Oakland A’s JP Sears pinpoints biggest issue in his shortest MLB start

OAKLAND — For JP Sears, this was, by all measures, an afternoon to forget.

Sears allowed a career-high eight earned runs and pitched just 1 1/3 innings — his shortest start in the big leagues — while Minnesota’s Bailey Ober threw his first career complete game as the A’s were blown out by the Twins 10-2 on Saturday at the Coliseum.

“Overall, a lot of pitches just in the middle of the plate,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay of Sears’ outing. “This is an aggressive hitting team. They don’t strike out much. They swing at strikes. At one point in the game, they were firing swing after swing at balls in the zone. We saw that throughout the game.

“Real tough day for JP, one that we’ll just turn the page on.”

Sears lacked command from the first batter, allowing one run as he surrendered two singles and hit two batters. The second inning, though, is where the Twins imposed their will.

The left-hander’s second inning unfolded as such: double, hit by pitch, three-run home run, single, single, two-run double, fly out, single, RBI double. By the time Sears was pulled, the A’s trailed 7-1.

That deficit expanded to 8-1 when long reliever Osvaldo Bido allowed an inherited baserunner to score.

“Obviously, today was a tough day for me,” Sears said. “Multiple things went wrong, but mainly chalk it up to the first two innings of fastball command being really poor. That’s where I’ve done really well in games, when I’ve come out and commanded my fastball well and been able to throw my slider and offspeed off that. So, I think that was a big issue in the first inning (today) and the first inning last week.”

Sears’ start against Minnesota on Saturday was his second in the last week, having faced them at Target Field on June 16. Sears also endured a rough beginning in that outing, allowing three runs in the first inning.

The left-hander still managed to pitch into the fifth inning despite the rough start, giving up four runs over 4 1/3 innings. Sears’ last two starts against the Twins (5 2/3 innings, 12 earned runs) have inflated his ERA from 4.02 to 5.04.

“You just remind yourself that it’s a long season,” Sears said. “You remind yourself that the last two tough games have been against the same team, so we won’t be playing those guys anymore. They’ve been swinging the bats really well.

“So, just trying to go back to what I think will get me back where I need to be, and that’s just fastball command.”

Sears has had rough starts this season — he allowed seven earned runs on April 27 — but Saturday’s outing was especially atypical given that Sears is Oakland’s workhorse.

Entering play, Sears pitched at least four innings in all but one start this season. Despite recording just four outs, Sears still leads the A’s in innings (84) by a wide margin. The only other A’s starter who has even thrown 60 innings is Mitch Spence (63).

While Sears had the worst start of his career, Ober arguably had his best. JJ Bleday and Tyler Soderstrom each contributed solo home runs, but that would be Oakland’s only offense as Ober turned in the first complete game of his career, needing only 89 pitches to do so.

“I kind of referred it to a Maddux-like outing where he got the lead, pounded the zone, and made us beat him,” Kotsay said. “We didn’t have any success with that. A couple good swings fired off by JJ and Tyler, but outside of that, we just got beat today. He pitched to the score, really: aggressively in the zone and went right after guys.”

With Sears recording just four outs, Bido helped save Oakland’s bullpen by tossing five innings of two-run ball with six strikeouts. Bido’s 106 pitches were a career-high, the first time he’s cracked the century mark in a major league game.

Armando Alvarez, fresh off earning his first call-up, made his major-league debut, entering in the eighth inning as a defensive replacement. In his first career plate appearance, Alvarez grounded out on a check swing back to Ober.

“He’s a super, super ultra competitor and a great teammate, so I’m super happy for him,” said Sears, who played in the Yankees’ minor-league system with Alvarez.