Steven Vogt’s Guardians are now 4-1 against the A’s.
Triston McKenzie came into tonight’s game with a 6.23 ERA/7.20 FIP, the latter number being 7th worst in the league of all pitchers with 10+ IP. His biggest problem: he hadn’t faced the Oakland Athletics yet.
The Cleveland Guardians starter just barely missed the A’s as the No. 5 starter on a team that played its first four games of the season in Oakland, three of which his team won. He got wrecked in the Bronx and Seattle but rolled into the Coliseum and instantly looked like a major league pitcher again.
Instead of taking advantage of McKenzie’s control issues, the A’s offense — which ranks 26th in the league in wRC+, 17% below league average — allowed him to get away with more than he should’ve. Abraham Toro led off the game with a solo homer off the righty but couldn’t execute with runners on base.
A leadoff blast from Abraham Toro pic.twitter.com/pMKkBUcBQD
— A’s on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) April 19, 2024
They even loaded the bases in the 2nd with a two-out Shea Langeliers single followed by a pair of walks, but they once again showed their glaring inability to drive in runs. After that, they let McKenzie settle in and roll through to the 5th inning with a 2-1 lead.
On the mound for the A’s, Joe Boyle looked like a fair match for McKenzie. For the first four innings, Boyle had the game in control for the most part outside of a two-run homer from Will Brennan. Once he reached the 5th, his command unraveled and the Guardians lineup was able to get hit after walk after hit from him, racking up another 5 runs off the rookie, digging the A’s into a 7-1 deficit, nearly insurmountable for the A’s offense.
The only action they got was from the returning Brent Rooker, who didn’t get the start but came in to pinch-hit in the top of the 6th. He struck out on three pitches in his first at-bat but squared up a hanging 78 mph curveball from reliever Scott Barlow in the 9th, pulling it high and just inside of the left-field foul pole.
Brent Rooker off the bench with the 110-mph, 421-foot BOMB ️
pic.twitter.com/YvtdJeT3lL— Karl Buscheck (@KarlBuscheck) April 20, 2024
Kyle Muller, who’s been unexpectedly excellent this season, got called to quiet the Guardians for the last two innings of the game but unfortunately, the A’s defense let him down. He did give up a solo homer to Josh Naylor — older brother of the A’s first-round pick Myles Naylor — and a 2-out single to Tyler Freeman, but he was set to get out of the inning after inducing a soft flyball to left field. Leave it to Seth Brown to fumble the catch and allow Freeman to get all the way home. Another single brought the Guardians’ 10th run in and the A’s night was even more done than it already was.
Steven Vogt’s Guardians continue to have the A’s number this year, already racking up a 4-1 record against Oakland just a few weeks into the season. The A’s will look to put today’s 10-2 loss behind them and get that matchup record, as well as their overall record, closer to even tomorrow with Alex Wood facing off against Logan Allen.