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One player who has taken a step forward since the All-Star break is left-hander Jacob Lopez. The 28-year-old broke out late last season, earning a spot in the Athletics rotation to begin the 2026 campaign, but he struggled mightily in 14 first-half outings, posting a 6.83 ERA and failing to go deep into games consistently.
On Monday night against the best team in the American League, the 71-win Tampa Bay Rays, Lopez fired seven solid innings, giving up just two earned runs on five hits and a walk while striking out five. It's especially impressive when you add in that Yandy Díaz took him deep on the second pitch of the game.
In the second half this season, Lopez holds a 2.36 ERA across five starts. He's been pitching with confidence, filling up the zone, and his mentality on the mound has been a lot better than earlier in the year.
After getting into some trouble in the seventh inning with the first two batters reaching and the Rays having runners on second and third with nobody out, he said that he tried not to panic and put things in perspective instead.
"Alright, we've got a two-run lead," Lopez said, "let's minimize damage and give up one run and keep us going into the bottom of the seventh with a lead."
That's exactly how things played out, with the A's up 3-2. They would add three more runs in the bottom of the inning, pushing their advantage to 6-2 on RBI doubles from Zack Gelof and Jacob Wilson and a sac-fly from Jeff McNeil.
Monday morning we talked about right-hander Seth Johnson being a name to keep an eye on the rest of the way, as he has the stuff to be a late-inning relief option for the A's heading into 2027. We also mentioned that it has looked as though he was being thrown in the deep end immediately to see what he has.
That trend continued on Monday night, and he ended up needing a life preserver.
With the A's up 6-2 entering the eighth inning, Johnson came in and in the span of four pitches he'd surrendered three runs. Díaz and Jonathan Aranda singled, and Junior Caminero cranked his 34th home run of the season, leaving him one back of the MLB lead.
Johnson walked the next batter he faced too, before being pulled for left-hander José Suarez, who allowed the inherited runner to score and gave up another four runs of his own while recording just one out. Scott Blewett came in to get the A's out of the inning, but the damage had been done, with the A's trailing 10-6.
Coming into the game, the A's bullpen had already been the worst in baseball in the second half, holding a 7.76 ERA (5.56 FIP). Giving up eight runs in two innings pushes that ERA up to 8.38.
"That's kind of the tale of our year," A's manager Mark Kotsay said when asked about the bullpen meltdown. "Our inability to hold the lead. Again, I think that eighth and ninth inning — we saw it in Boston — there was never a shutdown inning. These guys are young, and it's challenging.
"Alvarado has less than a year in the big leagues in a role that he's never pitched in. We can go through the list. Basso's at 31 games, Johnson's [30] games, Medina's 40 games [in relief], Blewett's 40 games — they're not experienced.
"I think they're going through these growing pains. It's tough to cough up leads, because it impacts the offense and it impacts the morale of the club. It's not for lack of effort. They threw strikes. Johnson faced the top of the order, and those three hitters are professional hitters...It just wasn't our night to get through that inning there."
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On Monday night against the best team in the American League, the 71-win Tampa Bay Rays, Lopez fired seven solid innings, giving up just two earned runs on five hits and a walk while striking out five. It's especially impressive when you add in that Yandy Díaz took him deep on the second pitch of the game.
In the second half this season, Lopez holds a 2.36 ERA across five starts. He's been pitching with confidence, filling up the zone, and his mentality on the mound has been a lot better than earlier in the year.
After getting into some trouble in the seventh inning with the first two batters reaching and the Rays having runners on second and third with nobody out, he said that he tried not to panic and put things in perspective instead.
"Alright, we've got a two-run lead," Lopez said, "let's minimize damage and give up one run and keep us going into the bottom of the seventh with a lead."
That's exactly how things played out, with the A's up 3-2. They would add three more runs in the bottom of the inning, pushing their advantage to 6-2 on RBI doubles from Zack Gelof and Jacob Wilson and a sac-fly from Jeff McNeil.
The Unraveling
Monday morning we talked about right-hander Seth Johnson being a name to keep an eye on the rest of the way, as he has the stuff to be a late-inning relief option for the A's heading into 2027. We also mentioned that it has looked as though he was being thrown in the deep end immediately to see what he has.
That trend continued on Monday night, and he ended up needing a life preserver.
With the A's up 6-2 entering the eighth inning, Johnson came in and in the span of four pitches he'd surrendered three runs. Díaz and Jonathan Aranda singled, and Junior Caminero cranked his 34th home run of the season, leaving him one back of the MLB lead.
Johnson walked the next batter he faced too, before being pulled for left-hander José Suarez, who allowed the inherited runner to score and gave up another four runs of his own while recording just one out. Scott Blewett came in to get the A's out of the inning, but the damage had been done, with the A's trailing 10-6.
Coming into the game, the A's bullpen had already been the worst in baseball in the second half, holding a 7.76 ERA (5.56 FIP). Giving up eight runs in two innings pushes that ERA up to 8.38.
"That's kind of the tale of our year," A's manager Mark Kotsay said when asked about the bullpen meltdown. "Our inability to hold the lead. Again, I think that eighth and ninth inning — we saw it in Boston — there was never a shutdown inning. These guys are young, and it's challenging.
"Alvarado has less than a year in the big leagues in a role that he's never pitched in. We can go through the list. Basso's at 31 games, Johnson's [30] games, Medina's 40 games [in relief], Blewett's 40 games — they're not experienced.
"I think they're going through these growing pains. It's tough to cough up leads, because it impacts the offense and it impacts the morale of the club. It's not for lack of effort. They threw strikes. Johnson faced the top of the order, and those three hitters are professional hitters...It just wasn't our night to get through that inning there."
Continue reading...
