Athletics Week In Review: 8/13-8/19

by Andrew Pasquini – Sports 1140 KHTK

It was the biggest week of the season and the Oakland Athletics passed the test. Three with the Mariners. Three with the Astros. The A’s were able to manage a 4-2 record and tighten their grip on the AL Wild Card and were able to close the gap in the AL West.

Game results:

Monday: Seattle, W 7-6

Tuesday: Seattle, W 3-2

Wednesday: Seattle, L 2-0

Friday: Houston, W 4-3

Saturday: Houston, W 7-1

Sunday: Houston, L 9-4

Hitter of the week: Matt Chapman

While Chapman is frequently noticed for his glove, his bat has been holding steady all season. Chapman is now batting .276/.363/.472 on the season and the bat was hot this week. Chapman finished the week with a .292 average while showing off some power. Monday was his standout game where he went 3-for-5 with three doubles and two RBIs. For the week he finished with five doubles, a home run, and four RBIs.

Pitcher of the week: Blake Treinen

Treinen continued to be the consistent closer he’s been all season this week, appearing in three games, pitching three innings, and collecting two saves and a win. He faced 14 batters as well and struck out seven of them. Treinen lowered his ERA on the season to 0.87 and now has 32 saves.

Win of the week: Friday against the Astros

Entering the game, Oakland was two games behind Astros for the lead in the AL West. Entering the ninth inning, the A’s trailed 3-2 and Mark Canha started the inning with a ground out to shortstop. Chad Pinder would then follow that with a walk then Nick Martini would lace a line drive to right field. Houston right fielder Josh Reddick would pick the ball up quick off the wall and fire it in to Carlos Correa who would fire it to home to throw Martini out at the plate for the time being. The call would be reviewed and overturned and the Athletics tied it up at 3-3. The game would carry to the tenth inning where with no out and a full count, Matt Olson would end it with one swing of the bat to give the Athletics the 4-3 victory and put them within one game of the Astros.

Play of the week: Matt Olson’s walk-off home run

Oly just barely missed out on a walk-off home run on Wednesday.

He didn't miss out tonight.#RootedInOakland pic.twitter.com/xzdxeBZr9K

— Oakland Athletics 🌳🐘⚾️ (@Athletics) August 18, 2018

The Athletics were able to push their lead for the AL Wild Card to three and a half games over the Mariners while closing the gap with the Astros to one game. This week the A’s play three at home against the Texas Rangers then go to Minnesota for four to play the Twins.

 

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