Cotton still struggling to find consistency

MESA, ARIZ. » The A’s have always believed Jharel Cotton has the stuff to be a top of the rotation starter, it’s just a matter of consistency. It was an issue all last season. It’s an issue this spring.

After shining in his spring debut against the Padres last week, tossing a pair of hitless innings with five strikeouts, Cotton was roughed up in a 9- 4 loss to the Rangers Thursday for four runs on five hits and two walks in two innings of work.

“That’s the consistency we’ve been talking about,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “You want him to follow up a good outing with another one and take the confidence that he had from the time before. He just couldn’t do it today.”

When Cotton is at his best, he’s usually getting ahead in the count, which allows him to build confidence and make things difficult for hitters with his exceptional changeup. That didn’ t happen against the Rangers.

Cotton constantly found himself falling behind in the count, with a fastball he said he did not have a good feel for throughout the outing.

Despite the subpar outing, Cotton was pleased with the way he was able to throw his changeup for strikes, a pitch he often shied away from even throwing last season when things got out hand early in a game.

“The positive was my changeup. I threw it a lot for strikes and I’m proud of that,” Cotton said. “The fastball will come the more I throw it, but I just want my changeup there start to start. I had a positive with that today.”

• The third inning of a game early in spring training in which you’re already down 3- 0 is usually the point where things start to get dull, but for A’s pitcher Lou Trivino, that’s when he began to feel a rush.

Trivino, 26, got a taste of what a high- leverage situation might feel like in the big leagues on Thursday.

After Cotton allowed the first two batters of the third inning to reach base, Melvin summoned Trivino from the bullpen to inherit a situation with two runners on and no outs.

“The adrenaline is a lot higher,” Trivino said. “You don’t want to give up those runs and trying to help out Cotton. It was fun to kind of get in that mindset because that’s what you’re gonna do during the season.”

Trivino would allow a run to score on a force out at second base, but aside from that, Trivino showed off a strong fastball that saw him strike out two batters and escape the inning to keep the A’s somewhat within striking distance trailing 4- 0.

It might seem like a meaningless event that took place in the game, but for Trivino, it was big.

A member of the A’s 40man roster, Trivino is battling this spring to land a spot on the Opening Day roster as a reliever. He’s got the stuff for it, with a repertoire that includes a blazing fastball around 96- 98 mph, a cutter, and a breaking ball that affords him a nice variation in velocity.

Melvin had praised Trivino’s bullpen session through the early part of spring, and he wanted to give Trivino a test to see if he can translate those nice bullpens into success when put in a tough situation.

“You certainly don’t want to come in and walk a guy right away, but after that he did well,” Melvin said. “Certain guys are gonna have some nerves out there and you want to see how they handle it.

“With his stuff, he just needs to throw it over the plate. It’s gonna be tough to square him up too often.”

After a rough go as a starting pitcher earlier in his career, Trivino was converted to a reliever in 2015 and saw a notable increase in velocity on his fastball. He credits the increase to making a commitment to adding muscle after the move to the bullpen, along with a reconfiguring of his delivery that he said allows him to be more limber.

Combining to post a 3.03 ERA last year in 48 games at Double- A and Triple-A, Trivino is on the A’s radar for a spot in the bullpen. Like Melvin, Trivino believes he has the stuff to make life difficult for hitters, he just hast to consistently throw strikes. Thursday’s outing was a good start.

“My focus this spring is to just fill up the zone and see how many quality pitches I can throw,” Trivino said. “Don’t give up those easy free bases. Make hitters earn their way on base.”