Who else is ready for the regular season?
The Athletics lost on Thursday afternoon at Salt River Fields against the Diamondbacks, getting pummeled 11-3.
Right-hander Joey Estes got the start today, one day after learning that he had officially cracked the season-opening starting rotation. At this point Estes had nothing really to pitch for except pride, and perhaps a good feeling entering the long regular season.
Instead today was Estes’ worst day on the mound this spring. A tough start saw the young righty give up six runs in the first two innings before settling in a bit. He only allowed one run over the next three frames before running out of gas in the sixth and allowing Arizona to rally again. He didn’t record one out in the sixth and the D-Backs ended up scoring four more runs that inning.
The A’s bats meanwhile were stymied against Arizona starting pitcher Zac Gallen. The club managed to collect some hits and a pair of walks against the co-ace of the team but wasn’t able to string them together for a major rally. They did tag him for one run so he didn’t have a perfect day on the hill, but with the score the way it was he didn’t need to be perfect against the A’s. The Athletics scored a pair of runs in the seventh to make it at least respectable but the end result was the same: the A’s lost and fell to 14-13 on the spring.
Not a great showing from a pitcher who just got the honor of opening the year in the starting rotation. He didn’t need to be perfect today but dang, that couldn’t have felt good in what was his final tune up of the spring. Let’s hope it was just a blip and not a sign of things to come for the young right-hander.
Spring training continues tomorrow afternoon back at Hohokam Stadium. Opening Day starter Luis Severino is set to take the ball for what will be his final spring training contest. Let’s hope it goes a little smoother for our ace than it did for Estes today. Severino will be facing the Kansas City Royals and their Opening Day starter Cole Ragans, so another good test for the bats. See you all then!