MESA, Ariz. -- A pitcher’s first couple of Spring Training appearances can get monotonous at times, save when a game breaks out within a game. A.J. Puk engaged in one on Thursday against the Rockies.

Making his second Cactus League start in what ended as a 5-2 victory for the A’s, Puk was tested by a Rockies lineup that featured most of its regulars, including star third baseman Nolan Arenado.

Puk and Arenado found themselves in a duel with two outs and a runner on first. After getting ahead in the count, 1-2, with three straight fastballs, Puk attempted to finish off the slugger with his breaking stuff. The first breaking ball was fouled off by Arenado, the second missed inside for a ball. Puk then went back to the heater.

Arenado caught just enough of Puk’s 96-mph fastball to stay alive with another foul off. On the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Puk challenged again with a fastball, this time 94 mph. Arenado crushed it, with Hohokam Stadium’s exit velocity meter reading it at 101 mph, but the line drive was low and got hauled in by Robbie Grossman in deep left field to end the first inning.

“He smoked that ball,” Puk said. “Good thing he didn’t lift it or else it would have hit off the scoreboard. That’s baseball for you. It’s definitely cool facing those kinds of guys.”

Puk turned in a scoreless two innings on 23 pitches, slightly increasing the workload from his first outing against the Cubs (one scoreless inning on 12 pitches). As the left-hander put it, he’s still at the point in spring where it’s mostly about “trying to shake the cobwebs” rather than paying attention to results. Though manager Bob Melvin was pleased that Puk has been able to make quick work of the front end of now two lineups that have featured its star players.

“He got a lineup today that gets your attention. They brought a lot of their big boys,” Melvin said. “It’s good to see. You want him to have that kind of look early in spring. He was really good again with all his pitches.”

The steady workload increase will continue for Puk in his next start, which is likely to come Tuesday against the White Sox, with a pitch count upped to around 50. Puk has been so efficient he even had to go down to the bullpen to throw some more after his two quick innings Thursday, but he doesn’t mind the slow process.

“I’m fine with the pace. It’s spring,” Puk said. “Everything is just making sure I’m healthy. Don’t want to rush anything too quick and tweak something. Just build each outing more and more.”

Bassitt's baffling curveball
Chris Bassitt won’t even try to dance around it. He thoroughly enjoys the looks of bewilderment left on the faces of hitters caught off guard by his slow, loopy curveball.

Now expected to move into more of a swingman role out of the A’s bullpen, the curve could become even more of a weapon for Bassitt. But first, he’ll look to improve it this spring to the point where he feels comfortable throwing it at any moment.

“I want every hitter to come up knowing I have it, just because I know it makes my fastball play up,” Bassitt said of his curveball. “Say I’m throwing 93-95 mph. If they have to guard for 70, that 93-95 turns into 95-98 almost. It’s just throwing it enough times to put it in the hitter’s head.

“The one thing I have to do this spring and this year is being able to throw it for strikes at any time. Throw it 0-0 for a strike or one out throw it for a strike. Then basically the hitter, 0-2, 1-2 or 2-2, whatever the count may be, once they see [the curveball] in my hand, I want them to be like, ‘[Dang], this might be a strike.’”

Bassitt unleashed the pitch at 71 mph against Raimel Tapia in Thursday's game for a swinging strikeout to end the fourth, the first of two scoreless relief innings for him against the Rockies.

The curve was Bassitt’s fourth-least utilized pitch of 2019, throwing it 309 times. But when it was thrown, the pitch was extremely effective, inducing a 34.1 percent whiff rate. Part of not throwing it so often is to keep the element of surprise intact on the mound, but if Bassitt is going to replicate that success he found in ‘19, it will be in large part due to a devastating curveball.

“There’s such a gap in speeds that even when you see it, and have to be ready for his fastball or cutter, it’s tough to stay back on,” Melvin said. “We saw last year it ended up being a really good pitch for him. He got a lot of swings-and-misses with it, because it’s almost a 20-mph gap. It’s almost like you have to look for it to be able to track it. He’s got good command of it, too.”

Up next
Right-hander Mike Fiers will make his second Cactus League outing on Friday when the A’s face the Reds at 12:05 p.m. PT. Fiers will increase his workload after an impressive two perfect innings against the Giants in his spring debut. Anthony DeSclafani is scheduled to start for Cincinnati. Fans can listen live on A's Cast.