East Bay Times

Luzardo roughed up in second start, allowing six runs

- By Shayna Rubin srubin@ bayareanew­sgroup.com

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. >> Jesús Luzardo struggled in his second outing of the spring, succumbing to the Arizona Diamondbac­ks in a rough, five-run inning that led to a 12-3 Oakland A’s loss at Salt River Fields.

Luzardo struggled in his second start. He allowed six runs, five earned, with three strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings Tuesday. That sits in stark contrast with his first outing of spring last week against the Texas Rangers, in which he tossed four shutout innings with five strikeouts.

The Diamondbac­ks were all over his changeup, took advantage of his poor fastball command, and he wasn’t able to throw his offspeed pitches for strikes. A five-pitch walk to pitcher Madison Bumgarner and a bungled potential doubleplay ball by shortstop Elvis Andrus didn’t help Luzardo much, but the 23-year-old

left-handed starter can take some productive notes from the outing.

“My stuff was there, just (not) command of it,” Luzardo said. “I got a flash of last year, things started running away in one inning. It wasn’t spread out, it was back to back to back. I’m glad this happened in spring training, because I need to get in front of it. That’s something that can’t happen during the year.”

Luzardo was able to flash an effective breaking ball — or three variations of his slider/slurve/curveball — in his short outing. Re-establishi­ng the potent breaking ball he had in 2019 will be essential in Luzardo’s growth in the big leagues. He lost it in an upand-down 2020 campaign and found it again during the offseason training back home in South Florida.

He threw a “turkey sub” — a 60 mph curveball — to Trayce Thompson and some harder curveballs along with his slider. Arizona’s lineup seemed to be making hard contact on Luzardo, but the Diamondbac­ks had a breakthrou­gh the second time through the order. Adjusting to lineups, mixing up his pitches accordingl­y, was something Luzardo struggled with last season. He’s gotten some work behind the scenes with his teammates in simulated games to improve his sequencing.

“That is something I’m working on, obviously it didn’t go too well, but that’s something I’m working on,” Luzardo said. “In the simulated games, I got to see a lot of the guys and mix it up on them, that’s something we were working on. Today as well. Today it didn’t go my way, but hopefully make some adjustment­s and get ready for the next one.”

LAUREANO SCRATCHED LATE >> Ramon Laureano was slated to start Tuesday, but he was scratched late with left side soreness. Laureano felt the pain after taking a hack in the batting cages hours before first pitch, manager Bob Melvin said. Melvin didn’t have any updates on Laureano’s status for upcoming games.

PINDER, LOWRIE HOMER >> Chad Pinder had a slow start to spring, but he is starting to catch up. A fill-in for Laureano, Pinder homered to left, he also had a hit in his first at bat. He’s now homered in consecutiv­e games and is 5-for-21

overall this spring.

Jed Lowrie’s first hit of spring was a home run off Bumgarner from the right side of the plate.

“Right-handed, he’s had some good swings. I know it’s his first hit, but all his swings look balanced both left and right handed. Go a couple games without a hit and don’t play a while, feels good to get a hit, more so a home run.”

With just 11 at bats under his belt so far in games, Lowrie will DH in today’s game and start to see a few more at-bats down the road, Melvin said. But he was taking live at-bats against his teammates in simulated games — all atbats not on the official stat sheet that count toward his evaluation and production. Those at-bats, and the ones in games, have looked “like he did when we saw him last,” Melvin has said. Luzardo even treated him to his “turkey sub” curveball in one simulated outing. SODERSTROM GETS HIS FOURTH HIT >> Tyler Soderstrom, the A’s 2020 firstround pick, is still 19 but has four hits to his name in his first big league camp. This one was a double smacked into the rightcente­r gap. That’s his third double, and he’s gone to all fields so far. He and 2019 first-round pick Logan Davidson are standouts this spring, impressing coaches and Melvin.

“Even had a tough inning behind the plate where balls are going all over the plate, guys aren’t throwing strikes, and he goes out there and lays out another line drive,” Melvin said. “He and Davidson both are getting terrific at-bats, but for a guy that’s still a teenager, it’s impressive to see the type of at-bats he’s getting in big league camp.”

 ?? RALPH FRESO — GETTY IMAGES ?? A’s starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo had a tough day Tuesday against the Diamondbac­ks.
RALPH FRESO — GETTY IMAGES A’s starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo had a tough day Tuesday against the Diamondbac­ks.

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