CINCINNATI – In a second half that is now mostly about seeing the development of their young players, particularly on the pitching side, getting this version of Jacob Lopez the rest of the way would be huge for both him and the Athletics beyond 2026.
Getting another look as a starter for the A’s after struggles led to his demotion to Triple-A Las Vegas earlier this season, Lopez took another step towards making himself a mainstay by bringing the filth on Wednesday night, recording his first eight outs via strikeout. Per Elias, dating back to 1961, Lopez is the first A’s pitcher in that time to record his first eight outs of a game via strikeout.
The downside of racking up that many strikeouts can often be a high pitch count early, something Lopez faced. Still, he completed five solid innings on 87 pitches and kept the A’s afloat, holding the Reds to two runs on four hits and one walk with a season-high nine strikeouts in a 3-2 loss at Great American Ball Park.
As impressive as Lopez can look in his ability to miss bats, we’ve also seen him struggle with walks in his time with the A’s. That was not an issue on Wednesday, though, as evidenced by his issuing only one free pass. Lopez constantly got ahead of hitters, pounding the zone with first-pitch strikes to 16 of the 19 batters he faced.
“It’s really key for him to get ahead of guys,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “It makes everything else play up and play better. We saw that tonight. He had a great mix getting swing-and-miss on the sweeper-slider and getting it on the fastball up above. … Really good night for Jacob.”
The slider was Lopez’s most-thrown pitch (30) on the night, generating four whiffs and utilized as the putaway pitch on three of his punchouts. That complemented the cutter, his second-most-thrown pitch (29), which generated seven whiffs and finished off four strikeouts.
It wasn’t a flawless outing. Lopez did surrender a go-ahead solo homer to Matt McLain that just cleared the wall in right-center on a 1-0 cutter that leaked over the plate. The 28-year-old left-hander was also a bit frustrated by too many extended at-bats when he reached two strikes on hitters.
“That [first-pitch strike] aspect of the game was pretty good,” Lopez said. “I got to two strikes early. It was a good outing. But just a lot of pitches after getting to two strikes. I need to clean that up a little bit.”
The window is there for Lopez to get plenty more opportunities to clean that up. He’s now part of a rotation that features two rookies in Gage Jump and Mason Barnett, along with Jack Perkins, who only has 13 Major League starts under his belt.
Lopez is still somewhat inexperienced in his own right, with Wednesday marking just his 34th start in the big leagues. He’s still trying to find himself at this level, and this season has certainly had its lows, with him being sent back to the Minors after posting a 6.75 ERA through his first 12 games (10 starts) of the season.
Since getting recalled on July 7, however, this has been a totally different Lopez, now holding a 2.29 ERA in four starts after the All-Star break. It’s almost reminiscent of his dominant stretch in the Majors last year, when he went 7-2 with a 2.17 ERA and 85 strikeouts over 70 2/3 innings in 13 starts from June 8-Aug. 19, posting the third-lowest ERA in MLB over that stretch.
“Night and day difference,” Lopez said of his first big league stint this year compared to his second. “I feel a little bit like how I felt last year in terms of just being aggressive and being very confident attacking the hitters. Whatever happened the first two months of the season was tough. I’m just trying to persevere and finish the season strong.”
Of course, it’s not lost on Lopez that his stretch of success last season ended on a downer, as he was diagnosed with a season-ending left elbow flexor strain after a start in Seattle against the Mariners on Aug. 24.
Healthy again, these final two months present a chance for Lopez to write a much happier ending to his season this time around.
“It’s on my mind a little bit,” Lopez said. “Around this time last year is when I went down with the elbow injury. I’m just going to continue to do everything I can off the mound to finish strong.”