Chapman's clutch hits lead A's to series split

In yet another hotly-contested low-scoring game against a quality opponent, the A’s needed something special from Matt Chapman. And in a way, Chapman needed it, too.

With a solo shot in the fourth and a go-ahead double in the ninth, Chapman carried the A’s to a 3-2 win over the Rays at Tropicana Field on Thursday. The victory capped a series split for Oakland, and it might be a sign that the stellar third baseman is finding his form offensively.

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Chapman was stuck in a 1-for-25 slump entering Wednesday, his 28th birthday, and produced a two-hit night. He built on that success with a pair of clutch hits again on Thursday to help Oakland complete a 4-3 road trip.

“Usually swings like that can get you going in the right direction,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “And big hits, too … [Especially] in a game that feels like it’s gonna be a one-run game and whoever gets the big hit from the eighth inning on is gonna end up winning it.”

Oakland desperately needed a big hit from an offense that struggled mightily through the road swing. The A’s entered the day batting 37-for-193 (.192) with 16 runs scored through the first six games of this trip, and they were down their best offensive weapon, Matt Olson, who was scratched pregame with a left eye injury suffered in batting practice.

In the ninth inning of a 2-2 game, Oakland was at risk of falling victim to an increasingly familiar narrative: strong pitching undone by untimely offense. But with Jed Lowrie standing on first thanks to a four-pitch walk, Chapman delivered off Rays closer Diego Castillo with a smooth drive to right-center field.

The ball just cleared the outstretched arm of Brett Phillips and bounded to the wall, allowing Lowrie to score and Chapman to drink in his game-changing moment.

“I think I definitely have some good games right here to build on,” Chapman said. “And I think if I can just continue to work on what I’ve been doing these last few games, and get consistent with it, I can correct some of those bad habits I was creating earlier in the year.”

Chapman described his bad habits as twofold. First, his timing has been off; he was starting his leg kick too late, which lessened the amount of time he had to see incoming pitches. Second, he was landing too hard on his front foot, which brought his weight forward and prevented him from maintaining the balance required to react to offspeed pitches.

After slashing .152/.281/.329 through 24 games and producing just two multihit performances, Chapman has multiple hits in back-to-back games. The sample size is obviously quite small, but digging out of a rut has to start somewhere, and he hopes it’s starting right here.

Chris Bassitt, who started for the A’s and worked six strong innings of two-run ball, has witnessed Chapman’s frustrations in the early going. But Bassitt said he’s “beyond impressed” with how Chapman has handled the adversity.

“How he’s brought it every single day, how he’s been positive every day, how he’s not allowed his [offensive struggles] to leak into his defense is massive,” Bassitt said. “He’s truly, truly growing into a leader. And it’s very exciting to see.”

The A’s should also be excited to see a winning record on a seven-game road trip in which they scored just 19 runs. The pitching was stellar, including a rotation that collected a 3.07 ERA and worked five or more innings in every start.

Runs were at a premium for both teams in this series, as the Rays and A’s combined to score just 17 runs through the four-game set. The pitching duels, tight scores and offensive attrition gave this April series an October atmosphere. Maybe it’s too early to think like that, but if you ask Oakland's players, maybe it’s not.

“I think there’s five, six real contenders in the AL, and no doubt the Rays are one of them and we’re one of them,” Bassitt said. “Any time you basically go up against another team that’s as good as we are, it’s gonna be tough.”