Brooks relives tough outing against Blue Jays

TORONTO -- Aaron Brooks readied to forget about the nightmare that was his first career start at Rogers Centre. Instead, he relived it.

Making his third start in an A's uniform, having pitched to a 1.26 ERA in his first two, Brooks was rocked for eight runs in just 1 2/3 innings in a 10-3 loss to the Blue Jays on Wednesday night, fighting off flashbacks from last May when he served up seven runs as a Royal without getting out of the first inning.

This time, Brooks will be afforded the opportunity to redeem himself.

"When I was with the Royals, I was going back [to the Minors] no matter what happened," Brooks said, "so here's a little bit different of a situation for me knowing I do have the four days to come back and continue working and make the next start."

Brooks, acquired by the A's in the Ben Zobrist trade, buried himself early with a 2-0 offering that Chris Colabello hit for a three-run home run to left field with one out in the first. After retiring each of his next three batters, Brooks boarded his final six -- including former Athletic Josh Donaldson, who collected his second hit to drive in a run -- before being pulled in favor of Felix Doubront.

"Mostly location, a lot of balls in the middle of the plate," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "You got a pretty hot-hitting team and when you miss in the middle of the plate you end up paying. Got behind some. Just wasn't as sharp as we'd see the last couple times."

"It was just unfortunate to not be able to get ahead of guys," Brooks said. "They pretty much eliminated every pitch but the fastball and took advantage."

Melvin called Doubront, who gave the A's six innings of work, "the savior."

"You look at that, you wonder how deep you have to go in your 'pen," he said. "You have to think about all sorts of potential options if they continue to swing the bats like that. To come in and finish the game out for us really saved the bullpen."