WEST SACRAMENTO -- The good vibes from the just-completed 5-1 Eastern swing, the five-game win streak, and the eight victories in 11 games?
Crushed, like the 417-foot, three-run home run Jake Burger of the Rangers sent over the center-field fence at Sutter Health Park in the first inning.
The sight of the Athletics tied for first place in the American League West heading into Monday night, mid-April or not, as a sign of resiliency after the 0-4 start?
Gone too, like Burger’s homer to right to lead off the third inning.
The Athletics went from a three-game sweep of the Mets in New York on Sunday to an 8-1 loss to Texas on Monday, and from throwing shutouts in three of the previous four outings to a sloppy start by Luis Severino, all in one reality check of a night. That much is definite. Still to be determined is what time warp their cross-country charter flight passed through en route to Northern California.
The eighth-inning home run by Lawrence Butler to break up a shutout, along with his defensive gem of stretching his left arm over the right-field wall to take a homer away from Corey Seager in the fifth inning, would have to count as good news for the A’s. Third baseman Max Muncy sustaining only a bruised left hand when he was hit by a pitch was a heavy sigh of relief.
Muncy raised the hand to chest level after the game in the locker room to show the noticeable swelling. But he had seen worse last season, when he fractured his right hand close to the same area just on the opposite hand, an injury that sidelined him for 52 games. This time, he spoke of possibly missing only one game, Tuesday against the Rangers, with a bruise before returning for the third contest of the series.
“That’s a positive for us tonight,” manager Mark Kotsay said, needing one in a night when Severino’s early wildness had the Athletics immediately playing catch-up.
Severino struck out the first batter he faced, Brandon Nimmo, but then walked Evan Carter and Seager before Burger made him pay with the homer to center that gave Texas a 3-0 lead. It was about two hours after he had emphasized how A’s pitchers limiting “free bases” was a key to the road success against both New York teams.
Then Severino walked Ezequiel Duran to lead off the second inning before escaping unharmed by striking out two of the next three Rangers. Burger homered again to open the third, before Severino began to pitch much better – he threw 34 pitches in the first inning alone and was at 60 after three, but lasted six innings while giving up four runs, all earned, and six hits on 94 pitches in all.
“Everything happened in the first inning,” he said. “After that, I’m good. I just need to handle the first inning. I don’t know why I’m walking people just in the first inning and then after that I’m feeling better. I need to figure it out. I feel like if I do, I’m going to be a lot better in the game, going deeper in the game. It’s going to be better for us.”
“For him to settle back in after that first inning and pitch well,” Kotsay said, “that’s the Sevy we expect and I think that’s the one we’re going to see going forward.”