Oller strikes out seven in stifling Dodgers
MESA, Ariz. — In his third inning against the Dodgers on Thursday, Oakland Athletics righthander Adam Oller threw a full-count breaking ball to Steven Duggar, a lefthanded batter. Duggar watched the pitch snap back over the plate for a called third strike.
It isn’t something Oller would have tried last year, as he struggled with his breaking pitch, and both the strategy and result contributed to an encouraging Cactus League outing for the A’s rotation candidate.
Oller worked four scoreless innings against a Dodgers lineup missing several regulars, allowing two hits and two walks and striking out seven in a 1-0 A’s win. He finished most of the strikeouts on the “slurve”-type breaking ball he developed in the offseason.
“I’ve worked a lot in bullpens this spring with putting a lefty in the box and being able to not only throw it for a strike when I need to, but also bury it,” Oller said.
“It’s one of those pitches where, if you can back-door it to a lefty like I did at 3-2, it’s extremely effective because most of the time that’s an auto-take. And if I can go back-foot on it, it sets up the fastball inside a lot better as well.”
Oller, who had a 6.30 ERA in 19 games with the A’s last year, is among a group of pitchers competing for roles in what could be a fluid rotation.
General manager David Forst said last week the A’s are being “flexible” with rotation plans that could include using six starters at times or shuffling its makeup.
Asked if his start could help Oller’s cause, manager Mark Kotsay said: “I think it goes into the evaluation, absolutely. You don’t overweigh performance in spring training, but this was a good day for him.”
Oller, 28, said he’s treating his spring outings as if “my back’s against the wall” based on his performance last season after the A’s acquired him from the Mets in the Chris Bassitt trade.
“I go into it with the mindset of, people don’t expect me to do well, and they’re wrong,” Oller said. “I may have bad games, everybody does, we’re all human. But I’m going to make sure every outing I throw in, I’m going to give it everything I have.”
Jiménez has clock issues:
Reliever Dany Jiménez had the A’s rockiest run-in yet with the new pitch timer, with multiple violations in the sixth inning.
Jiménez was charged with an automatic ball in a 2-2 count to Duggar, who struck out, and in a 1-1 count to Martinez, who then singled on the next pitch of the at-bat.
Jiménez was the slowest worker on the A’s staff in 2022, according to Statcast’s pitch tempo metric.
Kotsay said Jiménez and catcher Shea Langeliers might not have been “on the same page” but the new rule is “challenging and he’s going to have to get better.”
Briefly: Third baseman Jace Peterson landed awkwardly while catching a popup in the fifth inning; Kotsay said his neck area “kind of tightened up” but didn’t have a further update on Peterson’s status … Starter Drew Rucinski threw simulated innings at the A’s minor-league complex in lieu of pitching against the Dodgers; Kotsay said that was so relievers could pitch in the game … Calvin Coker, a Redwood City native brought in from minor-league camp, got the final out of the A’s win after reliever Rico Garcia hit his pitch limit and exited with the bases loaded … Attendance at Hohokam Stadium was 5,308 … Game time was a brisk 2 hours, 25 minutes.