OAKLAND -- As the A’s pitching staff continued its early-season bout with command issues in Friday’s 17-6 loss to the Mets at the Coliseum, attention quickly shifted over to southern Nevada, where Mason Miller served as a beacon of hope with a dazzling performance in Triple-A Las Vegas.

Promoted from Double-A, Miller dominated in his 2023 Triple-A debut with 11 strikeouts over five hitless innings. His only baserunner reached as a result of a wild pitch on a swinging strikeout, and he reached 100 mph 23 times on 64 pitches.

Miller, Oakland’s No. 3 prospect, generated buzz late in Spring Training when he took the mound against a Mariners lineup filled with most of its regulars and struck out five batters in two innings. Following that outing, A’s manager Mark Kotsay referenced this 2023 season as an opportunity for Miller to “go out and perform and get to the big leagues.”

Since then, the 6-foot-5 right-hander has only continued to impress with a pair of electric outings to begin his season, striking out 19 batters and allowing just two runs on two hits and no walks over 8 2/3 innings.

As tantalizing as that high strikeout total appears, it’s the zero walks that look especially enticing to the A’s right about now. Free passes continue to plague them, with Friday night a low point in a young season.

Six A’s pitchers combined for 17 walks against the Mets. It was the highest walk total in Oakland history and second-highest in franchise history. The last time the A’s walked 16 batters in a game came when they were the Philadelphia Athletics against Cleveland on June 18, 1950.

For the season, Oakland’s 77 walks are the most by a pitching staff in the Majors.

“It’s frustrating,” Kotsay said. “It’s been an issue all season. Free bases have killed us in terms of taking away momentum. It just feels like it’s a non-competitive environment right now.”

Friday began with James Kaprielian, whose career-high seven walks marked the highest total by an A’s starting pitcher since Sonny Gray walked seven against the Rangers on May 3, 2015.

Coming into the night with five walks through his first two outings, Kaprielian matched that total in the second inning alone, walking five of his first six batters faced before surrendering a grand slam to Francisco Lindor. Though he settled down in a scoreless third, a high pitch count led to his departure after just 3 2/3 innings.

“I take one hundred percent blame for this loss,” Kaprielian said. “It’s my job to go out there and attack guys. I tried to do that and felt good with my stuff, but the timing wasn’t there. Seven walks is unacceptable. It’s hard to win ballgames when your starting pitcher doesn’t lead. I put Kots and the entire team in a tough position.”

One of those predicaments was the necessity for Kotsay to bring in Hogan Harris, Oakland’s No. 23 prospect, out of the bullpen to begin the fifth inning of what at the time was a 6-3 ballgame. Making his Major League debut, Harris was charged with six runs after he issued five walks, allowed one hit and recorded only one out.

“I look at that move right now, and I assess myself for putting that kid in that situation,” Kotsay said. “But really, we had limited options in what we could do with how thin the bullpen is.”

A’s relievers entered the night having thrown 55 innings through 13 games, tied for second-most in the Majors. Due to the taxed nature of the bullpen, Kotsay had to make the difficult decision of having a position player pitch for the second time already this season, with backup catcher Carlos Pérez recording the final two outs of the ninth.

This all came on a night in which the A’s continued some positive momentum on offense and actually out-hit the Mets, 13-11, with Brent Rooker, Shea Langeliers and Aledmys Díaz all homering.

A Miller call-up might help things, but even if that were to happen in the near future, the A’s must stabilize their issues with walks. 

How do they go about doing that?

“We continually are sending the message to these guys that they have to throw strikes,” Kotsay said. “Throw strikes in the middle of the plate right now. Don’t walk anybody. If you get hit, you get hit. That’s the message that we’re going to pound.”