Strike zone spatfest provokes ejections
A’s batters fan a season-high 14 times, and Melvin loses it
NEW YORK — Starting pitcher Jharel Cotton talked about being too amped up in making his return from the minor leagues Saturday in Yankee Stadium.
The A’s have no idea if being too amped up was Will Little’s issue. Whatever was going on with the home plate umpire, the A’s didn’t like it. Oakland batters struck out a season-high 14 times in a 3-2 loss to the Yankees and had second baseman Jed Lowrie and manager Bob Melvin ejected for voicing displeasure over Little’s interpretation of the strike zone.
“All I’ll say is that I got the bat taken out of my hands three times,” Lowrie said. He struck out in the first inning, looking. He struck out in the sixth inning, looking. And he struck out in the eighth inning, looking.
It’s something of an issue for the A’s, because Lowrie had been their hottest hitter with a sevengame hitting streak that included 16 hits, five of them doubles. Not the guy you want to have the bat taken away from.
After the last at-bat, his level of dispute rose to such heights that it took Little only seconds to throw him out of the game, the first ejection of Lowrie’s 10year career. When Trevor Plouffe struck out, looking again, later in the inning with men at second and third and the game on the line, it seemed that Plouffe was ejected. Instead it was a furious Melvin.
“There’s a lot of frustration; big situations,” Melvin said, parsing his words.
Of the A’s 14 strikeouts, six were called third strikes from Little. The way the A’s saw it, he was taking base runners away from them, their rationale being that those third strikes should be ball fours.
“Any time you are in a close game and you have an at-bat, it’s a big situation,” Lowrie said.
Down one run in the eighth inning, getting called out on strikes a third time was too much.
“I don’t know if I was expecting it,” Lowrie said. “But it seemed like it was headed in that direction.”
After the strikeout, Khris Davis walked and Ryon Healy doubled into the left field corner. Davis had scored on a similar play in the sixth inning, but this time he stopped at third. The A’s had the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, but Dellin Betances got a called strike with Plouffe up, at which point Melvin lost it. He was ejected. Then Chad Pinder struck out swinging and the A’s last best hope to pull this one out vanished.
The Yankees got the win despite getting just two hits, only one of which mattered. Cotton had allowed a run on a walk, a hit batter, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly in the first inning, but had New York hitless with two out in the sixth inning. At that point he walked Brett Gardner, and Matt Holliday collected the first hit, a tworun homer. It would be sufficient for the win.
“I just made that one mistake; it could have been a 1-2-3 inning,” Cotton said. “You don’t want to put guys on base with free passes. I did that, and it came back to haunt me.”
Cotton had to go without his changeup, his best pitch, Saturday because it just wasn’t there for him. He went to the cutter instead, and it moved well for him except for the pitch Holliday hit out.
That homer made Cotton’s Yankee Stadium debut less than ideal.
“Pitching in Yankee Stadium was a great feeling,” Cotton said. “I wanted it to be a spectacular one, so I guess I was kind of too amped up.”
Still, his teammates liked what they saw from Cotton upon his return from a short exile to the minor leagues.
“The one thing he can take away from today is that he can be a really, really good pitcher; he’s just got to trust it,” catcher Josh Phegley said. “He controls his own destiny, if he throws strikes and gets after hitters.”
Right-handed starter n Jesse Hahn became the 15th A’s player to land on the disabled list Saturday morning. Oakland is hopeful Hahn, dealing with a strained right triceps, will be back when the 10-day minimum stay on the DL is over. “Jesse’s MRI was clear,” Melvin said. “It’s a matter of giving it some time and making sure he’s 100 percent when he comes back.”
After Lowrie had his n seven-game hitting streak end with the ejection, the short-handed A’s needed to have DH Chad Pinder move to second base, meaning reliever John Axford was due up fifth in the ninth inning.
The A’s have struck n out 27 times in the first two games of the series. That’s the highest back-to-back strikeout total for the A’s this season.
The A’s haven’t made n a decision yet on another injured starting pitcher, Kendall Graveman. The righthander, troubled by a right shoulder strain may land on the DL. Melvin said a final decision on Graveman, who is back in the Bay Area, will likely come Sunday.
Yonder Alonso took n batting practice Saturday morning in the hope that he’d be available as a pinch-hitter. He hasn’t played since coming out of Tuesday’s game after being hit by a pitch on the right wrist. After Saturday’s game. Melvin said Alonso would not have been available to pinch-hit, so his status for Sunday’s start is up in the air.