Neal’s finish much stronger than start
SEATTLE — Buried within yet another Oakland loss was a really nice story: Zach Neal worked five perfect innings and he has finished up his season in such a strong fashion, the right-hander just might be in the A’s plans next year.
Neal took over in the third after Raul Alcantara had allowed four homers in two-plus innings, including two by Robinson Cano. The Mariners’ 5-1 win helped keep their wildcard hopes alive, while the A’s fell for the 10th time in 11 games ... but Neal was phenomenal.
“He’s had two days off and gave us five innings of nothing against a team that looked like it was going to score 30 runs in the first couple of innings,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “I told him when he came out, ‘You’ve come a long way,’ from a guy who was going up and down, getting hit hard.”
Neal reminded reporters that the last time he’d done a post-game interview at Seattle, he’d just allowed seven runs in four innings in his first bigleague start May 25. So Friday’s sensational performance was even more special for him.
“I came full circle,” he said. “It feels good to go out like that, especially here.”
Neal has not given up a run in six of his past seven outings, with a 1.20 ERA in that span. Since Sept. 2, he’s lowered his ERA from 5.22 to 4.24.
“I think he’s made his mark, for sure,” Melvin said. “He’ll be coming to spring training competing for something for us.”
Neal appreciated Melvin’s words to him after the game, saying, “It’s very special. He’s seen me struggle, he’s seen me do well, and for him to always have that trust and faith in me means a lot.”
Neal took over with a man at second and no outs and got out of the inning with a tapper, a lineout and a strikeout, then went on to retire all 15 batters he faced, 19 in a row going back to his previous outing. He’s walked only six in 70 innings, the second-best walks-per-nine innings ratio in the majors.
“Learning to throw my sinker to both sides of the plate, throwing strikes just like I always have,” Neal said of his late-season surge. “I knew this last month was going to be a big month for me, so I was going to give everything I had.”
Alcantara, 24, has given up nine homers in 221⁄3 big-league innings after allowing 11 in 1352⁄3 innings in the minors this year. Nori Aoki hit a shot off him in the second, Aoki’s fourth of the season, and Nelson Cruz made it back-to-back homers with Cano in the third inning. Jake Smolinski appeared as if he might have gotten his glove on the drive by Cruz with a leap at the fence, so when the ball bounced back onto the field, crew chief Jim Joyce called for a review, but the call was upheld.
“Unfortunately, balls were middle of the plate, more midthigh than we’ve seen him,” Melvin said. “He just had a tough night.”
The A’s offense, as it is so often, was virtually nonexistent except for Ryon Healy; the rookie, called up July 15, hit his 13th homer (one of only two Oakland hits). He is batting .360 over his past 42 games. Briefly: The A’s announced that assistant trainer Walt Horn is retiring after 39 years with the organization, including nine years with the bigleague club. Horn was the fourtime Pacific Coast League trainer of the year while with Oakland’s Triple-A teams. “He’s one of the terrific gentlemen in the game,” Melvin said. “I’ve been trying to talk him out of it. … Hopefully we can send him out on a good note.” ... Danny Valencia was a late scratch with neck soreness.