SAN DIEGO -- After taking a no-hitter into the ninth inning at Angel Stadium his last time out, all eyes were on Athletics starter J.T. Ginn on Saturday night to see what he might have in store for an encore.
Ginn held the Padres hitless, but it was nowhere near the brilliance he displayed earlier this week against the Angels. The right-hander was chased after just 2 1/3 innings as he issued a career-high six walks, turning Saturday into essentially a bullpen day for the A’s in a 2-0 loss in San Diego.
“Tonight was a completely different outing, obviously,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “He just didn’t have command of anything, really. Competed. That’s the word I would use tonight. He competed.”
Ginn was pushed to the brink of exhaustion in the second inning. The Padres worked 16 foul balls off him in what became a 45-pitch frame. Yet somehow, Ginn battled through that clear lack of feel for his pitches to limit San Diego to one run, which scored as a result of Ginn hitting Fernando Tatis Jr. with the bases loaded.
“For him to go 45 pitches in the second inning, I was really kind of pushing him there to get us through to try to cover some of the bullpen,” Kotsay said. “I gave him a chance to get out of that inning, and he did. We talk a lot about just being able to command the baseball. Tonight was one of those nights where he just didn’t have command.”
Ginn let out a loud roar as he walked off the mound following a flyout by Gavin Sheets to end the second. It was a superb escape job, but the heavy workload certainly took its toll. Allowed an opportunity to go back out for the bottom of the third, Ginn followed a strikeout of Manny Machado by walking Nick Castellanos, spelling the end of his outing as Kotsay went to the bullpen.
“Overall, just a bad day,” Ginn said. “I couldn’t find the strike zone. Six walks kind of tell the story. … It’s a tough one, but I’ll bounce back.”
It was nothing like his previous outing of dominance. There was, however, something impressive about Ginn holding the Padres to one run in that laborious second inning.
The workload alone was historic. It was just the seventh time an A’s pitcher has thrown 45 or more pitches in one inning since pitch counts were first tracked in 1988. The last A’s pitcher to throw 45 or more pitches in an inning was Édgar González, who threw 48 on June 27, 2009.
There is something to be said for the way Ginn -- who in his previous three starts had allowed just three runs with three walks and 21 strikeouts over 22 innings -- battled without his best stuff. Reflecting on it after the game, though, it was difficult for him to find a moral victory.
“I mean, it’s tough to take a positive out of a six-walk outing,” Ginn said. “I pride myself on being a strike-thrower and someone who attacks the zone. This was out of character for me. I’ll just wash it.”
Ginn’s uncharacteristic outing set the tone for what was an odd overall game for the A’s, who lost despite the bullpen shutting it down with 5 2/3 scoreless innings and the offense outhitting the Padres, 5-2.
You can point to the missed opportunities in this one. The A’s had the leadoff man on in four of the first five innings, including runners at the corners with no outs in the first and bases loaded with one out in the fourth. Ultimately, the A’s left eight runners on base and were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
To end the night, the A’s squared off against their former closer in Mason Miller for the first time since the blockbuster trade that sent him to San Diego last July for a package headlined by current No. 1 A’s prospect Leo De Vries. Miller made quick work of his former team with a 1-2-3 ninth.
“Against this team, you try to get the lead by the sixth inning,” Kotsay said. “You saw again a run of four relievers that have had a lot of success this year and make it difficult to score. We had our opportunities. … That’s kind of the story. Any time you only give up two hits in a game, there’s a good chance you should be on the winning side.”