A’s: Starter Alcantara roughed up in loss at Texas
ARLINGTON, Texas — For a game in which numerous baseballs traveled long distances, it was several plays decided by inches or less that set the tone for Oakland.
In the first inning, Matt Joyce hit a blast to center field that Carlos Gomez grabbed with a leap, his glove outstretched over the fence. And in the bottom of the inning, Oakland was on the wrong side of a replay challenge that appeared, on tape, to have resulted in a Rangers out. Texas’ first run scored on that play, a grounder to first by Nomar Mazara that sent Gomez in from third.
Mazara, safe on the upheld call, then scored on a two-out homer by Rougned Odor. The next inning, Mazara hit a grand slam off Raul Alcantara and the A’s fell 10-5, eventually. Mazara finished with a career-high six RBIs, and Gomez scored three runs.
“We hit a couple balls right on the screws, they bloop one in there and they score a run,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. “Baseball has a funny way of testing your emotions. But you have to give them credit; they hit the ball really hard after that.”
Alcantara was charged with eight runs in two innings. “He got hit hard,” Melvin said. “Balls in the middle of the plate.”
Alcantara thought his first inning was OK despite allowing the three runs, but through interpreter Juan Dorado, he said, “In the second inning, things got away from me a little bit. My sinker was running too far away and too up.”
Melvin declined to discuss whether Alcantara will start the next time around, noting that the game had just ended.
There were a few consolations for Oakland. Joyce did hit his first homer of the season, a three-run shot in the third off former A’s starter A.J. Griffin, and Khris Davis belted his third home run in the team’s first five games, a solo shot in the fourth. Yonder Alonso added an RBI double with two outs in the ninth.
Davis, who hit 10 homers against Texas last year — the most ever against the Rangers in one season — has 12 career homers against them, his most against any team.
And while fifth starter Alcantara struggled, giving up eight runs in two innings, Jesse Hahn, called up Wednesday, turned in a nice effort in his first-ever relief effort for Oakland. Hahn gave up two runs in the sixth on Gomez’s bloop double to center and an RBI single by Mazara, but he worked six innings, and his fastball hit 96-97 mph.
“Whatever gets me here and keeps me here,” said Hahn, who was in the A’s rotation the first half of 2015 and was in the fifthstarter competition this spring. “Who knows? It’s another opportunity.”
Melvin called Hahn’s work Friday “huge . ... The last thing you want to do in a game you’re down 8-0 right away is go to multiple guys. Jesse pitched really well. Saved us.”
Hahn said he was focused on being aggressive. “I wanted to give our team a shot to get back in it, so I just went out and tried to pitch off my fastball,” he said.
Hahn could wind up back in the rotation if there is a need, but right-hander Sonny Gray is expected to be back from a lat strain before the end of the month, and whoever is in the fifth-starter spot at that point likely would be bumped to the bullpen or off the roster.
Griffin went 31⁄3 innings and allowed four hits, two walks and four runs. He also hit one batter and struck out four. He left after diving for an overthrow near the A’s dugout and scraping both knees and his right palm.
Griffin’s departure was poor timing from the A’s standpoint. They had the bases loaded and the potential tying run at the plate when left-hander Alex Claudio took over, and Claudio got Marcus Semien to bounce into an inning-ending double play to keep the score 8-4.
“Who knows where the game might have gone at that point?” Melvin said. “And if the ball goes through the railing, it’s two runs, too.”
Claudio worked 32⁄3 innings and gave up one hit and one walk.