Blackburn’s strong start wiped out in A’s heartbreaking loss

Blackburn has nothing to show for his quality start after another blown save

TORONTO — Only seven or eight cubicles separate the lockers of Santiago Casilla and Paul Blackburn in the visitors clubhouse at Rogers Centre.

But when it came to their respective performances on the mound in a 3-2 loss to the Blue Jays on Wednesday evening, these two pitchers were worlds apart.

Rookie Blackburn, 23, making just his fifth start since being called up from Triple-A Nashville July 1, spun a masterpiece, shutting out the host Blue Jays over seven innings and allowing just a pair of hits.

And after recently-acquired reliever Blake Treinen kept the Jays off the scoreboard in the eighth, A’s manager Bob Melvin handed the ball to the veteran Casilla to close out the game with his team coddling a 2-0 lead.

Instead, Casilla walked Josh Donaldson to lead off the ninth, then coughing up back-to-back moonshots over the right-field fence to Justin Smoak and Kendrys Morales.

“I felt great in the bullpen but once in the game I just didn’t feel my mechanics were right,” Casilla said through an interpreter. “I was getting a little ahead of myself (and rushing).”

Casilla added, “I feel bad for my teammate. I went out there trying to close out the game and I just didn’t do it.”

Just a year ago, disastrous endings such as this one were an all-too-familiar sight across the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, where Casilla recorded a career-high nine blown saves for the Giants — most in the majors.

The A’s nevertheless took a chance on Casilla, signing him to a two-year deal worth $11 million during the offseason and his struggles have followed him.

In his past 16 outings, Castilla has blown four save opportunities while allowing at least one run in seven of those contests.

The ninth-inning meltdown cost Blackburn his second major league victory but that didn’t stop the product of Brentwood’s Heritage High baseball team from impressing the 41,984 fans in attendance, not to mention Melvin and the rest of the A’s.

For one brief two-hour window Wednesday, even with the clock ticking down to the impending trade deadline, the A’s starter dominating the news was not named Sonny Gray.

That’s not to say Gray won’t be snapping up the publicity in the coming days. The expectation remains that he’ll be dealt by July 31.

But on this particular humid July night, it was Blackburn who grabbed the spotlight, continuing the feel-good story he’s managed to cobble together in the process.

Blackburn received offensive help courtesy of shortstop Marcus Semien, who cracked a two-run homer off Jays starter Marco Estrada in the fifth. Blackburn has now produced quality starts in four of his five major league outings.

“Any time I looked up, it was just big name after big name after big name,” Blackburn said. “That’s a really good lineup over there. For the most part, I just made my pitches and stuck to the game plan.”

• Catcher Josh Phegley was in the original lineup but was scratched prior to the game with an abdominal strain. Bruce Maxwell took his spot behind the plate.