Frankie Montas took the mound to start out the eighth inning yesterday afternoon with an opportunity at historical past. He hadn’t allowed a success all sport, and choosing up steam; his final pitch of the seventh inning hit 99 mph on the stadium gun, one in every of his hardest pitches of the day. He reduce down the primary two batters of the eighth in brief order – 4 pitches, two grounders – leaving him solely 4 outs from the primary no-hitter of his profession.
Montas is among the finest pitchers in baseball. A 12 months in the past, he put collectively his first full season, 32 begins of three.37 ERA excellence. This 12 months, he’s cleansing issues up across the edges: fewer walks, extra grounders, and extra innings per begin. His 3.21 ERA, 3.15 FIP, and a couple of WAR are all within the high 20 amongst beginning pitchers.
One small draw back: Montas plies his commerce in Oakland. That 2 WAR is greater than each different participant on the A’s has amassed mixed (that rest-of-roster complete is available in at 1.8 WAR, if you happen to’re holding rating at house). Baseball is a crew sport, even when lots of the interactions really feel particular person; Montas sports activities a 3-7 file regardless of his sterling numbers.
Yesterday, it appeared like Montas may overcome his supporting forged. Robbie Ray, usually a superb pitcher in his personal proper, had a slight hiccup within the first, surrendering a run on two singles and a stroll. That’s all of the A’s offense may muster, and it’s no surprise; the one hitter in Oakland’s lineup with even a league common batting line is Ramón Laureano, and his .243/.327/.361 line isn’t precisely setting the world on hearth.
For Montas, that meant that solely a shutout would suffice. It in all probability wanted to be a whole sport shutout, too; Oakland’s bullpen is the fourth-worst in baseball. As Athletic after Athletic took ineffectual hacks in opposition to Ray and a parade of Seattle relievers, Montas held the course.
The Mariners have a fearsome lineup by comparability; six of their common hitters have a better wRC+ than Laureano, who once more has been Oakland’s finest performer this 12 months. Montas had a a lot more durable job than Ray, however he completed it with aplomb. He walked two batters, however in any other case was hardly troubled; by means of seven innings, the toughest contact he allowed was a routine fly ball by Julio Rodríguez.
Alas, the no-hitter eluded Montas. After these first two outs within the eighth, Adam Frazier stepped to the plate. He’s not one of many aforementioned six Seattle regulars outperforming your complete Oakland squad; his .222/.287/.297 line could be proper at house within the East Bay this 12 months. However baseball is a probabilistic sport; unhealthy hitters beat good pitchers once in a while, and vice versa. Frazier’s not even a nasty hitter, although he’s having a nasty season; he saved his bat degree and fought off a four-seamer – 98 mph on the gun – above the strike zone:
Identical to that, the no-hit bid was over. It’s extremely arduous to pitch a no-hitter. Nice pitchers throw every single day. Dangerous lineups bat every single day. Most of these matchups finish with hits – fortunately, given how tedious low-offense baseball can really feel when it’s the norm reasonably than the exception.
For a second, it appeared like Montas may permit the enormity of the letdown to shake him. He hung a slider to the following batter, Luis Torrens, and Torrens smashed it into left subject for Seattle’s second hit of the sport. The A’s, naturally, hadn’t added any runs; another hit could possibly be the distinction between victory and defeat.
Montas rose to the event. He battled J.P. Crawford for 9 pitches, pounding the strike zone with four-seamers and splitters, earlier than a well-placed sinker induced an inning-ending grounder. One lapse, one tiny hiccup, may have been the distinction between leaving the sport with a lead and surrendering all the things he’d labored so arduous for, however his resolve (and stuff, and command) held.
With the no-hitter off the board, Mark Kotsay pulled Montas earlier than the ninth inning. It was the accountable factor to do; he’d thrown 102 pitches on the day, solely three fewer than his highest complete of the season. If you happen to’re feeling charitable, it was to guard Montas’s future; one inning in mid-June in a misplaced season in all probability isn’t value including threat, nevertheless slight, of missed time sooner or later. If you happen to’re feeling much less charitable, it’s arduous to deal Montas if he’s injured, so encasing him in bubble wrap now is likely to be the most secure guess for Oakland’s long-term pursuits.
If you happen to’re studying this, you in all probability already know what occurred. The bullpen, impressed by the dual muses of Montas chasing a no-hitter and their very own woeful season, managed to permit two runs with no single hit. After Zach Jackson walked two batters and retired two, Kotsay performed the platoon sport and introduced in A.J. Puk.
To say that Puk didn’t have it yesterday could be a gross understatement. He walked pinch hitter Kevin Padlo on 4 pitches. He adopted that up with a wild pitch that tied the sport. He adopted that up with – effectively, this one you need to see:
That wasn’t simply ball 4; it was the second wild pitch of Abraham Toro’s plate look, and the second run the Mariners scored with out the good thing about a success or an RBI. If you happen to had been writing baseball fiction, your editor would throw this inning out. Two wild pitches? 4 walks? Can’t you no less than give them an RBI groundout or a single or one thing?
True to their anemic 2022 kind, the Oakland offense didn’t put up a battle within the backside of the inning. Christian Bethancourt managed to achieve the outfield together with his fly out, however Chad Pinder may solely muster an infield pop up, and Seth Brown was referred to as out on strikes. One other day, one other Oakland loss; at 23-48, they’re the worst crew within the majors.
There’s one thing unfair about watching Montas pitch so effectively and get so little out of it. He and Sean Murphy are the one holdovers from the offseason hearth sale that turned the crew from a playoff contender right into a laughingstock. In an ideal world, he’d be pitching alongside Chris Bassitt and Sean Manaea in a decent AL West race. In a in another way imperfect world, he is likely to be plying his commerce in St. Louis or Boston proper now, a star on a crew crammed with different good gamers.
Which may – and possibly will, actually – nonetheless occur. The A’s aren’t good this 12 months, they usually received’t be good subsequent 12 months, the final season earlier than Montas reaches free company. The entrance workplace will ask for a giant return in commerce, and rightly so. Montas in all probability received’t have many extra days like this one. However for now, no less than, watching Montas pitch is a singular baseball expertise. He’s able to greatness each time he takes the mound, however the margins are vanishingly skinny. Eight shutout innings wasn’t sufficient. Pitching is particular person till it isn’t; I can assure you Montas feels in another way after this sport than he would if the crew held on to win. Catch him in Oakland when you can; one man’s battle in opposition to the opposition is compelling viewing, even when the remainder of the A’s aren’t holding up their finish of the cut price.
