Athletics can't overcome early deficit, fall in series opener against Giants
On "A's Cast," Chris Townsend and Shooty Babitt discuss the Athletics' 3-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday at Oracle Park.
Athletics can't overcome early deficit, fall in series opener against Giants originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
We talked about this in the pregame.
Yes, it is still a rivalry, and you hate losing these games.
You lost two out of three to the Giants up in Sacramento.
Now you lose the first game three to one to the San Francisco Giants.
And usually, when the other guy's pitcher goes eight and your pitcher only goes four, you're gonna be on the short end of it.
Chris Townsend alongside the Super Scout, Shooty Babbitt.
And you give Robbie Ray credit.
Obviously, he's been tough on the A's for years, but just not the, the way you wanted to see this thing start, especially with the way the A's had been swinging the bats, especially the last 13 games.
H- it kind of was something that worked against them a little bit because they had been swinging the bat so well.
So you can see how their, approach could be a little aggressive.
And I thought, coming into this game, because of the high number of walks that Robbie Ray had occurred this year, that the A's would go with a different approach.
Be a little patient, try to get the pitch count up a little bit, try to get count leverage and get in some situations where you can let some shaft out.
But I found the A's swinging early in the count, early contact, a lot of first pitch outs, and I think that- that's what allowed Robbie Ray to pitch deep in the game like he did.
So as you alluded to, you gotta tip your hat, to the effort by him.
but I thought we were a little bit jumpy tonight and, we probably could have been a little more selective, if you will.
I just don't wanna tip my hat.
I know.
You're not a t- hat tipper, if you will, so I mean, just on a night like that, you, you just, there's a lo- you're gonna lose a lot of games in Major League Baseball.
Obviously, it's a long season.
But games like this, you hate losing to these guys.
The youngsters say, "Game respect game," and you've gotta- respect their game tonight.
I mean, I mean, you can't be a hater or you gotta be a gamer.
I'm gonna be a hater tonight.
Yeah.
In the next two days, I can guarantee you that.
I'm one that never, has any affection for any left-handed pitcher.
As a right-handed hitter, you always felt that you had a chance to get a couple.
Robbie Ray pretty much, you know, dominated with two pitches tonight.
I mean, he didn't really expand his repertoire, but what he did do is he attacked the zone early on and he got the A's chasing a little bit, and left on left is pretty tough.
When you see Nick Kurtz go Ofer, you know that the pitcher on the bump had some good stuff tonight.
Well, wouldn't you say he upped his trade value tonight?
No question about it.
this is a situation that he wants to be in.
the part of the season that we're about to embark upon is probably the most important two months of the season as you move forward.
So there are a lot of eyeballs that are in the stands, watching every single thing that he does, especially if the Giants have made him available.
'Cause what's value is somebody that can give you innings, right?
If he can give you innings, he becomes valuable.
But the big story in this thing, other than the loss, is Zack Gelof and the hitting streak.
Getting stepped on by Matt Chapman, has to leave the game.
We don't know how long it's going to be, how long he'll be out.
But not only did he have the longest hitting streak, but he had the longest on-base streak.
He won't talk about the worst way you can think about ending a hitting streak, not having the opportunity other than one at bat, and going out having his hand stepped on.
That's brutal news.
Especially where he is at the season right now.
This dude was hitting lead off for us.
He's been doing a lot of damage.
He's been getting on base in a multiple, in multiple ways, and for it to be a freak play like this, it just You just don't see it happen like this.
A lot of times, it's guys sliding in and they scratch you up by getting the cleats up high.
But here, I mean, he was trying to get his balance once he had leaned the other way, and Chappy seemed like he was trying to get out the way.
it's just one of those things, but they alluded to him being, scratched up a little bit and some lacerations.
even though he's leaking a little bit here, you don't see a whole lot of blood coming out, streaming down his hand, so hopefully it's not as bad as it looked.
But when you see a kid as tough as Jeffrey is run off the field right away, it gives you a whole lot of level of concern.
And you think about everything that Zack Gelof has been through in his career, the injuries, the shoulder, surgery, the lat, all the different things that have kept him from being the player we knew he could be, and he finally figured it out again.
And to get hurt, I'm figuring they did X-rays and w- he's gonna be okay.
It's just, what's tough is I know what he's been through.
I know how much it means to him, how much it means to the clubhouse to have him back, 'cause they all know everything that he's been through, and here you're riding a hitting streak and the longest on-base streak, both the longest streaks in the game right now, and to have it just end like this, it's just, it's brutal.
