Young D-backs Hurlers Struggle with Control in Loss to A's

Blake Walston and Yu-Min Lin's rough outings overshadow homers from Jordan Lawlar and Kristian Robinson.

The Oakland A's defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-8 on a walk off homer by Drew Lugbauer in the bottom of the 9th inning. As Spring Training games go this one was somewhat typical of a sloppy, early spring game. 

"There were some identifiable things that we've got to tighten up, but that's what Spring Training is for" said manager Torey Lovullo. 

Indeed in addition to the pitching staff, who issued six walks, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch,  there was a throwing error and a mistake on the bases too.  The A's also made three errors. 

The struggles started with Blake Walston, who walked the leadoff batter in the first on four pitches. He got out of the inning with a 6-4-3 double play, but was not as fortunate the next inning. He issued a one out walk, gave up a base hit and then hit a batter to load the bases.  He almost got out of it, getting a strikeout looking and going to a full count to Nick Allen.  The A's shortstop roped a two run single to left however, ending Walston's outing.

Walston threw 34 pitches, 19 for strikes by my unofficial count. His fastball sat around 90-92 MPH. He threw a couple of good changeups, and felt he threw some good cutters. But overall it was not a positive outing in his view. Evaluating his outing, he was blunt. "It wasn't very good to be honest with you. I've got a lot of things to work on, but it was the first one, there is a lot to build on from here."  Walston was fighting from behind in counts, including several 3-0 counts, which he himself said was unacceptable.  

"It's hard to say that I did a lot of things good today, but I'm going to take what I felt I did good and throw it into tomorrow....There definitely is a bigger picture. You're not really fighting to be the best person out here in spring training. The goal is to be the longest big leaguer, and to play in October. This is just the start of the year, and things are going to get a lot better for me."

Lovullo was a little more gracious in evaluating Walston's outing. 

"I thought he was good in spurts, he was a little frustrated with his outing, I know that after talking to him. But after creating a little bit of his own mess, he was one pitch away from getting out of that....I thought overall the stuff was good, the shape of the stuff was good, he just needs to be a little more consistent and not allow that type of inning to blow up on him." 

The other top pitching prospect that got into the game was Yu-Min Lin, and he had a disastrous outing. Missing badly with his curveball, he was not able to get ahead of hitters and was hit hard. He recorded just one out, while giving three singles, two walks, and three-run homer. leading to five runs. His fastball sat at 92-94 MPH, but the added velocity was of little consolation. 

"Lin was missing arm side, couldn't really command his pitches, and they took advantage of it and dropped a big crooked number on us." said Lovullo.

There were some bright spots to be sure. Jordan Lawlar ripped a home run to left center, a ball he absolutely crushed. Kristian Robinson hit one even further to left center for a three-run homer.  That was followed by a solo shot from minor leaguer Brett Johnson. Emmanuel Rivera had two hits, including a double high off the batters eye that would have probably been a homer anywhere else. Andrés Chaparro and Kevin Newman each had RBI doubles, although it was Chaparro that got caught off second base after taking too big a turn. Lovullo said after the game that Rivera, along with Jace Peterson, will definitely be getting some reps at shortstop this spring. 

Great to see this from Lawlar https://t.co/8ngTMDXEua

— Jack Sommers (@shoewizard59) February 26, 2024

The D-backs are back at Salt River Fields to face World Series Champions The Texas Rangers. Eduardo Rodriguez will appear in his first Cactus League game. Start time is 1:10 P.M.