Barnett shows grind in bounce-back outing to earn first MLB victory

ANAHEIM – Mason Barnett notched his first Major League win in Friday’s 10-4 Athletics victory over the Angels at Angel Stadium, and it came on a night that began with him looking unlikely to even finish the first inning.

In what was a disastrous start to the game for Barnett, the 24-year-old right-hander inherited a two-run lead before throwing a single pitch and proceeded to allow the top seven hitters in the Angels lineup to reach base. His first out was a sacrifice fly, pushing the Halos’ lead to two runs and leading to Osvaldo Bido warming up in the A’s bullpen.

“Definitely not the first inning I wanted,” Barnett said. “Sometimes, that’s just baseball. For me, it was just about going pitch by pitch and trying to execute the next one. That’s all I could do.”

Often times for a rookie, especially one like Barnett, who was making his second big league start, such a situation is when you find out a lot about what they are made of. How do they respond when their back is against the wall?

Barnett, rated the A’s No. 10 prospect by MLB Pipeline, walked through that fire and answered exactly how manager Mark Kotsay hoped. Escaping that jam with the help of a nifty 5-4-3 double play by his defense to end a 35-pitch opening frame in which less than half of his pitches went for strikes, Barnett settled down and was soon dialed in.

“He was one hitter away from not getting to finish that inning,” Kotsay said. “It was great to see him work himself out of that big jam. … That shows a lot of character and a lot of grind. Great sign from a young starter.”

From innings two through five, Barnett held the Angels scoreless. Allowing a total of four runs on three hits and eight walks, he finished the night by retiring 14 of his final 17 batters faced, eight via strikeout.

Friday’s version of Barnett was a stark contrast from the one the A’s saw debut last week. In that start against the Rangers, Barnett flashed decent command but struggled to miss bats with just one strikeout, leading to his five runs on eight hits in four innings.

On Friday, particularly after the first, Barnett found a way to keep Angels hitters off balance with his four-pitch mix with 16 total whiffs. In addition to a fastball that maxed out at 97.4 mph, he combined for 11 of those whiffs on his sweeper and curveball, both of which showed off plenty of movement in the zone.

“I was impressed,” Kotsay said. “He struck out the side in the second. For him to bounce back in that way showed a lot. We talk about executing pitches. Once he settled in, you saw him execute pitches better and utilize the breaking ball from swing-and-miss. He had the fastball playing up at the top of the zone, which is a strength for him.”

Barnett said he’s had a good feel for all four of his pitches in each of his first two big league outings. The key difference on Friday was his execution.

“Stuff-wise, it was pretty similar [to my first start],” said Barnett. “I think I was just executing a little bit better and setting pitches up a lot better this time around.”

Barnett was aided by an offensive explosion that saw the A’s take advantage of Angels starter José Soriano, who had his own command issues early on, by knocking him out in the third inning after JJ Bleday’s three-run blast extended their lead to four runs.

As much as the offense helped Barnett, though, the collective unit drew inspiration from Barnett’s ability to maneuver through choppy waters en route to his first big league win.

“That was a tough first inning, especially for a young rookie pitcher to go through that,” said A’s center fielder Lawrence Butler, whose 3-for-5 night included his 19th homer of the year. “To see him go out there and put up some zeroes after all that was big. That showed everybody what he’s made of and what he’s about.”

Barnett, meanwhile, was still processing his career milestone inside the visiting clubhouse as he wiped off the leftover shaving cream from his face after a celebratory postgame shower from his teammates.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Barnett said. “It’s really cool. I’m excited and just trying to take it day by day.”