Especially when you don't have this many type of streaks throughout a season.
You would only hope that you could sustain it as long as you possibly can because you know the numbers are gonna catch up with you.
But he's been finding so many ways to get it done and to fight his way all the way into the lead off spot, a guy that is our igniter right now.
And you can kind of feel the air kind of go out the balloon a little bit with the club because these are their guys, and you know how much they pull for him.
We had him on the show- Yeah on a post-game, and he had a great game.
Instead of talking about himself, he was sitting up there, promoting Nick Kurtz and how he should be in the All-Star game, even though he had just had a All-Star performance himself, so- It, it, it lets you know how much these guys care for each other.
Now it's all about how they're gonna rally around him.
Yeah, you gotta win the next two games to even the series.
We'll talk about that a little bit later, 'cause you got the guy you want on the mound.
Gage Jump with his opportunity to pitch at Oracle Park for the first time.
Let's get to the Toyota Turning Point, and one thing that I had mentioned, because, you know, you'd given up 30 home runs in 13 games, but now you're in a pitcher's park.
Keep the ball in your, in the yard, and what happens?
First run of the game for the Giants is a home run.
Yeah, if he had to set it up on a T, that's probably the spot that he would put it on there.
A little angle in the swing, getting both pockets in it, hit it out of the deepest part of the park.
And this is what Shelby's been doing this year.
I mean, hitting with runners in scoring position, making things happen.
I think he's, like, third in baseball, I mean, with an average, that he's hit with runners in scoring position.
So this is a guy you definitely gotta be careful with right now, 'cause he's definitely on a heater.
Last 19 at bats for Matt Chapman going into this game.
O for 19 with eight strikeouts.
Location, location, location.
You look where he missed, Jung-hoo Lee.
You look where he missed with Matt Chapman, all bad location.
Well, when you think about Chapman, you think about most former athletics when they come back and face you, it seem like they find a way to have some type of impact on the game as far as them doing damage.
And, I mean, lo and behold, we've watched Chapman do this a lot of times throughout his career.
You just would hope that it wouldn't happen against you, and, like you said, the numbers do catch up with you.
But when you hang pitches in the zone like that with a guy, then you speed up his bat, he's lucky that he kept him in the ballpark, right?
How do you feel about Savalli's last two starts since coming off the IL?
the first one I give him a mulligan.
I mean, this is a guy that just went down to the minor leagues.
I think he only had one start down there.
guys that are touch and feel guys, the hardest thing for them to do is acquire that command that they have, especially when they depend on precision.
So I didn't feel like he would be that sharp today.
I didn't think he was that bad.
He had a great curve ball going today.
He had pretty good fastball command.
It's just the mistakes that he made, he paid for 'em.
But all in all, Tony, I mean, he didn't surrender a whole lot of damage.
Had we been able to put up any type of offensive challenge, his stu- his start would've looked even better, if you will.
But he only went four.
And I don't know why he only went four, but he only went four.
You know, I'm getting to the point, and I can't believe that I'm saying this myself.
I can't believe you gave someone a mulligan.
We've played a lot of golf, you never give mulligans.
If you pitch four innings nowadays- Don't say it you don't do- Don't say it as many guys in a game.
Unless you're a top tier starter, most of these guys that are coming in, you get 'em, go four and two thirds and watch how hard it is for them to get five innings.
Time and time again, c- you just get a third of a inning.
I see it in the minor leagues.
I'm like, "Are we developing these kids like this?"
You're gonna tell me he couldn't go and get one more hitter?
You had to take him out at four and two thirds?
At least give him an opportunity to get a decision here as far as a win is concerned.
But you get to that pitch count, you get to a certain situation with each guy, and that's what they do.
I mean, it's all quantified.
I'm sorry, man.
Don't tell me.
Shooty Babbitt.
You're gonna be happy with four?
You're happy with four.
I won't say that I'm elated.
I just won't say I'm i- that disappointed.
You're not that shocked.
For him.
Yeah.
Okay?
Because we know what he's capable of.
And you know I'm a Savalli fan.
I told you that coming out of spring training, how much I love this dude, 'cause he competes and he's capable of going deep.
But the last thing you wanna do is, is hurt this guy right now, and it's only his second start back, and we're depending on this dude to give us at least 10 or 12, 15 more starts this year
