SEATTLE – The Athletics were on the wrong end of history made by Cal Raleigh in an 11-4 loss to the Mariners at T-Mobile Park, but the bigger concern heading back home is the health status of rookie standout Jacob Lopez.
Feeling some discomfort after being pulled in the bottom of the third inning of Sunday’s series finale, Lopez went through an evaluation with the A’s training staff. After the game, manager Mark Kotsay revealed that Lopez was diagnosed with left forearm tightness.
The issue stems back to his previous start in Minnesota on Tuesday, when Lopez said he experienced some soreness in the aftermath of holding the Twins to three runs (two earned) on four hits and one walk with eight strikeouts across six innings in a win.
“I felt it a little bit after the start in Minnesota,” Lopez said. “I did some more things in between starts and thought I was good.”
Given Lopez’s recent run of success, it was clear something was off on Sunday. Entering the game having allowed just two earned runs and a total of seven walks issued in 30 innings (0.60 ERA) over his past five starts, Lopez was tagged for nine runs on six hits, including a pair of home runs by Raleigh, and issued a career-high six walks in two-plus innings.
“The lack of command showed back up,” Kotsay said. “When we took Jacob out, he didn’t really feel great … It might have led to the outing. But sometimes you’re on a roll and you have a bad one.”
Despite not feeling his best, Lopez did not attribute his poor outing to the arm issue.
“I think the results were just from poor pitches,” Lopez said. “Just one of those days where I was the worst player on the field.”
It was notable that the average velocities on all five of Lopez’s pitches on Sunday were down slightly from their season average.
“We’re going to get him looked at tomorrow,” Kotsay said. “We’ll have more tomorrow on that side of it.”
Lopez, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021 that caused him to miss the entire 2022 season while in the Rays’ system, said he was unsure about the severity of this injury.
“I have no idea right now,” Lopez said. “I’ve already had a TJ. This feels different. It feels more in my flexor, so, we’ll see how it goes.”
Losing Lopez for any extended time would be a tough blow. Acquired from Tampa Bay this offseason along with Jeffrey Springs, the 28-year-old left-hander has emerged as one of the top rookie pitchers in baseball. Entering Sunday, Lopez’s 2.17 ERA since June 8 was the third-lowest in MLB over that stretch. For the season, meanwhile, he came into the day tied for second among Major League rookies in strikeouts (111), tied for fourth in wins (seven) and ranked fourth among all rookies with 81 or more innings pitched in ERA (3.28).
Lopez could also become the second A’s starter lost to injury over the past few days. On Friday, fellow rookie Jack Perkins was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder strain.
Osvaldo Bido is expected to fill Perkins’ spot in the rotation. Should Lopez also require a stint on the IL, his replacement could be Joey Estes, who impressed out of the bullpen on Sunday with four scoreless innings.
Recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas on Friday and making his first Major League appearance since April 6, Estes took over to begin the bottom of the fifth inning and retired 12 of his 13 batters faced. One of those batters was Victor Robles, with whom he was involved in a viral incident last week in the Minors when Robles was on a rehab assignment and heaved his bat towards him during a game.
As opposed to his rough first two starts with the A’s to begin the season before getting sent down, Estes was aggressive in the zone and looked more like the top prospect he was once billed as. The 23-year-old right-hander pounded the zone with strikes on 32 of his 40 pitches, including 10 first-pitch strikes.
“We’ve seen it from him before where he just executes pitches, gets early contact and gets outs,” Kotsay said. “That was a great performance by him today. … I don’t want to rule out the fact that there’s an opportunity for him to still be a starter in this organization.”