Big inning caps rough night for Cotton, A’s
Grand slam by K.C.’s No. 9 hitter key blow
OAKLAND >> Jharel Cotton’s night was a microcosm of the way his season has gone. Good, bad, and mostly ugly.
After a bad first two innings that saw him give up two runs, Cotton seemed to get back on track. The rookie’s changeup that seemed to be missing over the past month had returned to form. Cotton began to look once again like the pitcher he was for the A’s at the end of last season that was throwing the ball with confidence and was even sparking early Rookie of the Year predictions for 2017.
What transpired in the sixth was just plain ugly.
Cotton’s run of good pitching lasted a grand total of three innings and then he gave up a grand slam to Cam Gallagher. It was Gallagher’s first career big league home run and served as the final blow on Cotton’s poor night in Monday’s 6-2 loss to the
Kansas City Royals in front of an announced crowd of 9,848 fans at the Coliseum, second-lowest attendance of the season.
Cotton has allowed four runs or more in nine of his 18 starts this season as he fell to 5-10 with his ERA ballooning to 5.92.
After returning from a blister issue on July 30, Cotton has not been able to find a rhythm in any of his starts back from the disabled list.
A’s manager Bob Melvin was non-committal when asked if he would consider skipping Cotton’s next start.
“We’ll see where it goes,” Melvin said. “Obviously you want to challenge him and see how he can do. He pitched really well in the middle innings and when he got the bases loaded he got a chance to get out of it, just couldn’t do it.”
Melvin had hoped to see a more consistent performance from Cotton in this start, but his outing was anything but.
The disastrous sixth began with Cotton allowing the first two runners to reach base.
He then gave up a single after striking out Jorge Bonifacio to load the bases with just one out. Cotton retired Alex Gordon for the second out, but paid for a mistake pitch to Gallagher. Cotton finished the night allowing six runs on eight hits and three walks in six innings of work.
“He’s had some really good games and some poor games,” Melvin said before the game. “Throwing the ball over the plate, using all his pitches and being unpredictable is key. But it starts with throwing the ball over the plate and getting in good counts.”
Cotton rarely found himself in favorable counts, often falling behind in the first and second innings. The grand slam in the sixth also came behind in the count on a 3-2 pitch.
While there was a positive to take away from the night with Cotton looking like he regained his signature changeup, Melvin noticed Cotton’s inability to command his fastball. The only way Melvin thinks Cotton will fully get back on track is when he gets that command back.
One pitch took away what could have been Cotton’s first quality start in nearly two months. With the bases loaded and looking to be aggressive, Cotton grooved one over the heart of the plate to Gallagher, the Royals’ No. 9 hitter in the order.
“I wasn’t trying to be too fine. I was trying to give him my best pitch and it just wasn’t there,” Cotton said. “I went for the inside part of the plate and that was his hot zone.”
As for potentially skipping his next start in order to get a breather, Cotton wants no part of that. He believes the only way to get back on track is to pitch his way through the struggles.
“I want to continue to pitch. I love pitching,” Cotton said. “I’ll get out of this funk just by pitching. That’s all I can do.”
The A’s had a chance to make the sixth inning also a nightmare for Royals pitcher Jake Junis. After Boog Powell and Matt Joyce led off with back-toback singles, Ryon Healy and Khris Davis were hit by pitches on consecutive at-bats to bring home a run and cut the deficit to 6-2. With the bases loaded and one out, Junis retired Matt Olson and Chad Pinder in order to silence what was the A’s only real threat of the night.
“We just had a rough game all the way around,” Melvin said. “When we had opportunities and had a chance to get out of innings, we didn’t get out of them.”
• Jake Smolinski went 5 for 5 and was a triple shy of the cycle as the designated hitter for Single-A Stockton on Sunday.
“That’s a good day, right?” Melvin said with a grin.
The outfielder continues to work his way back from a shoulder injury that was sustained in spring training.