ARLINGTON -- Perhaps the only thing less appealing to a closer than a blown save is having to talk about it with the media 15 minutes later, though traditionally they do it anyway. But A's reliever Santiago Casilla was too disappointed Friday night to discuss his walk-off loss to the Rangers.
"I just didn't think I was going to have anything good to say," Casilla said Saturday while speaking for the first time since Joey Gallo's shot off the right-field foul pole ended his five-game scoreless streak.
A's manager Bob Melvin didn't fault Casilla for his unusual silence.
"If a guy doesn't feel like it sometimes, it probably isn't a trend. Hopefully it's an isolated incident," Melvin said.
"It's very difficult when you feel like you have good stuff and you're making good pitches and the results don't come out," Casilla said. "Yesterday I felt that way. I felt like I made great pitches, and they just didn't work out in my favor. I'm not a stranger to baseball -- I know that sometimes when you make pitches like that, it's not going to be the right result every time. It hurt. It was difficult."
Tasked with protecting a 2-1 lead, Casilla gave up back-to-back singles to Jonathan Lucroy and Rougned Odor before Mike Napoli tied the game with a sacrifice fly. With runners on second and third, Casilla decided to attack Gallo, a slugger with enormous power who also led the Majors with 54 strikeouts entering Saturday.
Casilla got ahead of Gallo 1-2, but Gallo worked the count full. Casilla threw an 82-mph knuckle curve, according to Statcast™, and Gallo hit it 404 feet off the foul pole.
The 14-year veteran reliever saw his ERA rise from 2.57 to 5.02 on Friday night.
"When I got ahead, I felt like I had pitches that break and could get him out," Casilla said. "When I had that advantage, I wanted to strike him out, and obviously that curveball just didn't break."