A’s Pitching Struggling Early On

Feb 27, 2014; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Tommy Milone (57) throws a pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers during the first inning at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

In the second Cactus League game for the Oakland Athletics None of the A’s pitchers performed particularly well. Tommy Milone gave up 2 home runs that led to 3 runs total. It was a horrible two innings.

Then his replacement Philip Humber gave a glimpse of hope by getting Ryan Braun out, but quickly made sure to ruin any hopes of turning the game around by making a throwing error to first, throwing the ball way over past the dugout. Lucroy reached second base instead of being out. That error led to another run scoring off of a two out single Khris Davis.

By now the Brewers were up 4-2, and there was still hope. In came the new closer Jim Johnson. Surely the runs would stop now right? Wrong. Johnson gave up a homer to Juan Francisco to make it a 5-2 game. He also managed to turn a foul ball into a single, by touching the ball when it was on it’s way to being a foul ball. He also managed to step on Donaldson’s foot in the process.

The closer didn’t work, and instead of putting in someone decent to try and stop the bleeding, the A’s put in Jose Flores. Are you asking who that is? So was I. He gave up a walk that got to 3rd off of a single later in the inning, and with a wild pitch that runner ended up scoring. After giving up some more walks, the defense started to falter, with an error by Sogard resulting in 2 more runs. Jose then got the final two outs after that.

The A’s then put in Dan Otero. I thought, finally someone to get a 1-2-3 inning. That didn’t work either. He got a strike out before hitting the next batter then giving up a triple after. Then another strike out. But before the inning would end, a wild pitch led to yet another run scored.

Now it’s the 7th inning. By now most regulars are out of the game. The A’s put in Arnold Leon, and he surprises everyone by getting a 3 up 3 down inning. Finally! but unfortunately a little late since the score was 10-2. Leon gave the A’s another chance in the 8th to close the gap by giving them yet another 1-2-3 inning. Kudos to you, Arnold Leon.

The 9th inning was given to Paul Smyth. It’s normal to have guys you’ve never heard of eat innings these games. He gave up one last home run to the Brewers before getting the next three guys to fly out. In the end the A’s lost 11-3.

I know that it’s just Spring Training. The guys need to get used to playing again and need to shake the dust off. I even predicted that the A’s weren’t going to do so hot in the beginning, but it is still frustrating. Losing I can understand. But still, losing 11-3 at home is enough to frustrate any A’s fan. I wasn’t expecting our pitching to be perfect, Obviously they need to work through things and get into a rhythm again. But I was not expecting our pitching staff to give up 11 runs. It was a very rough game. One that probably left a lot of A’s fans very upset. There is still a month to go, and everybody has a rough day here and now. While we may be frustrated, we have to be patient and hope the team is good to go by opening day. I share in your frustration, but let’s have faith that the ship will have smooth sailing ahead by opening night.