Graveman solid, but winning streak snapped by Rangers
ARLINGTON, TEXAS >> The A’s finally saw what they wanted to see out of No. 1 starter Kendall Graveman, but the end result still left them disappointed.
Graveman grinded out his first quality start of the season, allowing three runs on six hits with four walks and seven strikeouts over six innings of work in a 4-2 loss to the Rangers, snapping the A’s four-game win streak. It was the first time this season Graveman has completed six innings.
Mixing more of his pitches early on as opposed to his usual heavy dose of fastballs and sliders, Graveman was able to keep the Rangers off the board through the first three innings despite allowing base runners in each.
The changeup was the pitch Graveman said he felt most comfortable with. Having found a looser grip for it before his last outing, Graveman threw it 51 times, two times more than his primary pitch, the sinker.
“Locating the fastball is what’s gonna be my bread and butter throughout my career, but also to add some stuff along with it so they’re not on that all the time and keep them off balance was good,” Graveman said of throwing the changeup more often. “That was the pitch I controlled the most. When there was a situation in the game where I needed to get a strike, that was the pitch I went to.”
Finding himself in trouble with runners on the corners and one out in the fourth, Graveman appeared to get the inning-ending double play ball he was looking for, but Juan Centeno beat out a very close play at first to give the Rangers (9-17) their first run of the night and cut the A’s lead to 2-1.
The lead was given up by Graveman in the fifth as he allowed two runs to score after allowing three hits and a walk to four consecutive batters with two outs, including an RBI single to Isiah Kiner-Falefa that put the Rangers ahead 3-2.
Graveman finished strong with a quick 1-2-3 sixth, striking out Delino DeShields to end the inning with the same changeup he used to get five of his seven strikeouts on the night.
“I took it into the game and got a lot of swing and misses on it,” Graveman said. “For me that was a big plus and something I’ve been working on. I thought it showed up really good. Soft contact and kept the ball in the yard. Gave us a chance to win.”
Though he matched a career-high four walks, A’s manager Bob Melvin was encouraged by the outing, which saw Graveman utilize his more compact wind up in which he brings his hands to his waist instead of over his head for the second consecutive start. Graveman was charged with the loss, falling to 0-5 with his ERA now at 8.89 through six starts this season.
“He mixed his pitches again and overall pitched better, we just didn’t score many runs for him,” Melvin said. “Didn’t play a good game overall tonight.”
A great chance for the A’s (13-12) to at least tie the game went awry in the eighth. Marcus Semien reached second base on an errant throw to first by Kiner-Falefa to lead off the inning, but then got too aggressive trying to tag up on a fly out by Jed Lowrie the next at-bat and was thrown out at third by DeShields for the double play.
Melvin said the scouting reports on DeShields had him as an outfielder you can run on, but making the play by Semien frustrating was the fact that the middle of the lineup was set to follow.
“It’s more considering who’s coming up in the order,” Melvin said. “You’re gonna run on DeShields. That’s the scouting report, and that’s the best throw I’ve seen him make.
“I’m sure that’s what Marcus was thinking when he took off.”
Khris Davis got the A’s on the board first in the third inning by blasting a 1-1 fastball
from Doug Fister well beyond the wall in right field for an opposite-field two-run home run. It was his seventh homer of the season and 19th career home run and 43rd RBI against the Rangers, both his most against any team.
Reliever Ryan Buchter came on in relief of Graveman in the seventh. After striking out Shin-Soo Choo to begin the bottom half, Buchter appeared to grimace as he felt some sort of discomfort on the mound.
The A’s training staff went out to check on Buchter and decided to pull him from the game after facing just one batter. The official diagnosis on Buchter was stiffness in his left shoulder.
The severity of the issue was unknown after the game.