WEST SACRAMENTO – Jacob Lopez spun a fantastic gem to win his third straight, slamming the doors on the Tampa Bay Rays and combining with two relievers for a four-hit shutout, leading the Athletics to a 6-0 victory on Tuesday at Sutter Health Park.
Tyler Soderstrom continued to wield a hot bat, clubbing a pair of base hits and scoring twice. Brent Rooker reached base three times and scored twice as the A’s evened the series with the Rays after dropping the opener 24 hours earlier.
Facing his former team for the second time this season, Lopez was nearly untouchable. He allowed four hits in seven scoreless innings and had nine strikeouts without a walk.
In doing so, Lopez became the first A’s pitcher since Cory Lidle in 2002 to have four consecutive scoreless starts. Over that span, Lopez’s ERA has fallen from 4.60 to 3.30.
“This is a big example of a young starter maturing, coming into his own, gaining confidence each start,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “For Jacob, it’s been a little bit of a process, and to see him having the amount of success he’s having, we all felt that there was a chance for him to really do some things on the mound that we hadn’t seen.
“You’re seeing it first-hand now in the last four outings.”
The rookie pitcher was sharp all night, but was particularly crisp in the fourth when the Rays mounted their best threat. With two on and one out, Lopez got Junior Caminero to foul out then struck out Everson Pereira to escape the jam.
“We didn’t have an answer,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “He created a ton of swings-and-misses. He’s got a very unique fastball that helps everything else play up.”
Lopez also threw out Chandler Simpson trying to steal second in the third. Simpson got a big jump, but Lopez stared him down the entire time and made the soft throw to second to get the out.
No signs of panic or anything. Just poise and patience.
Lopez raised his season total to 103 strikeouts in 84 2/3 innings, third-most among rookie pitchers this year.
“I’m definitely growing mentally as the season goes on,” Lopez said. “Just get out of situations and throw strikes. It’s that simple. Every outing, even the bad ones, you try to learn. Just keep building off everything.”
Justin Sterner retired three batters and Tyler Ferguson worked the ninth to complete the A’s second shutout in six games.
Soderstrom singled and scored in the second inning for the A’s first run of the night, then doubled and scored on Lawrence Butler’s two-out double in the fourth. That extended his hitting streak to 12 games, the second-longest active streak in the Majors.
One of the most versatile defenders in Kotsay’s lineup, Soderstrom also made a nice play to chase down Jake Mangum’s deep fly at the warning track in the fifth.
The A’s also got a pair of runs the non-traditional way.
Butler doubled and scored when Luis Urias' high infield popup fell in between Shane Baz and catcher Nick Fortes near the pitching mound for an error. One inning later, Shea Langeliers doubled and came around to score on a wild pitch by Baz that sailed right past Fortes’ glove.
The A’s got a scare in the fourth inning when Rooker was hit on the bill of his batting helmet by an 81 mph curve from Baz. Rooker appeared dazed after getting hit and Kotsay and a team trainer came out to check on him before Rooker made the stroll to first base without help.