Here comes another advance-or-go-home game, just like the past two years. And, once again, the A’s do not have a clear-cut choice on which pitcher to start in Game 3 of their wild-card series Thursday against the White Sox.
Mike Fiers? The numbers point to him.
Sean Manaea? Maybe not wise to throw a lefty against Chicago.
Frankie Montas? He would need to come back on short rest.
A’s brass contemplated these options Wednesday in the wake of their 5-3 victory in Game 2 to even the series. Chris Bassitt pitched seven strong innings to give vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane, general manager David Forst and manager Bob Melvin a welcome, if difficult, decision.
“We have a lot of analytics we look at based on what happened the other day, who’s available and how we look at our bullpen,” Melvin said. “All those things will factor in.”
The A’s went with Liam Hendriks as their opener in 2018 against the Yankees and Manaea last year against Tampa Bay. This time, Fiers and Manaea seem like the leading candidates. If the A’s rely heavily on analytics, as Melvin suggested, Fiers would be the logical choice — mostly because he’s right-handed.
The White Sox are 15-0 this season against left-handed starters, including Tuesday’s victory against Jesús Luzardo. They are 21-26 against right-handed starters, including Wednesday’s defeat against Bassitt.
Melvin, after Luzardo’s struggles, acknowledged Chicago’s record against lefties would be a factor.
Other numbers also favor Fiers. He has a 4-0 record and 1.58 ERA in eight career starts against the White Sox, including 14 ⅔ innings in two outings last season. Fiers also is 15-4 in his career at the Coliseum, with a 3.39 ERA.
Then again, Fiers has only one postseason inning on his resume, with Houston in the 2015 Division Series (he has logged more than 1,140 regular-season innings in his nine years in the majors). The A’s bypassed him for playoff starts each of the past two years.
Bassitt, after corralling the White Sox, downplayed the righty-lefty element of this decision.
“People want to make a big deal out of it, but look at Luzardo’s outing yesterday,” Bassitt said. “He gave up two homers on middle-middle fastballs. Those were both mistakes, whether you’re a righty or lefty.
“I’m pretty sure we’re confident with whoever we throw against them. … I don’t think the numbers mean anything. I threw a good game (Wednesday), but it was a dang headache for seven innings. Righty or lefty, it doesn’t matter.”
If the A’s skip over Fiers again, Manaea (4-3) counts as the most viable alternative. He hasn’t pitched since allowing three runs in six innings Sept. 23 against the Dodgers.
Montas, who is right-handed, pitched well in his final regular-season start Sunday against Seattle. He also threw 113 pitches and would have to come back on three days’ rest.
Ron Kroichick is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rkroichick@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ronkroichick
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October 01, 2020 at 07:24AM
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A’s face Game 3 pitching dilemma: start Mike Fiers or Sean Manaea? - San Francisco Chronicle
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