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 The right-hander pitched seven shutout innings, and shortstop Marcus
Semien hit a three-run homer, leading the A's to a 5-0 victory
against the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night at the O.co Coliseum.
Bassitt (1-4) gave up five hits, struck out a career-high seven and
walked two.
"Relief," Bassitt said of his first win. "Simple as that. ... I
don't care about ERA. I don't care about hits. I just care about
winning. I don't care about anything else. I don't look at my stats.
I can tell you what my record is pretty much every single time."
The A's acquired Bassitt and Semien in December from the Chicago
White Sox as part of a package for right-hander Jeff Samardzija.
In each of his first five starts this season, Bassitt allowed three
or fewer runs but went 0-4. The A's scored one run in each of those
four losses, and Bassitt received a combined five runs of support in
his first five starts.
This time, the A's gave him five runs of support in the first six
innings.
"It's great," Semien said. "He's been pitching great every time out.
He deserves that. As an offensive unit, we had a slow start today.
He still stuck with it, pitched great, and we had a big inning. It
helped him a lot."
The A's scored a run in the fifth then extended their lead with four
runs in the sixth.
Designated hitter Billy Butler led off the sixth with a ground-rule
double to right. With one out, third baseman Brett Lawrie drilled a
triple to the left-center-field alley, driving in Butler and ending
right-hander Miguel Gonzalez's night.
After right-handed reliever Chaz Roe struck out right fielder Mark
Canha, Orioles manager Buck Showalter decided to issue second
baseman Eric Sogard, a left-handed hitter, his third career
intentional walk.
The decision backfired. The right-handed-batting Semien, Oakland's
No. 9 hitter, crushed Roe's 0-1 pitch over the left-center field
wall for a three-run homer, his 10th blast of the season.
"I was told that early on in pro ball, if you ever get in that
situation, you want to have a little extra fire, but I just wanted
to stay within myself and do the best I could no matter what,"
Semien said. "I'm just glad it happened like that.
"Both of us were a little surprised. (Sogard) didn't even realize he
was getting walked until he looked up behind him. I didn't realize
it until I looked up also. They were playing the numbers, they were
playing the matchup there. He might have liked what he saw against
Canha, righty-righty, and wanted to face me."
Gonzalez (9-8) gave up three runs and five hits over 5 1/3 innings.
He struck out five, walked three and hit a batter.
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"He pitched well tonight," Showalter said. "We didn't score him any
runs. I think he handled himself pretty well here. We knew their
pitcher had a lot of leg life and a lot of ball movement. He had a
good overhand curveball. He was so good tonight it makes Miguel look
more negative than it really is. We didn't score any runs. If we
could have come out of there with one or two runs, it might have
been a whole different ballgame."
Baltimore second baseman Jonathan Schoop went 2-for-4 with a double.
A's right-hander Fernando Rodriguez pitched a perfect eighth inning,
and lefty Fernando Abad threw a scoreless ninth.
Sogard went 1-for-3 with a double and scored two runs.
The A's snapped a scoreless duel between Bassitt and Gonzalez with a
run in the fifth inning.
With one out, Sogard lined a double into the right field corner.
Gonzalez struck out Semien for the second out, but center fielder
Billy Burns lined an RBI single to center.
Orioles center fielder Adam Jones' throw home hit the pitcher's
mound and bounced high as Sogard scored easily.
Bassitt gave up three runs in the first inning of his previous
start, a 3-1 loss to Cleveland. This time he pitched a scoreless
first and kept posting zeros.
"He threw strikes," Jones said. "We hit some balls hard -- right at
guys. There will be days like this. He did what he wanted to do. He
got ahead with strike one."
NOTES: LHP T.J. McFarland was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk, giving
Baltimore a seventh reliever. He pitched two scoreless innings
Tuesday night. ... Orioles RHP Tyler Wilson, who made a spot start
Monday and earned the win in a 9-2 victory against Oakland, was
optioned to Norfolk. ... Oakland RF Josh Reddick (stiff lower back)
was a late scratch from the lineup and missed his second straight
game. He was injured Sunday while making a running catch in foul
territory against Cleveland. Mark Canha replaced Reddick in the
lineup. ... A's INF/OF Danny Valencia was added to the 25-man active
roster, one day after being traded by Toronto to the A's. 3B/1B Max
Muncy was optioned to Triple-A Nashville, opening a roster spot for
Valencia.
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