With the A’s in yet another winner-take-all playoff game Thursday, Khris Davis is in the lineup for Game 3 of their wild card series against the White Sox.
Davis fell out of the everyday designated hitter role early this season and finished it with a .200 average and two home runs. But he is 9-for-30 in his last 12 games and hit a home run in Game 2 on Wednesday against White Sox left-hander Dallas Keuchel. He’ll DH again in Game 3 as the White Sox start right-hander Dane Dunning.
“It wasn’t hard for me to put him in there today either,” manager Bob Melvin said. “You have to go into certain games with what you consider to be your top guys. He’s been working really hard, he’s had a good month, he was extremely fired up for yesterday’s game. There was a look in his eyes of real determination yesterday. So it wasn’t that tough today.”
A’s starter Chris Bassitt said after Game 2 that despite Davis’ sparse at-bats for the last month: “Guys in the clubhouse are like, man, the explosion in your bat is back. And I think he’s truly starting to believe it, too. He has worked his butt off to kind of get back to where he was.”
Melvin said the A’s are expecting a bullpen game from the White Sox - their starter, Dunning, is a rookie who made seven starts this season - and Oakland’s lineup reflects that with left- and right-handed hitters alternating in the first eight spots. Third baseman Jake Lamb, a left-handed hitter, is batting third. Right fielder Stephen Piscotty is not in the lineup in what Melvin said was the toughest decision.
After going hitless until the seventh inning of Game 1, the A’s scored four times in the first two innings of Game 2. Melvin said he thought there was “real determination” among their hitters Wednesday in an elimination scenario.
“Not like there isn’t before,” Melvin said. “But there was a real sense of determination. Guys were up in the dugout, rooting guys on from the very first pitch. A lot of it had to do with it being a game we had to win. But it was good to see us - as I said before the game, it’d be nice to get off to a good start and they did exactly that. So hopefully that carries into today.”
Here’s the full A’s lineup against Dunning:
2B La Stella (L)
SS Semien
3B Lamb (L)
RF Canha
1B Olson (L)
DH Davis
LF Grossman (S)
CF Laureano
C Murphy
Matt Kawahara covers the A’s for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: mkawahara@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @matthewkawahara
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October 02, 2020 at 12:32AM
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A’s Khris Davis at DH again for winner-take-all Game 3 - San Francisco Chronicle
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