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TOKYO — Starting pitching was the only real weakness the A’s were considered to have entering the regular season. One game in, that weakness has been exposed.
Mike Fiers stated his desire to set the tone for the regular season in the days leading up to the first Opening Day start of his career. The A’s will need to change that tone after Wednesday’s 9-7 loss to the Seattle Mariners.
After cruising through two innings with a two-run cushion Fiers suddenly lost his command in the third. The right-hander had already allowed a run but recorded two outs before struggling to throw strikes as he hit Jay Bruce with a pitch and walked Edwin Encarnacion to load the bases. When he found the strike zone again, it was with a fastball left over the heart of the plate for Domingo Santana to mash well beyond the Tokyo Dome’s right-field wall for a grand slam that put the Mariners ahead 5-2 at the time.
“They made it tough for me,” Fiers said. “All the strikes I threw they hit pretty hard early. The third inning kind of got away. A lot of deep counts and one big hit from Domingo kind of got me there. It definitely hurts. I make a pitch and get out of the inning, who knows what happens?”
Fiers threw 36 pitches in the nightmarish inning and was pulled by A’s manager Bob Melvin in favor of Liam Hendriks after just three innings of work at 58 pitches on the night.
“You give up a five-spot with two games here, you can run some pitchers out two games in a row,” Melvin said. “It just felt like that was not the way to go with some upcoming days of. It’s a different story if we’re looking at that those 18 games in a row we have coming up. He probably goes back out there and tries to go more innings.”
Hendriks and Ryan Dull were not great in relief of Fiers, both allowing runs. Dull surrendered a three-run home run to Tim Beckham in the fifth that really busted the game open for Seattle (1-0) with a 9-4 lead.
The A’s (0-1) established in 2018 they could score plenty of runs. They finished fourth in the majors in runs scored (813) and third in home runs (227.) That will likely be a strength again in 2019 as the offense did its best to overcome the pitching woes.
Stephen Piscotty, Khris Davis and Matt Chapman each homered, with Chapman’s three-run homer in the seventh shrinking the deficit to just two runs. The crazy late-inning comeback also became a common occurrence for the A’s in 2018, leading players to begin feeling like they might just start off the new season with more of the same. But Hunter Strickland shut the door in the ninth to bring any of those hopes to an end.
Still, responding with late runs is a positive the A’s will take this early in the season.
“We treat every at-bat the same and I think that’s why we’ve been able to pull out those late wins,” Chapman said. “We showed we still have that fight and are not going to get complacent. We’re always battling and that’s a good testament to our team.”
The Mariners victory capped what was a special day for Ichiro Suzuki in what is likely be his farewell series.
Ichiro played the first three innings of the game and went 0 for 1 with a walk before Seattle manager Scott Servais removed him from the game after he had run out to his position in right field. The removal allowed the Japanese star to soak in the ovation from the 45,757 fans in attendance who cheered literally anything Ichiro did throughout the night, even simply catching a fly ball during batting practice. Ichiro received hugs from each of his Mariners teammates and tipped his cap over to the A’s dugout, where even manager Bob Melvin and his players participated in a round of applause for Suzuki.
“It was a moment, for sure,” Melvin said. “I think every time he comes to the plate and every time a ball is hit to him, there are going to be a lot of moments. We have one more game left, and the fans are certainly supporting him, as they should. He’s meant a lot to the game and you understand there are going to be moments like that during the game.”
“It was cool to be a part of that because that’s kind of a once in a lifetime deal,” Chapman said. “It was cool to be on the same field as him.”
Ichiro will play in Thursday night’s game, which is expected to be the final game of his major league career. It was the first and last time Fiers has faced him in an at-bat, an experience he said he will appreciate despite the loss.
“The crowd got a little bit louder when he got up,” Fiers said. “That was pretty cool. I’d rather get the win and pitch better, but definitely a cool experience.”
Chapman vs Gordon
Dee Gordon laid down a perfect bunt with runners on first and second in the fourth inning that appeared as it would go for a single, but the Gold Glove third baseman charged hard to pick the ball up and fire an off-balance throw to Matt Olson at first for the out.
After Gordon tried and failed to bunt for a hit against Chapman multiple times last season, the two seem to have a rivalry brewing. Chapman enjoys it and called Gordon the best bunter he has ever seen.
“We have a little back and forth going I think because of one play that was bang-bang last year he was called out on and was all mad,” Chapman said. “He’s definitely going to try and get one down on me this year for sure. I’ll be ready.”
