OAKLAND -- Dillon Overton will likely want to forget about his second big league start as quickly as it ended.
The A's rookie faced just two batters in the fourth, both of them doubling, before getting the hook Thursday; and by the time the inning was over, he had eight runs attached to his name -- six of them recorded in a messy third inning of a 12-6 loss to the Giants.
"This is only my second start up at this level. Everything was moving pretty fast," Overton said. "Usually I can do a pretty good job of making adjustments as the game goes on. But tonight it just didn't really work out that way."
Now Overton will have to wait longer than five days to redeem himself. The young left-hander was optioned to Triple-A Nashville after the game, paving the way for Rich Hill's expected return from the disabled list Saturday.
Overton, who had not pitched above the Double-A level prior to this season, will at least return to Nashville with his first big league win in hand, having picked it up in his first start in Anaheim on Saturday.
From there, the grooming process can continue, and this time with big league experience under his belt. After surrendering three home runs in 5 2/3 innings in his first start, Overton was tagged for two Thursday, back-to-back shots to Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford in the third.
It was an inning that began with a roar, when Giants ace Madison Bumgarner, hitting for himself after the Giants opted to forgo the designated hitter, delivered a leadoff double that glanced off of center fielder Billy Burns' glove. Rattled, Overton issued an ensuing walk to Denard Span, allowing the flood gates to open, beginning with an Angel Pagan base hit to left field that a sliding Coco Crisp couldn't grab. That set the stage for consecutive homers.
"His changeup's his pitch," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "Looked like he was just missing with some pitches that inning and got into some bad counts. Wasn't really able to establish that pitch. Then when he threw it over the plate, they hit them."
"Usually I can throw the changeup any time, any place," Overton said. "But tonight I just didn't really have a good feel for it. It seemed to be a problem with a lot of my pitches. I uncharacteristically left them up and I usually don't do that. At this level, you leave them up and they make you pay for it."
Even Bumgarner.
The Giants became the first Major League club since the Chicago White Sox in 1976 to forgo the opportunity to use a designated hitter. The only other time it occurred was in 2009, when the Tampa Bay Rays forfeited the designated hitter due to submitting an incorrect lineup card. In June 1988, Rick Rhoden was the DH for the Yankees on a day he wasn't pitching.
"I've watched him on TV for years now," Overton said of Bumgarner. "I knew he could hit. The first two pitches I threw to him I thought were strikes and the umpire didn't really help me out with those, which led me to having to put one in the zone so he could call it a strike. I left that one up and Bum made me pay for it.
"He swings the bat like he's an everyday position player. He swings it with passion. He swings it hard. He's trying to hit a home run every time he gets up there. So yeah, when he gets in the box I treat him like a position player."