‘Turkey sub’ added to Luzardo’s menu
SURPRISE, Ariz. — Breezing through his Cactus League debut, Jesús Luzardo decided to experiment a little.
The A’s lefthander, routinely hitting 9596 mph with his fastball against the Rangers on Thursday, mixed in a thirdinning curveball to Leody Taveras that floated in at 65 mph. Taveras, not surprisingly, took the strike. Luzardo later said the pitch has a name, the “turkey sub,” coined by A’s minorleague pitcher Brian Howard, who introduced it to him in DoubleA.
“It’s just a turkey sub,” Luzardo said. “Nothing to write home about, just gets the job done.”
Two pitches later, Luzardo mustered 97 mph on a fastball to Taveras. That 32 mph difference illustrated the sub’s value to Luzardo, whose regular changeup and breaking ball average mid80s velocity. Luzardo said he was “tentative” to throw the slow curveball last year as a rookie. But he threw several to A’s hitters in simulated games this spring.
“This year I just found some confidence in it and I’m going to start throwing it,” said Luzardo, 23. “So I’m glad to have it back.”
It was one of three types of breaking balls Luzardo said he threw Thursday. He also worked in a harder curveball and a slider. Luzardo lost feel for his breaking pitch at times last season and he is developing different types for days on which one falters. He focused on that Thursday by throwing only a few changeups.
Against mostly Rangers regulars, Luzardo threw four hitless, scoreless innings. He walked his first hitter on four pitches, which he said “got under my skin.” He retired the next 10 batters. After a walk to Joey Gallo, Luzardo struck out former teammate Khris Davis to finish his outing, the last of his five strikeouts.
“Seeing KD in the box, definitely have to keep a straight face,” Luzardo said. “But it’s a friendly competition for sure. I’ll probably shoot him a text later on.”
Luzardo’s first bigleague start came against Texas last season and his five scoreless innings met the anticipation. The rest of his rookie year wavered — he posted a 4.12 season ERA and allowed 13 homers in 662⁄3 innings, including the playoffs. Manager Bob Melvin said it was “probably the first time in his career” Luzardo has struggled.
“But I think he actually evaluates it the right way and is motivated to get better,” Melvin said. “And when you have that kind of stuff, it seems like he is the entire package — I expect him to have a really good year.”
The A’s fell one out shy of a seveninning nohitter in a 60 win over the Rangers. Andy Ibañez singled against Oakland reliever Miguel Romero with two outs in the seventh to break it up.
Tony Kemp was hit by the first pitch of the game and replaced after the halfinning. He was hit on the hip and it “kind of tightened up a little bit — we don’t want to mess with that,” Melvin said. Kemp will be off Friday and possibly play Saturday.
Luis Barrera, a 40manroster outfielder who joined camp late due to visa issues, had two RBI singles. “He was sitting around doing nothing for a while,” Melvin said. “He can hit.”
Jed Lowrie was hitless in two atbats as a DH, but Melvin said he “actually had pretty good swings.” Lowrie is scheduled to play second base Friday, then have a day off.
Catcher Sean Murphy does not have a target date to appear in Cactus League games but is “ramping up” in his return from surgery for a collapsed lung, Melvin said. Also, Murphy’s contract was unilaterally renewed before Thursday’s deadline for all players on 40man rosters to have deals for the 2021 season. Murphy will receive a $575,500 salary while in the major leagues and $281,750 if he is optioned to the minors.