A’s, Giants, get rotations in order
Injuries to Cotton, Blackburn a blow, but A’s have their five starters
SAN FRANCISCO >> When it comes to high profile injuries and the Bay Area sporting landscape, the A’s barely register when measured against the Madison Bumgarner-Stephen Curry disasters facing the Giants and Warriors.
But that doesn’t mean A’s manager Bob Melvin isn’t without a sense of dread, given that he’s down to five healthy starting pitchers for a five-man rotation.
There was not much room for error early Monday as A’s and Giants were tied 2-2 after nine innings. Then the A’s scored seven times in the 10th for a 9-2 win.
“That’s probably the one area that we were maybe not as apt to handle, and that’s why the last couple of games,
you want to bubble-wrap these guys, hoping nothing happens, and you get into the season with no more injuries,” Melvin said.
Daniel Mengden, author of the only A’s complete-game shutout a year ago looked ready to start the regular season after giving up a single run in three innings with a walka nd three strikeouts. He’ll be No. 3 behind Kendall Graveman and Sean Manaea and be backed up by Andrew Treggs and Daniel Gossett.
Treggs gets his final tuneup against the Giants Tuesday night against Chris Stratton.
Mengden threw 54 pitches, 38 of them strikes. The Giants scored their lone run off him
in the second inning when Buster Posey reached out and doubled to right, scoring when Hunter Pence hit a dunker to left for a runscoring single.
“They were both good pitches. The pitch to Posey was a change-up that was up a little,” Mengden said. “(Pence hit a good slider down and away. Crazy big swing. He got the end of it, flared it to left.
“I’ll throw the same pitch and challenge him in the exact same spot again and I guarantee I’ll win.”
Jharel Cotton (Tommy John surgery) is out for the year, while Paul Blackburn (forearm strain) has been shut down temporarily and A.J. Puk was reassigned to minor league camp deal with a biceps issue.
“The rotation is basically come down to a process of elimination,” Melvin said. “We know who our five guys are going to be.”
Melvin thinks Mengden is holding down a key spot behind Graveman and Manaea.
“If he pitches in the fashion that he did in the three hole, like he did last year, that’s really going to save us,” Melvin said.
• Mark Canha had four hits, including a double and a home run, to make his case for a roster spot. Canha’s last hit was a ground single to left to score the lead run in the 10th.
Mired in a 2-for-12 slump in his previous seven games, Canha’s four-hit night boosted his spring average to .362.
“He had a great game,” Melvin said. “He’s versatile, playing first base and the outfield. We’ve seen when he gets lots of at-bats he’s productive.”
• Matt Chapman, who hit 14 home runs and drove in 40 in just 84 games last season, was hitting just .179 in the spring but launched a solo home run to deep left off Derek Holland in the second inning.
• Cahill, who signed the
day Cotton went on the disabled list, is hoping to get back on track in similar surroundings.
In fact, Cahill was the starter for the A’s on July 10, 2011, the day after Melvin became the interim manager after the firing of Bob Geren.
Cahill lost that night 2-0 to the Texas Rangers, but his 7 2/3 inning performance with one walk and three strikeouts is what the A’s are looking for to add some depth to the rotation.
“The first game I managed as an Oakland A in 2011 when I came in in the middle of the year Cahill pitches,” Melvin said. “So it’s kind of come full circle for him coming back.”
Cahill, who is scheduled to pitch tonight against the Giants, will then depart on as yet undetermined minor-league assignment to build up his arm strength.
“I signed late in the spring, and I knew it (coming to the A’s) would help with the transition to get ready quickly,” Cahill said. “Now it’s just a gradual buildup. I’m not going to go out there and be ready for a full season right away but I’ve been around long enough I know what I need to do to get ready for 100 pitches.”
• Nobody embraces the Bay Area baseball rivalry more than David Kaval. At a tongue-in-cheek ceremony Monday at AT&T Park, the A’s president took his latest poke at the Giants.
In introducing a new trophy that will go to the winner of the regular-season Bay Bridge Series, Kaval said he plans on displaying it in Oakland year after year.
“I’ve actually already commissioned a permanent location at our offices at Jack London Square,’’ Kaval cracked.
Kaval added that he’ll keep “The Bridge” — as the new trophy is called — next to the Athletics’ nine World Series trophies. (That includes the five the team won in Philadelphia).
Larry Baer, the Giants president and chief executive officer, who was also at the ceremony, countered that he plans on keeping The Bridge next to the three recent World Series trophies in San Francisco.
The ceremony, a few hours before the A’s-Giants spring game at AT&T Park, was the work of NBC Sports Bay Area, which came up with the idea of presenting an award to winner of the Bay Bridge series. As a cool touch, the prize will be made of steel salvaged from the original East Span of the Bay Bridge.
The A’s lead the all-time regular-season match-ups 59-55. This year, the teams meet for two series: July 1315 at AT&T Park and July 20-22 in the Coliseum.
If the teams tie, the trophy goes to the winner of the last game.
• Left fielder Matt Joyce didn’t start after fouling a
ball off his knee but the injury isn’t considered serious. Melvin didn’t rule out Joyce getting in to the game.
• Right-hander Emilio Pagan recovered nicely after a pair of back-to-back walks in the fifth inning, striking out Andrew McCutchen and Posey consecutively to end the inning.