WEST SACRAMENTO -- Just when it looked like Luis Severino was going to end what has been a rough first half with the Athletics on a high note, he fell victim to some porous defense.
After working through four innings of one-run ball against the Blue Jays, Severino was derailed by a six-run fifth that was largely self-inflicted by the A’s in Friday night’s 7-6 loss to Toronto at Sutter Health Park.
“I feel like I was on top of everything,” Severino said. “Fastball command was pretty good. I was able to strike out a lot of guys today. It felt like one of those days where you could go out and give seven or eight innings for the team. But I ran into a little bit of bad luck in that [fifth] inning.”
The downfall began with one out in the fifth, when second baseman Zack Gelof misfired a ground ball hit to him by George Springer for an error. Severino surrendered Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s 1,000th hit one batter later to set up runners at the corners, but recovered with a strikeout of Bo Bichette for the second out.
Then came another miscue on a steal attempt by Guerrero that saw shortstop Max Muncy field the throw at second base from catcher Shea Langeliers and fire a low throw back home that Langeliers was unable to corral. Had the throw been on line, Springer would have been out by plenty. Instead, Springer scored the second run of the game for Toronto and gave way to the big inning.
“I don’t really think it’s bad luck,” manager Mark Kotsay said of the fifth. “I think it’s bad defense. It started off with the error. … That led to an inning where it seems like we just can’t execute the fundamentals. If we play catch, Springer is out by 30 feet. That’s the inning where the game got away from us.”
It wasn’t the ideal finish to the first half for Severino, who actually lowered his season ERA to 5.16 as a result of only being charged with one earned run in 4 2/3 innings. Still, the veteran right-hander came away encouraged by the way he felt, racking up a season-high eight strikeouts and showing an uptick in velocity with a fastball that averaged 97.3 mph – 1.5 mph higher than his season average, per Statcast.
“Tonight’s game by Sevy, the line is accurate,” Kotsay said. “It’s one earned run and eight strikeouts, which is more strikeouts than he’s had lately. He had an aggressive mentality. You saw him attacking with his fastball and get some swing and miss.”
There was a notable difference in Severino’s plan of attack from his recent outings. He typically likes to distribute his four-seam fastball and sinker somewhat evenly throughout his outings. But on Friday, of his six pitches utilized, he heavily favored the four-seamer by throwing it for 48 of his 96 total pitches.
Given that his four-seamer maxed out at 98.8 mph and served as the putaway pitch on five of his eight strikeouts, Severino said he believes maintaining that fastball-heavy approach could bring him greater fortunes in the second half following a first half in which he went 2-11 over a team-leading 20 starts with a .269 opponents’ batting average.
“I feel like I still have a good fastball and I need to use it more,” Severino said. “Just go away a little bit from the sinker and throw the true fastball more. The sinker is good, but it’s a pitch that is going to make contact every time I throw it. The fastball is a good pitch to chase. I was locating it good today, and that’s going to be my approach. Go after hitters with the fastball, and, hopefully, that’s going to help my secondary pitches.”
The A’s nearly erased that one bad inning with a furious comeback attempt in the ninth, scoring three runs off Blue Jays closer Trevor Hoffman. Brent Rooker’s RBI single closed the deficit to one run and brought rookie sensation Nick Kurtz, who had already launched his 16th homer of the year three innings prior, to the plate as the potential game-winning run. Kurtz, who reached base three times on the night, battled Hoffman to a 3-2 count before striking out on a splitter to end it.
“Another nice night for him,” Kotsay said of Kurtz. “The kid can’t come through every time. … But the fight was there from the club.”