With unsure command, rookie earns first win
Jesús Luzardo said he was riding a stationary bike in the clubhouse after leaving his start Sunday when the A’s and Astros benches cleared in the seventh inning. He watched as Oakland center fielder Ramón Laureano was hit by a pitch, had words with Astros coach Alex Cintrón and charged Houston’s dugout.
“I saw what happened,” said Luzardo, the A’s rookie lefthander. “I just know a (Houston) coach egged on Ramón, and I thought that was wrong from a coaching standpoint, and that’s about it.
“Clearly the frustration is building on that side. And I guess they let it out, I don’t know.”
It was one final dart from Luzardo following the 89 pitches he threw Sunday afternoon to earn his first majorleague victory as the A’s finished a sweep of the Astros with a 72 win. Luzardo held Houston to two runs on a Yuli Gurriel home run while pitching into the sixth inning. He allowed five hits and struck out five while facing the team he’d made his MLB debut against last September.
“He probably will tell you that he didn’t have what he normally has,” manager Bob Melvin said. “But we’re going to be in pretty good shape with him down the road … if that’s just a mediocre game for him stuffwise and commandwise. He’s a terrific talent, and he doesn’t have to have his best stuff even against a team like that to go out and perform at a high level.”
Luzardo’s first inning supported Melvin’s point. He started all three hitters with firstpitch balls, and Jose Altuve lined his fourth pitch of the game for a single. Luzardo then threw a 97 mph fastball to induce a double play by Josh Reddick and hit 99 mph on a fullcount fastball to Alex Bregman for an inningending groundout.
Luzardo said his “command wasn’t where I wanted it necessarily,” but after struggling to locate his slider in his previous outing he had a better feel for the pitch Sunday. Luzardo threw 16 sliders in his previous start and induced one swingthrough. He used the pitch to finish three strikeouts of the Astros — all swinging against righthanded hitters, including Altuve and Carlos Correa.
“Last time out it kind of just felt weird out of my hand,” Luzardo said. “Today I got the feel back and it was toward the end of the outing, so I feel like it’s kind of back on track now.”
The 89 pitches were the most Luzardo has thrown in a majorleague outing. His last fastball was recorded at 96.2 mph. But he walked his final two hitters and was replaced by Yusmeiro Petit in the sixth with two out. Petit hadn’t been warming for long when Melvin summoned him and he walked Gurriel, loading the bases, before striking Correa out on three pitches.
“That was the biggest out of the game obviously at the time,” Melvin said. “And it doesn’t take (Petit) long to get ready.”
While the A’s bullpen has been an asset all season (1.63 ERA), the rotation is starting to have a bigger impact in games as well. Chris Bassitt, Frankie Montas and Luzardo combined to give up three runs on 10 hits in 192⁄3 innings as the A’s swept the Astros, opening a fivegame lead in the division.
“I thought it was big,” Luzardo said of the series. “They’re a great team, a good lineup and all that. So just being able to sweep them and kind of extend our lead in the AL West is great. Just having the ability to win these games, these big games early in the season, I think it’s big for us.”