SEATTLE – Beginning with Friday’s series opener against the Mariners, the Athletics will play most of their remaining games over the final five weeks of the regular season against playoff-contending clubs.
This final stretch is an opportunity for the A’s to thrust their many talented young players -- particularly in a starting rotation that currently features three rookies -- into playoff-like environments and gain valuable experience for the future.
Making just his third Major League start and fourth overall appearance, Luis Morales responded in the exact manner the A’s hoped to see in Friday night’s 3-2 loss to the Mariners at T-Mobile Park. The A’s No. 4 prospect was perfect through four innings and ended up allowing just one run through six.
“He looked in his element,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “For as young as he is and as few starts as he’s got in the big leagues, he didn’t look fazed at all. He actually looked more focused tonight than his first time out, for sure. I think he’s gaining confidence.”
It was Morales’ first quality start as a big leaguer, and it featured the usual electric stuff he’s shown early on in his career, with a fastball that maxed out at 99.3 mph and a nasty sweeper with plenty of breaking action.
As opposed to his first few outings, though, Morales exhibited much better command. The right-hander finished his six innings by allowing just two hits with six strikeouts and did not issue a walk for the first time in the Majors.
“He really controlled the zone,” Kotsay said. “He got behind a couple of times and battled back from 3-0 counts. That’s the sign that we’re looking for. We’re looking for him to be able to get in the zone and get some swing-and-miss, and he got it tonight.”
The A’s view Morales as a potential frontline starter, and it’s outings like this that will help him reach that high ceiling. He pounded the zone with strikes on 64 of his 97 pitches and missed plenty of barrels throughout the night, with Mariners hitters averaging an exit velocity of 87.6 mph on 14 balls in play against him.
You could make a case that the only real damage against Morales shouldn’t have even happened.
Facing Eugenio Suárez with one out in the fourth, Morales fired an elevated 2-2 fastball on the outer corner that appeared to catch a good chunk of the strike zone. The pitch was called a ball by home plate umpire James Hoye, and Suárez took advantage on the next pitch -- a slider down and away -- hammering it out to left for a game-tying solo blast to break up the shutout and perfect game bid.
Facing an obviously frustrating sequence for any young pitcher, Morales brushed it off and went on to retire five of his final six batters faced.
“That’s part of the game,” Morales said in Spanish. “I thought the pitch before and the pitch on the homer were both good pitches. But it doesn’t bother me much. The past is the past. I just kept playing.”
That mentality might seem rare for a 22-year-old, but Morales is different. This is a pitcher who, before defecting from Cuba in 2021, set a U-18 record for strikeouts with 161 across 82 2/3 innings between 2019-20 as a teenager facing grown men in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, the country’s top professional baseball league.
So, while pitching in front of a large, raucous crowd in Seattle may seem intimidating, Morales was not rattled by pitching in enemy territory. In fact, he embraced it.
“I love pitching in that atmosphere,” Morales said. “When I’m pitching, the crowd can yell loudly or do whatever it wants, but I’m just very concentrated on my game. I love it.”
His teammates, meanwhile, loved what they saw.
“From the outside looking in, the stuff is crazy,” said A’s designated hitter Brent Rooker, who homered off Mariners starter Bryan Woo in the first. “When he’s in the zone like he was tonight, it’s a really, really good fastball. A really big sweeper that has some velo behind it, too. We heard about him coming up through the system, and he’s impressed so far. He’s been fun to watch.”