WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 Sean Newcomb spent a portion of 2023 at Sutter Health Park while pitching for the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.<\/p>\n
He returned to the ballpark last season as a member of the Athletics, who currently call the stadium home.<\/p>\n
The left-handed pitcher is getting a view as a visitor this weekend with the Chicago White Sox.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s cool to see the other side,\u201d Newcomb told the Tribune on Friday. \u201cCool to see what they\u2019ve done with the clubhouse. It\u2019s a pretty good little space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Newcomb signed a one-year deal with the Sox<\/a> in the offseason. He has a 4.61 ERA in 10 relief appearances through Saturday, allowing seven earned runs on 15 hits with 13 strikeouts and five walks over 13 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that you can depend on in a lot of different situations,\u201d manager Will Venable said Friday. \u201cIf it lines up right, he can give you the length out of the bullpen \u2014 and quality length. At the same time, we\u2019ve used him in leverage spots.<\/p>\n \u201c(Thursday\u2019s game) was a great example of his utility, where it was a little bit of a longer leverage spot for him but a really good spot where he came in and he pitched really well.\u201d<\/p>\n Newcomb had scoreless outings in three of his last four appearances entering Saturday, including striking out three in 1 2\/3 innings Thursday against the Tampa Bay Rays at Rate Field.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been going well,\u201d he said. \u201cEven when \u2026 runs are scoring, it\u2019s a lot of weak contact. So good stuff to build on overall.<\/p>\n \u201cMy main thing is avoiding free passes, fill up the zone and weak contact. That usually leads to a lot of good things over the course of 162 (games).\u201d<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t as sharp Saturday, allowing one run on three hits in 1 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n