Off-days are a virtue over the course of a full season, a break that aids the mental as much as the physical. And when it comes to these brief rests, no team has benefited more than the A’s

With Friday's win, Oakland is now 8-0 this season after the team receives an off-day, a record that includes the team’s doubleheader on April 20. When asked about his team’s success after these one-day reprieves, manager Bob Melvin was pleasantly surprised, for multiple reasons.

“It feels like we’ve had two. I’ll take it,” Melvin said. “No matter how many games you play in a row, when you have an off-day, the next day when you come back, it almost feels like you’re starting over. … It seems like a day or two can get you a little off kilter.”

Despite Melvin’s concerns of post-off-day sluggishness, Oakland has been sharp on both sides of the ball during these wins. At the plate, the A’s are averaging 5.8 runs with 12 home runs. On the mound, their pitching staff has a 3.36 ERA with four games of at least 10 strikeouts.

Matt Olson has had the most success following off-days, hitting .360 (9-for-25) with four home runs and 9 RBIs while Ramón Laureano has had three home runs of his own. Oakland’s workhorses in the bullpen have benefited as well; Yusmeiro Petit, who entered Saturday having made the most appearances of any reliever, has allowed just one run in 7 1/3 innings, while Jake Diekman hasn’t allowed a single run in 4 1/3 innings.

The A's will have another off-day when they return home. Given how well they’ve fared so far, it will be worth monitoring how they perform against the Diamondbacks on Tuesday following their latest day of rest.

“Sometimes I sense that we don’t look so good today, whether it’s batting practice or something like that,” Melvin said. “So, I am happy to hear that we have that record after off-days because I always worry about those a little bit.”

Sean Murphy gets a breather
Speaking of off-days, catcher Sean Murphy received a scheduled off-day on Saturday, a well deserved one given how much he’s played thus far.

Murphy has been a workhorse for Oakland this season, one of only four catchers to play at least 48 games. That early durability has been very encouraging after Murphy had surgery this past offseason for a collapsed lung, which caused him to have a slow start in Spring Training.

“I didn’t expect that this early, for him to be playing that many games and feeling great and healthy after them,” Melvin said. “So yeah, it’s been a little bit of a surprise. We just had an off-day. He’ll play the day game tomorrow, and then another off-day. We’re trying to keep him healthy.

“I think for catchers right now, as far as workloads go, it’s been pretty extreme. So, for a guy that we weren’t really sure to start the season what it was going to look like, he’s been really durable.”

Worth noting
The A’s entered Saturday with a run differential of +5. The last time Oakland had a run differential of at least +5 was on April 24, the date of the team’s 13th straight win.

Coming into Saturday, the A’s had three position players in the top-25 of fWAR: Ramón Laureano (2.1, t-10th), Mark Canha (2.1, t-10th) and Matt Olson (1.8, t-23rd). Oakland also has two pitchers in the top-25 of fWAR in Chris Bassitt (1.7, t-15th) and Sean Manaea (1.5, 21st).

With Friday’s appearance, Petit entered Saturday tied with the Orioles’ Tanner Scott and the Giants’ Tyler Rogers for the most appearances in baseball (28).