Fiers struggles out of pen, A’s lose 8-5
Oakland loses wildcard home field advantage
ANAHEIM – Mike Fiers’ poorest outing as a member of the A’s could not have come at a worse time.
Fiers was the latest A’s starter to enter the game after having a reliever open up the first inning, with that reliever being Lou Trivino Friday night. It seemed like an interesting plan, but it backfired as Fiers was shelled in an 8-5 loss to the Angels
The right-hander never seemed to find his groove. Usually having most of his success with the A’s by elevating his fastball to produce career-high strikeout numbers, Fiers’ fastball sat lower in the zone and was getting crushed as he allowed a pair of home runs, including a two-run shot to Mike Trout. He lasted just 3 1/3 innings and was charged for six runs.
It was Fiers’ shortest outing since arriving to the A’s via trade from the Detroit Tigers in August.
In what was his final outing of the regular season, Fiers may have ended his chances at starting the wild-card game next Wednesday, which will be played at Yankee Stadium after the Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox earlier in the day to clinch the top AL wild-card spot.
Having made 30 starts entering the night, it was Fiers’ first relief appearance of the season.
“I do whatever this team asks of me,” Fiers said. “Maybe it was a little different, but I gotta get used to it and that’s the way we’re gonna do it, I gotta do it that way and be better.”
Fiers said he was told pitching out of the bullpen in the wild-card game could be a possibility. He knows if he turns in a similar performance in New York, it will be a short postseason for the A’s.
“I’m gonna have to be ready. There’s been talk of it that it might happen and I gotta get used to it,” Fiers said. “I think this is one of the games that’s kind of a feeler. I gotta be ready for it on Wednesday.”
When asked if he wants the ball in the pivotal game, Fiers gave the answer you’d expect.
“I want it just as bad as anyone else in here,” Fiers said. “No matter who gets the ball, everyone is gonna give everything they’ve got for this team.”
It was already an uphill battle for Fiers as he entered the night with the ninth-highest hard-hit percentage in the majors. With his propensity to allow fly balls, pitching in a hitter-friendly park like Yankee Stadium, which features a short porch out in right field, could be a problem given the amount of power hitters in the Yankees lineup. Pitcher Mike Fiers of the Oakland Athletics reacts after giving up a two-run homerun to Taylor Ward of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (not in photo) during the second inning of the MLB game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Angel Stadium on Friday in Anaheim.
Trivino’s clean first inning was a positive sign after getting touched up for seven runs over his past two outings. The rookie had been so good through the first five months of the season, serving as the bridge to All-star Blake Treinen and nearly matching the closer’s brilliant numbers before falling on hard times in September.
With an ERA hovering around 7.00 for the month, this may have been the outing Trivino needed in order to gain his confidence back entering the wild-card game.
“It felt really good to execute the pitches that I needed to. I felt the fastball was good and I had a lot of good action on my pitches,” Trivino said. “If I can keep that up and it carries over to the postseason, that
would be amazing.”
The A’s didn’t pick up their first hit of the night until the sixth inning, when Jed Lowrie led off with a single off Taylor Cole, who came on in relief of Jaime Barria, who was pulled with a no-hitter going in the sixth but having also walked six batters.
All five A’s runs came in the eighth as they tried to chip away at an eight-run deficit.
It was a bizarre way to score five runs, with the A’s picking up just three hits in the inning and scoring one of their runs on an error by Angels third baseman Taylor Ward that extended the inning for Marcus Semien’s two-run double.