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The Athletics' last two wins have come with J.T. Ginn on the mound, and on Tuesday it looked like that trend may continue with the A's and Detroit Tigers playing a tight 2-1 game through four innings. Ginn was taking on two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, and his club was down by just one.
Then he was pulled after four innings, taking away the team's most consistent arm this season, and throwing the game into disarray.
Jacob Lopez was called up on Tuesday to provide innings after Kade Morris threw 60+ just a few days ago. The left-hander's line would end up looking rough as he gave up four earned runs on five hits and a walk across three innings of work, striking out four.
But that line doesn't tell the whole story.
With two away in the bottom of the sixth, a walk and a single put runners at the corners for Detroit. Ben Malgeri popped a ball up in shallow right field, and Lawrence Butler called Joshua Kuroda-Grauer off, then let the ball fall. The misplay scored one and put runners at second and third.
You can see in the replay that JKG was in position to make the play, but he moved after Butler called for it.
"The ball has got to be caught," A's manager Mark Kotsay said after the game. "It's a communication play, and KG went after it, calling it. Lawrence is coming in from right calling it. Obviously it's the outfielder's priority to come make that play. It was a play that obviously should be made."
The Tigers would follow with a double and a single that scored another three runs, giving them four in total off the misplay in the A's 6-2 loss.
Outside of the misplay that was ruled a double since nobody put a glove on it and the two hits that followed, Lopez was effective in his three frames. His manager said he thought Lopez threw the ball well.
"The inning should have been over, and it should have been a 2-2 game at that point," Kotsay said.
The A's threatened to get right back into the game, trailing 6-1 entering the seventh, and got one back on a Shea Langeliers RBI single up the middle that put runners at first and second with frequent hero Jonah Heim stepping to the plate.
Tigers reliever Drew Anderson ended up hitting Heim to load the bases for Jacob Wilson, who struck out to end the inning after being ahead 3-0 in the count.
The A's notched their first run on a Henry Bolte home run off Skubal. This was his first home run in a road game, and it came in a tougher place to hit home runs. Comerica Park ranks 18th out of 30 in home run park factors. It also ranks as the third-most favorable place to hit triples, which could be something we see from the speedy Bolte this series.
As we noted in our community post during the game, Ginn exited the contest in the fourth and had shown a big drop in velocity over his season totals, so there was some concern.
Kotsay said after the game that he was dealing with an illness from the start of the first inning.
"The energy level was just dropping and the velo was obviously down. He was locating the baseball, but for me at that point, he gave us everything he had with the amount of energy he had."
Ginn's locker in Sacramento is just a few feet away from Jeff McNeil's, and the A's second baseman was a late scratch on Sunday due to illness as well.
Ginn believes he'll be ready to go when his next start rolls around, which is projected for Sunday.
Next up for the A's is Jeffrey Springs, whose last win came on April 14 against the Texas Rangers.
Have an A's question? Let us know! Our mailbag is ALWAYS open!
Continue reading...
Then he was pulled after four innings, taking away the team's most consistent arm this season, and throwing the game into disarray.
Jacob Lopez was called up on Tuesday to provide innings after Kade Morris threw 60+ just a few days ago. The left-hander's line would end up looking rough as he gave up four earned runs on five hits and a walk across three innings of work, striking out four.
But that line doesn't tell the whole story.
With two away in the bottom of the sixth, a walk and a single put runners at the corners for Detroit. Ben Malgeri popped a ball up in shallow right field, and Lawrence Butler called Joshua Kuroda-Grauer off, then let the ball fall. The misplay scored one and put runners at second and third.
You can see in the replay that JKG was in position to make the play, but he moved after Butler called for it.
"The ball has got to be caught," A's manager Mark Kotsay said after the game. "It's a communication play, and KG went after it, calling it. Lawrence is coming in from right calling it. Obviously it's the outfielder's priority to come make that play. It was a play that obviously should be made."
The Tigers would follow with a double and a single that scored another three runs, giving them four in total off the misplay in the A's 6-2 loss.
Outside of the misplay that was ruled a double since nobody put a glove on it and the two hits that followed, Lopez was effective in his three frames. His manager said he thought Lopez threw the ball well.
"The inning should have been over, and it should have been a 2-2 game at that point," Kotsay said.
The A's threatened to get right back into the game, trailing 6-1 entering the seventh, and got one back on a Shea Langeliers RBI single up the middle that put runners at first and second with frequent hero Jonah Heim stepping to the plate.
Tigers reliever Drew Anderson ended up hitting Heim to load the bases for Jacob Wilson, who struck out to end the inning after being ahead 3-0 in the count.
The A's notched their first run on a Henry Bolte home run off Skubal. This was his first home run in a road game, and it came in a tougher place to hit home runs. Comerica Park ranks 18th out of 30 in home run park factors. It also ranks as the third-most favorable place to hit triples, which could be something we see from the speedy Bolte this series.
Ginn Update
As we noted in our community post during the game, Ginn exited the contest in the fourth and had shown a big drop in velocity over his season totals, so there was some concern.
Kotsay said after the game that he was dealing with an illness from the start of the first inning.
"The energy level was just dropping and the velo was obviously down. He was locating the baseball, but for me at that point, he gave us everything he had with the amount of energy he had."
Ginn's locker in Sacramento is just a few feet away from Jeff McNeil's, and the A's second baseman was a late scratch on Sunday due to illness as well.
Ginn believes he'll be ready to go when his next start rolls around, which is projected for Sunday.
Next up for the A's is Jeffrey Springs, whose last win came on April 14 against the Texas Rangers.
Have an A's question? Let us know! Our mailbag is ALWAYS open!
Continue reading...
