ARLINGTON -- Superstition is woven into the game of baseball so tightly that sometimes players and managers have to contort themselves just to avoid acknowledging the obvious. Consider Athletics manager Mark Kotsay’s reaction after Wednesday night’s 7-1 victory over the Rangers when a reporter asked, jokingly, if he knew how many runs A’s reliever Justin Sterner has given up this season.
(The answer is zero, in 14 appearances comprising 14 2/3 innings, none more important than his scoreless sixth inning Wednesday.)
"Yeah, I don’t talk about those things,” Kotsay chuckled. “Thank you, though.”
Sterner’s streak is the longest season-opening scoreless-innings streak by an A’s pitcher since Jake Diekman racked up 18 1/3 empty frames to start the 2020 season. To keep his streak alive, Sterner had to navigate his way out of a real jam, inheriting runners on first and second from starter Luis Severino with no outs in the sixth and Rangers slugger Adolis García at the plate in a 1-1 tie.
Sterner got the job done again. He’ll carry that 0.00 ERA into another month.
“It’s been fun,” Sterner said. “I’m just grateful to get the opportunity and take the ball in any situation and try to help the team win. ... I’ll throw down six [runs], up six -- whatever the situation. And thankfully, I've kind of earned some opportunities to be ‘the guy’ [in a high-leverage spot like Wednesday].”
Sterner’s streak seemed in peril when he appeared to hit García with a 92.6 mph fastball on his third pitch, but it was merely strike two -- a foul ball off the knob of the bat -- and Sterner went on to fan García. He loaded the bases with a walk but induced a popup and struck out Wyatt Langford for the third out.
Sterner has held opponents to a .050 (1-for-20) batting average with runners in scoring position this season.
"The kid’s been pretty special this year so far,” Kotsay said of the 28-year-old rookie from BYU. “We continue to talk about him, we’ve brought him in in those situations and he’s been darn good. That was a big moment and a big momentum shift in the game.”
The A’s bullpen bolstered its rotation’s workhorse, Luis Severino, on a night when he didn’t have his crispest stuff. He scattered eight hits and issued a walk while striking out four, but still battled the Rangers’ most prolific starter, Nathan Eovaldi, to a draw.
Thanks to Sterner and his successor, Grant Holman, and his two scoreless innings, the Athletics were still in a position to win the game entering the ninth, when Brent Rooker broke through with a two-run homer and Lawrence Butler sealed the win with a his first career grand slam.
"I’m proud of our offense for hanging in there, we were grinding throughout the game and then came up with some big hits there in the ninth,” Rooker said. “Eovaldi was locating really well, putting the fastball where he wanted to, and then commanding that cutter really well as well. And then when you couple that with how good a pitch his splitter is, he's pretty tough.”
Eovaldi struck out eight in six innings, allowing one earned run on six hits and no walks. But the game belonged to the Athletics’ bullpen by the time he was out. They ultimately didn’t need closer Mason Miller or his eye-popping velocity and perfect 9-for-9 save opportunity conversion rate; Tyler Ferguson blanked the Rangers in the ninth instead.
“A nice, comfy win in the ninth is always good,” Rooker said. “And we get to keep Mason down there and ready to go tomorrow.”
The Athletics will vie for their third consecutive series victory in the Thursday's finale against the Rangers, from whom the A’s took two of three games in West Sacramento last week.