Things come together for Frankie Montas in final start; how will he factor into postseason?

OAKLAND — The postseason picture clarified within a few minutes Sunday afternoon.

First things first: The A’s beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-2, to finish off their regular season with a 36-24 record and, for a half-hour, were un-tethered to a postseason seed.

With the help of Minnesota Twins loss, the A’s earned the American League’s second seed and a meeting with the No. 7 seed Chicago White Sox in the wild-card round, a three-game series starting Tuesday at the Oakland Coliseum.

We have an idea of who will start for the A’s. Chris Bassitt will get to pitch against the team that traded him — along with Marcus Semien and catcher Josh Phegley — for Jeff Samardzija in 2014. Bassitt has said he relishes pitching against the White Sox.

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In what game Bassitt pitches is unclear. Manager Bob Melvin won’t announce the series starters until Monday, he said. Jesús Luzardo and either Sean Manaea or Mike Fiers are set up to start, or at least appear in, the series.

Because he started Sunday’s game, we know there’s little chance that Frankie Montas will start a game in the wild-card series. The performance he delivered Sunday, though, could have solidified a spot for him in a seven-game series. Should the A’s advance.

“If we’re lucky enough to move on, boy that puts him in a pretty good spot as far as the rotation goes,” Melvin said after the A’s final game.

Yes, Montas’ performance Sunday was that inspiring.

Even over the short span of 60 games, Montas managed to reach the deepest valleys and highest peaks. He started with a 1.57 ERA, then succumbed to the pains of a back injury that threw his mechanics off kilter and sunk his confidence at the worst time.

In the final game of the regular season, Montas found himself again. Big time. He struck out a career-high 13 Seattle Mariners and allowed two runs, both unearned, in six innings.

When toiling in his deepest valleys, Montas struggled with his mechanics and his confidence. To turn things around, Montas regained his confidence first and the mechanical excellence seemed to follow.

“I just went out there and pitched. I didn’t care about what happened,” Montas said. “I’m going to do my best and throw my best pitches today.”

That took some emotional manipulation.

“It just looked to me like the first couple innings he got upset and said, ‘Heck with it,’ ” Melvin said. “A lot of times you get caught up in mechanics and pitch selection and there’s a lot of clutter. And I think he just pitched with some anger.”

With 97 pitches under his belt after a clean fifth, Montas looked cleared for a clean departure. But with Joakim Soria and Liam Hendriks unavailable, Melvin wondered if Montas could squeeze in another inning. Montas beat him to the punch.

“One more inning would have helped, but he came in and, before I could say anything, said ‘I want one more,’ ” Melvin said.

Montas struck out the side in the sixth, leaving after throwing 113 pitches. It was his best performance since he threw seven scoreless innings in back-to-back starts back in early August.

Though his splitter hasn’t been the putout pitch it was in 2019, Montas worked well with his slider and fastball — getting 12 of his 13 strikeouts off them. His last pitch, though: a perfect splitter Tim Lopes flailed at.

Montas looked confident again, and the performance followed. It came one turn too late to ensure a wild-card start for the A’s Opening Day starter, but it at least provided assurance for starter depth if the A’s manage to win a postseason series for the first time since 2006.

How did the A’s score?

Mark Canha continued his hot streak Sunday, which is a good sign for an offense that was looking listless. He accounted for four of the A’s runs, including an RBI double, to round out a 6-for-11 series against Seattle with five walks.

Jake Lamb hit his third home run with the A’s, he’s now batting .267 with an .868 OPS in his Oakland revival.

With Chad Pinder back, where does Jake Lamb fit?

Chad Pinder (hamstring) was activated from the 10-day IL. He came in for Khris Davis midgame and hit a game-tying, opposite field RBI single in the fifth . Will he fall back into a platoon role at third base?

“I plan on being able to start him when we get a left-hander in the postseason,” Melvin said.

With consistent reps at third base since he arrived, left-handed hitting Lamb has gotten his fair share of at-bats against right-handers and left-handers. Though Pinder’s return allows for cleaner matchups, Lamb has been OK against left-handers. He has three hits, including a home run and four RBIs, batting .200 against them in 15 at-bats. In 26 at-bats against right handers, Lamb is batting .286 with a .810 OPS in 28 cracks against righties with the A’s.

But Pinder, the right-hander, hasn’t had terrific numbers against left-handers this year. His .130 average against southpaws in 23 at-bats pales in comparison to the .300 average in 30 at bats against right-handers. Still, expect platoon matchups to rule the postseason.

Will Khris Davis be in a postseason lineup?

The same logic applies to designated hitter Davis, who has played in just 30 of the 60 games this year after a sluggish start at the plate. Everyone was on a shorter leash at the plate in a truncated season, but especially Davis — a slugger who couldn’t slug without a defensive home.

Davis was only slotted into the lineup against left-handers to help regain his confidence and smooth out his mechanics. Only in the last week of this season has Davis been penciled in against right handers. He’s had some success, including an opposite field double to round out a trio of hits against Mariners’ left and right handers.

Will Davis be a factor in the A’s postseason lineups?

“He is for me,” Melvin said. “It’s still probably a role against left-handed pitching or potential pinch hitting. You look at the month of September for Khris. It’s been overall his best month. He’s worked awfully hard trying to create some new mechanics, and I think it’s paid off for him.”

Though he’s been mostly missing in action, Davis has had a steady month, batting .269 with a home run and four walks.