpark Monday, his plans for the first day off include a tee time. His pregame routine often includes work on a putting green in the clubhouse.
“I will be on the golf course,” Irvin said. “Taking my time, enjoying it. I’ve got to get on the links a little bit. Going to have some fun.”
WHAT A RELIEF
The A’s have now converted six of eight save opportunities and have been without closer Lou Trivino on the COVID-19 IL, with Snead and A.J. Puk also missing time with the virus.
“I think we all have a lot of confidence in each other,” Jackson said. “There’s no animosity if someone is getting a certain situation because we know that Kots and (pitching coach Scott Emerson) are setting us up to have the best success we can.”
Kotsay faced an interesting decision in the ninth when the right-handed Jimenez gave up back-to-back singles to left-handed hitters in Lowe and Heim. Rather than pull Jimenez in favor of left-hander Sam Moll with left-handed Willie Calhoun at the plate, Kotsay stayed the course knowing the Rangers would counter with the right-handed hitting Andy Ibanez, who homered Friday night.
“It was pick your poison at that point,” Kotsay said. “I felt good about Dany and let him face Calhoun. Fortunately, it worked out.”
NOTABLE
— The A’s finished the homestand hitting .186 (40-for-215). However, their starting pitchers have a sparkling 2.29 earned run average over the past seven games and their overall ERA is 2.63 over their last 11 games.
— Sheldon Neuse had a second-inning error that increased the A’s streak of games with one error to six. That ties the longest streak of games with an error by any A’s team over the last four years.
— Tony Kemp was thrown out at second attempting to steal by Heim in the seventh. It was the first time an A’s baserunner has been thrown out in eight attempts. The A’s appealed the call, but the ruling stood.
— Infielder Kevin Smith, out since April 19 with a bone bruise on his left ankle, was taking grounders before the game, doing some hitting and could be in line for a brief rehab assignment before rejoining the team.
— Outfielder Ramon Laureano was 0-for-3 Saturday night for the Las Vegas Aviators. Laureano is 10 games away from being reinstated from a suspension that began last year for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs.
