Bullpen failure leaves Oakland with loss despite 6-run inning
ARLINGTON, Texas — Oakland’s bullpen, an issue all season, became an inferno Saturday.
The A’s jumped to a fourrun lead over the Rangers in the seventh, but the bullpen gave it all back in the bottom of the inning.
Then, leading off the 10th, Shin-Soo Choo — whose homer had tied the game in the seventh — doubled against Ryan Cook. Cook walked the next two batters, R. J. Alvarez replaced Cook, and Rougned Odor sneaked a grounder past drawn-in shortstop Marcus Semien, giving Texas an 8- 7 victory and the A’s their seventh loss in nine games.
Oakland has won back-toback games only once this season, April 13-14. The A’s are 0-6 in one-run games, and eight of the team’s 15 losses have been charged to the bullpen. A’s relievers have a 6.26 ERA over the past 16 games.
“It’s weird. It’s really weird what’s going on right now,” Oakland catcher Stephen Vogt said of the bullpen’s struggles. “I think we’re creeping into the territory of mental. We all still have faith in every single one of the bullpen guys, but at this point in time, it’s getting very frustrating.”
“We’re out there battling. We have to get better,” Cook said. “That’s the bottom line.”
With Oakland up 7-3 after scoring six times in the top of the seventh, the relief corps crumbled again. Chris Bassitt walked Elvis Aldrus and Prince Fielder with one out. Dan Otero relieved and got Adrian Beltre to fly out, but Kyle Blanks’ fourth hit and third RBI of the night cut the deficit to three.
Left-hander Fernando Abad, so good last year and so poor this year, came into the game to face Choo. Choo, in a 2-for-39 funk, smacked a fastball into the seats in right, a three-run shot to tie the game. Abad’s ERA for the season stands at 7.04. Last year, his ERA was 1.57, fifth best among AL relievers.
“He’s not locating like he did last year,” Vogt said. “His breaking ball’s not as sharp. He’s a big part of our bullpen, a big part of our team. We need him to get the lefties out, especially with Eric (O’Flaherty) out for a while. Whatever’s going on with him, hopefully he gets a grip on it.”
Manager Bob Melvin said he wasn’t going to leave in Otero, because it was his fourth day of work in a row, then added, “That’s what Abad is here for, to get lefthanders out.”
Cook was lights-out in the ninth, facing the heart of the Rangers’ order, then struggled with his command in the 10th with Choo at second.
“They’re trying to bunt, I’m trying to throw the ball right down the middle; I didn’t,” Cook said. “That’s all there is to it.”
Oakland trailed the Rangers 3-1 entering the seventh, and American League ERA leader Nick Martinez was sailing when the A’s got leadoff man Ike Davis aboard on an error by Andrus at shortstop.
They would score six times in the inning, which also included a line drive off an um- pire for a hit, a hit batter and another error — on a rundown between third and home, no less — before Josh Reddick’s three-run blast to right.
The Rangers’ first two runs off Drew Pomeranz came on two-out hits, one by Blanks in the first and the other by Beltre in the third.
Blanks, who spent much of last season on Oakland’s disabled list, homered in the sixth, his second in two nights.
Oakland got a quick early run off Martinez, who’d thrown seven scoreless innings at the Coliseum last month.
Billy Burns singled to lead off the game and Semien doubled. Burns scored on a groundout by Reddick, but Semien was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a hard bouncer to third by Billy Butler.