OAKLAND - Some 10-9 records are better than others, and so it is that the A's can hit the road for a nine-game trip feeling pretty good about themselves.
Their just-completed homestand began with Opening Night starter Kendall Graveman leaving a game early and landing on the disabled list. That was coupled with news that shortstop Marcus Semien would be lost for two months or more with a fractured wrist.
The A's responded to those developments with a five-game winning streak that was halted by Sunday's 11-1 rout at the hands of the Seattle Mariners.
The A's went 5-4 on the homestand, holding their ground after a heavy dose of injury misfortune, and now the outlook changes just a bit. The focus shifts from the players joining the D.L. to those that could soon return to provide a boost.
Graveman, who has a strained right shoulder, is scheduled to throw off the mound Monday. If that goes well, expect him to be activated sometime in the early portion of the upcoming trip. Sonny Gray, who has been out since injuring a side muscle early in Cactus League games, is set to throw Thursday for Triple-A Nashville after an encouraging rehab outing Saturday for Single-A Stockton.
If Gray comes out of Thursday's start well, look for the 2015 All-Star to join the active roster and pitch sometime against Minnesota in the final series of this road trip. Nothing can be taken for granted until both pitchers actually return healthy, but it's a promising scenario to possibly add two starters of their caliber as April turns to May.
"I think any time you look up and you're over .500 and you've had a great homestand and you're missing your best two pitchers, that's something to be pleased about," catcher Stephen Vogt said. "Getting Kendall back is huge. And Sonny obviously did great last night, and felt great, which is more important than the results.
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"We're excited to get those two guys back but in the meantime, we're gonna continue to keep playing the way we are because we're playing really good baseball and we'll just keep things rolling."
It was clear early on Sunday that a five-game winning streak wouldn't reach six. The Mariners led 2-0 in the third when Andrew Triggs missed location on a 1-0 sinker and Taylor Motter launched a grand slam over the wall in left-center.
Triggs, who excelled at missing the fat part of bats over his first three starts, didn't have the feel for his cutter Sunday. When he fell behind to Motter, the cutter is normally a pitch he would have gone to had it been working for him.
"I wasn't commanding well," he said. "I didn't wanna go 1-0 to 2-0. I felt better going with the sinker. I got it down, but missed location in and out. In a perfect world, the cutter would have been great to get a groundout."
But to this point, the A's rotation has held firm without Gray and with the short-term absence of Graveman. Perhaps the biggest test moving forward is whether an offense that is tied for the American League lead in extra-base hits can continue to produce consistently with Semien's absence, particularly without anyone having established themselves as the regular leadoff man.
A's manager Bob Melvin likes what he's seen from his team in light of the injuries.
"Every game we go out there there's an expectation to win," Melvin said, "and when you win multiple games in a row, you get that feeling and it's a little more significant. So hopefully we can carry that on to the road trip. As a group, we've been able to manage these injuries here recently, and once we start getting guys back it's gonna be a good thing for us."
