Dog days of Aug. find A's youth movement

HOUSTON -- Streakiness is a classic sign of an inexperienced team. For these young A’s, the extreme highs and lows continue to fluctuate.

There’s a reason August is often referred to as “The Dog Days” in baseball. Especially for a rebuilding club like Oakland that is clearly out of playoff contention, it’s an awkward point in the schedule where struggles can begin to snowball.

The A’s continue to exemplify that theory. A July that saw them post their first winning month this season generated positive momentum for the second half. August, however, has brought scuffles. Falling to the Astros, 6-3, at Minute Maid Park on Sunday afternoon, the A’s were swept in three games in Houston and saw their losing streak extend to eight games.

“Disappointing not to come out with a win,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “We had an opportunity Friday night with a lead. [Saturday], we weren’t in that game at all. Today, we fought until the last out.”

A late comeback attempt on Sunday saw the A’s bring Vimael Machín to the plate as the tying run against Astros closer Ryan Pressly in the ninth after scoring three runs over the game’s final two innings, including a solo shot by Nick Allen in the eighth.

Prior to Allen’s homer, the A’s had been held to one hit through seven innings and mostly stymied by Astros starter Cristian Javier, who fired six scoreless frames.

“August is that time of year where you get some dog days and have to grind through it,” Kotsay said. “We haven’t played terrible baseball. We’ve faced some good teams. We’ve been in most of the games. We just have to find a way to grind it out and win.”

One major standout from this weekend series between the two clubs going opposite directions was the success against A’s pitching with two outs. Of the 21 runs scored by the Astros over these three games, 18 came with two outs.

“We’ve looked into that and talked about it,” Kotsay said of the two-out woes. “It seems to be an issue that we have had some problems with recently. Not just two outs, but maybe with two strikes and putting guys away.”

On Sunday, A’s starter Cole Irvin matched a season-high five runs allowed on eight hits and a walk with five strikeouts over six innings. All five runs came in situations with two outs, snapping the left-hander’s seven-game streak of allowing two earned runs or fewer in a game.

“I didn’t do a good enough job executing pitches with two outs,” Irvin said. “That’s something that I need to work on going into my next outing. Just not happy overall with the day.”

Of course, there’s a bigger picture the A’s are focused on: Identifying players who can contribute to their future. Rookie Cal Stevenson continues to make a solid first impression over his first week in the Major Leagues. Since his debut on Wednesday, Stevenson has received the start in center field in all four of Oakland’s games and has reached base safely at least once in each.

Defensively, Stevenson has lived up to the scouting reports that labeled him as a plus defender with good reads on balls. He was quite active on Sunday, recording nine putouts, which marked the most by an A’s center fielder in one game since Chris Young’s nine putouts in 2013.

“He made some exceptional plays,” Kotsay said of Stevenson. “He’s got instincts. He takes great routes directly to balls. Made several nice catches out there today that were impressive.”

Stevenson’s most dazzling play came in the sixth, when he displayed his impressive range to track down a deep flyout to left-center field by Trey Mancini. Initially thinking he might have to dive for the ball, Stevenson reached a sprint speed of 26.6 feet per second before chasing down the ball, which was struck 106.8 mph off the bat with a 76 percent hit probability, according to Statcast.

“The one that Mancini hit in the gap was one I thought I was going to have to lay out for,” said Stevenson. “It kind of just hung up a little bit. But they all felt pretty routine and normal to me.”

Going forward, Stevenson will likely continue to find himself in the starting lineup as the A’s continue their assessment of the 25-year-old.

“Cal’s gonna get his opportunity,” Kotsay said. “He’s here for that reason. We’ve got to take a good look at what he can do, both offensively and defensively. We’re trying to get him as many at-bats as possible to evaluate that.”