Civale unable to boost A's rotation in first start back from IL

WEST SACRAMENTO -- The Athletics were eager for the return of Aaron Civale, who was arguably the most consistent member of their starting rotation before he landed on the injured list last month.

“The last start he had with [Triple-A] Las Vegas went really well,” manager Mark Kotsay said Wednesday afternoon. “We’re excited to have a healthy Civale back on the mound tonight.”

The hope with Civale’s return is that he could help stabilize a rotation that has shuffled in a few different options in the wake of losing him and Luis Severino to the injured list. To do so, he’ll need to perform better than what he showed in his first start back.

A poor outing by Civale set the tone for the A’s in a rough 12-4 loss to the Pirates on Wednesday night at Sutter Health Park. The 31-year-old right-hander was tagged for six runs on nine hits across three-plus innings and was lifted in the fourth without recording an out, marking his shortest start of the season.

Part of the anticipation for Civale taking the mound was built on his lone rehab outing. Making a start at Triple-A last week, the veteran righty pitched 4 1/3 perfect innings and racked up seven strikeouts on 56 pitches.

It was a completely different story Wednesday. Civale was ambushed by the Pirates, who scored three runs before the first out of the game was recorded. Pittsburgh scored another two runs in the second and ran his pitch count -- which was already on a limit of around 75 -- up early.

“There were just a lot of balls that missed middle-middle,” Kotsay said. “For Aaron to be successful, he’s got to have a mix to keep pitchers off-balance. He has to be in good locations down in the zone, for the most part. He threw a couple of cutters that got in the hands that resulted in soft-contact hits.

“We also need to play a little better defense behind him. Any time you can get outs on balls in play that should be outs, that’s important. We didn’t do that for him tonight.”

Asked how his stuff felt Wednesday compared to his rehab start last week, Civale said there wasn’t much of a difference. The missed locations were obviously something he’ll need to clean up, but he did generate a fair amount of swing-and-miss with 14 whiffs. Most importantly for Civale, from a health perspective, he was free of discomfort from the shoulder tendinitis that ailed him in late May.

“Physically, I feel good,” Civale said. “Obviously, that’s the first checkpoint and hurdle coming off the IL. I felt like I just wasn’t executing as well as I should have. I’ll have to fix that in between [starts] and keep going.”

Civale posted a 2.70 ERA through his first nine starts, allowing two earned runs or fewer in seven of those. Then came an outing in Anaheim on May 20 in which he first experienced the shoulder issue, which he pitched through before it worsened in his next start against the Mariners on May 25 and landed him on the IL shortly after.

In theory, Civale should boost a rotation that entered Wednesday holding a combined 6.10 ERA over the last 29 games. With the first one back not so great, he’ll get a shot to get back to early-season form his next time out, likely next week against the Giants.

“I’m trying to come back and add to what we’re doing,” Civale said. “I didn’t do a good job of doing that today, but everyone has been playing great. I’ll do my best to flush it and get back out there next time.”