Happy Monday, Athletics Nation!
Just moments before sitting down to write this, I thought the headline might read, “A’s drop Baltimore series behind uneven offense,” or maybe, “Series squandered with shoddy defense.” But thanks to some shoddy baseruning by Lawrence Butler in the ninth inning of yesterday’s close contest—and even shoddier defense by Baltimore in failing to execute an easy play at the plate—the A’s came out on the winning end of the second one-run margin game of the series to take their third straight set on the road.
The A’s rolled out rookie pitchers to start all three games at Camden Yards. The young arms all delivered flawed, but ultimately adequate performances filled with some promising signs. Luis Morales made his first major league start yesterday in place of an injured Luis Severino, looking very rough around the edges with five walks in 2.2 innings and fewer than half of his pitches thrown for strikes. He was pretty lucky to hold the O’s scoreless through his brief appearance, but Morales also proved unhittable, as opposing batters could only reach base via the free passes.
Jack Perkins made just his second MLB start on Saturday, and while the O’s tagged the 25-year-old righty for three runs in the first, it was mostly in spite of Jack hitting his spots and looking dominant through much of his six inning performance. Perkins sat down 15 batters in a row through one stretch of the start and walked just one while striking out five. The A’s bats had their one good game of the series to bury the O’s offensive efforts and coast to a blowout victory.
The A’s came out on the short end of a one-run series opener on Friday behind J.T. Ginn, who took his second straight loss and gave up a three spot of his own in the first. But the righty settled in and ended up striking out nine through five innings while walking just two—a massive improvement over his start against the D-backs last week, in which he struck out just two and walked five through 4.1 innings.
With Severino on the IL, Jeffrey Springs is the lone veteran currently in the A’s starting rotation. A fourth rookie, Jacob Lopez, has been positively dominant of late. Through this season, A’s have gone from having the worst starting pitching in baseball to showcasing some talented young arms that could potentially help open a new competitive window for the rebuilding team.
Have a terrific week, AN.