Marcus Semien’s error sparks A’s bullpen collapse in Game 1 of ALDS
Through five innings, it looked like the type of ballgame the A’s were built to win. Hell, through the first seven pitches of J.B. Wendelken’s outing in the sixth, it looked like the type of ballgame the A’s were built to win.
Alas, Marcus Semien committed a crucial error on what should have been a 6-3 putout to get Josh Reddick out of a tidy, eight-pitch inning.
If Semien makes this play, Wendelken is out of the inning on 8 pitches pic.twitter.com/0IL9Em92Xy
— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) October 5, 2020
Maybe Lou Trivino woulda pitched the seventh, Jake Diekman the eighth, and Liam Hendriks woulda closed out the 5-3 A’s victory to start the ALDS.
Not exactly. It ended up as a 10-5 Astros win, with Oakland’s outstanding bullpen giving up seven runs in its biggest blowup of the year.
It’s easy to put all the blame on Semien, but that’s probably not fair in this case. Wendelken still had a runner on first with two outs, a situation he’s completely capable of extinguishing. But the ball was flying out of the ballpark (six dingers combined) all day and the Astros made the most out of their extra life with four runs to take control of the game.
Altuve gives the Astros the lead
pic.twitter.com/wfDCgLwR1V
— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) October 5, 2020
Diekman needs to stop this asap pic.twitter.com/5qx6qa0WpT
— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) October 5, 2020
But it was still a game at that point. A’s down two with four at-bats left? You know the Astros dugout wasn’t exactly comfortable.
Carlos Correa’s solo shot off Lou Trivino in the seventh was demoralizing but Jordan Weems allowing three more in the ninth wrapped ‘er up. That’s not on Semien. In fact, Chad Pinder’s eighth-inning walk was the only baserunner the A’s could muster in those final four frames.
It’s a painful loss but this is a team that responded in a three-game series vs. the White Sox after a deflating Game 1 defeat. No sense in hitting the panic button just yet.
