A’s ‘Run Into A Buzzsaw’ vs. A’s ‘Run Into A Buzzsaw’ Pivetta, Sox

OAKLAND — With Tyler Soderstrom and Zack Gelof — the A’s prime two position-player prospects — becoming a member of the membership in its return from the All-Star break, the offense gave the impression to be gaining steam over the primary three video games of the second half. On Monday night time, nevertheless, that momentum got here to a screeching halt.

In a 7-0 loss to the Red Sox on the Coliseum, Oakland was held to 1 hit and 5 baserunners in 9 innings. That lone single got here off the bat of Ryan Noda within the first inning.

All through baseball, sure pitchers can appear to have a selected workforce’s quantity. For the A’s, Nick Pivetta falls into that class. Following Boston opener Brennan Bernardino out of the bullpen, the right-hander dominated A’s hitters by six hitless innings with a career-high 13 strikeouts — setting a brand new Purple Sox document for essentially the most strikeouts in a single aid look within the course of.

It was a little bit of a deja vu feeling for the A’s, who struck out eight instances in 5 innings towards Pivetta at Fenway Park within the remaining sequence earlier than the All-Star break. His run of dominance towards them predates even that recreation, although. In 5 profession video games towards the A’s, Pivetta is now 5-0 with a 0.82 ERA, having allowed simply three earned runs in 33 innings.

Following an outing wherein he tossed seven scoreless innings towards the A’s in Oakland final season, Pivetta attributed a part of his success to the Coliseum’s distinctive atmosphere.

“It’s a superb mound and there’s lots of foul floor,” Pivetta stated. “I’m a fly-ball pitcher, so there’s lots of space on the outfield, and I simply really feel assured with my pitches. Once I work within the zone, often it permits me to get fly-ball outs.”

On Monday, Pivetta relied much less on the foul floor and extra on his capacity to overlook the bats of A’s hitters, whose 18 whole strikeouts marked the workforce’s highest mark since July 23, 2021, at Seattle.

“I’d wish to say [to our team] to only wash this recreation,” A’s supervisor Mark Kotsay stated. “Pivetta was good. We struggled with the identical two pitchers in Boston. We got here out tonight and Pivetta simply dominated us, actually. There’s no different solution to actually describe it. He received a ton of swing-and-miss.”

At one level, the A’s struck out seven consecutive instances towards Pivetta earlier than JJ Bleday snapped the stretch with a one-out stroll within the eighth.

“His fastball simply appeared prefer it had actually good life,” Kotsay stated. “Breaking ball was good. That’s one of the best I’ve seen him. You run right into a buzzsaw typically. Tonight gave the impression to be that night time.”

Noda’s strikeout towards Pivetta within the seventh was symbolic of the frustration that mounted up and down Oakland’s offense. After swinging by a well-placed fastball on the surface nook for strike three, Noda angrily swiped on the filth together with his bat earlier than strolling again to the dugout, which led to residence plate umpire Emil Jimenez ejecting the primary baseman from the sport.

“He had all of his pitches working fairly properly,” Noda stated of Pivetta. “When a man like that with a plus fastball and a giant 12-6 [curveball] with a superb slider to play off it has his stuff, he’s going to be fairly robust. I really feel like we chased somewhat bit an excessive amount of. For me particularly, I wasn’t as aggressive within the zone as I ought to have been. … Generally you simply should tip your cap.”

The return from the All-Star break has not been ultimate for the A’s. After getting swept over a tightly contested three-game set towards the Twins over the weekend, Monday’s defeat marked Oakland’s eighth straight loss.

Along with the offense going stagnant on Monday, Paul Blackburn additionally struggled on the mound, permitting six runs on 9 hits and two walks with three strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.

“All of us wish to simply begin getting scorching,” Noda stated. “I don’t suppose lots of us have been that this 12 months. We’re all simply ready. Everybody in right here, pitching and hitting, has been grinding. That features me. We’re simply going to maintain working. Hold coming again to the drafting board and get higher. That’s how we’re going to get going.”