Anatomy behind the Oakland A’s eight-game win streak

OAKLAND — A win is a win. But in 2020, because of the short season, a win counts for a little more — 2.7 wins, to be exact.

The Oakland A’s ran their winning streak to eight games Saturday, beating the Houston Astros 3-1 to extend their lead in the American League West to 4.5 games.

Frankie Montas delivered another seven-inning shutout gem, striking out five Astros. Marcus Semien made history as the first Athletic to start a game with a home run after ending the previous game with a home run. Drawing a 3-2 count to lead off the first, Semien launched left-hander Framber Valdez’s curveball over the left field wall.

The quick math using the weighted win value tells us that the eight-game win streak can be tabulated as a 21.6-game win streak. In real life, the A’s are 11-4.

“We’re playing great,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Maybe offensively we have more to accomplish. But, we’re timing everything really well. The guys are in sync together.”

Yes, the A’s have statistically broken their MLB-record 20-game win streak sealed by Scott Hatteberg’s famous swing back in 2002. Jokes aside, an eight-game winning streak this early in a 60-game season gives the A’s a significant boost toward the postseason.

The win came on the heels of a lukewarm start in which the bats were icy cold, and pitchers’ mistakes, though few and far between, were especially magnified.

What’s gone right? Here’s the anatomy of an eight-game (or 21.6-game) win streak with 25 percent of the season now passed.

The pitching has been stellar

Perhaps the biggest contributor, the A’s pitching staff has improved and filled all the necessary gaps throughout these first 15 games. Much concern surrounded the rotation’s inability to pitch beyond the fifth inning its first time through the cycle — due to a truncated camp, starters weren’t fully ramped up yet.

But, through the first week, the A’s bullpen picked up the slack with a 3-0 record and 2.45 ERA. It has continued its excellence, leading the league with a 1.8 WAR. The ERA went down to 1.68, which ranks among the three best in the league.

You know the regular contributors, and they’ve been nails. Yusmeiro Petit’s two earned runs leads the relief regulars; and he’s been used in more games (8) than any of his bullpen mates. Joakim Soria, in his 14th season, whipped out his changeup in tough spots and hasn’t allowed a run in 7.2 innings.

With a run allowed in the 13th inning in Friday night’s game, J.B.Wendelken snapped his scoreless streak dating back to May 9 of last season.

More importantly, the new guys have kept the pace. Left-hander T.J. McFarland has dealt 5.2 scoreless innings. Burch Smith retired 10 straight batters on 33 pitches in his last outing against the Texas Rangers. Jake Diekman picked up a new slider grip that’s helped him shore up his control; he’s walked four batters with 10 strikeouts and allowed no earned runs in 7.2 innings.

And the rotation is getting stronger: Montas’ two-straight eye-popping starts, Chris Bassitt’s 1.08 ERA and the long-awaited emergence of Jesús Luzardo have the rotation primed to improve even more.

Defense built for situational moments

The A’s have only one Defensive Runs Saved to their name, but the eyes say they’ve been saving runs from scoring on a regular basis. Chapman saved one in Friday’s game, throwing out Jose Altuve on a potential RBI sharp drive.

Remember this pic.twitter.com/rFjLnirS2d

— Shayna Rubin (@ShaynaRubin) August 8, 2020

The A’s have a 2.0 defensive WAR and a 3.0 UZR (ultimate zone rating), both rank among the league’s Top 10.

Though the numbers tell us, even in a small sample size, that the defense is top notch, play throughout the first 16 games tells us this young core has the mature defensive IQ they can rely on.

Offense doing just enough

A quick glance at the league stat sheet, and the A’s blend into the background. The offense is slashing a middling .208/.320/.354 with a .302 weighted on base average and a 100 wRC+.

The good news: Improved individual performances could bump those numbers up. Semien looks to be adjusting to pitchers’ adjustments to him.

Mark Canha is getting on base — he leads the team with a .417 OBP.

Tony Kemp and Chad Pinder are proving to be a solid second base platoon. Kemp is slashing .316/.500/.316 — in other words, he’s getting on base.

Most importantly, during this win streak, the A’s found timely hits at the best moments. Austin Allen’s two-out, two-strike game-tying hit in extras. Matt Olson and Stephen Piscotty have walk-off grand slams.Semien’s walk off Friday night.

Matt Chapman is finding his power despite some inconsistent at bats. He hit his third home run Saturday to give the A’s a 3-0 cushion.

“We did just enough over the course of the game to keep getting momentum swings,” Melvin said.