Played their second doubleheader of the week and seventh and eighth games in a six-day span, the Athletics needed length from their starters against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday at the Coliseum.
Paul Blackburn accomplished that, going 6 2/3 innings in the A's walk-off 4-3 win in Game 1. Adam Oller, added to the roster before the doubleheader as the 27th man, gave manager Mark Kotsay five innings, but he was ineffective as the Angels rolled to a 9-1 win in the nightcap.
Oller was roughed up for six hits and eight earned runs while allowing three walks and only striking out three. He now has made four starts in the big leagues this season and he hasn't pitched well in any of them.
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Oller entered Saturday's start with an 11.17 ERA in three starts and that spiked to 12.27 after his latest outing.
"I felt like I hurt myself a lot more than I got hurt tonight," Oller told reporters at the Coliseum after the game. "That's kind of been the story of how I've been going all year, which, there's a lot of stuff I need to work on right now mentally and physically. But at the end of the day, baseball's a game, so you always got to work. Just didn't help myself falling behind in counts a lot, walking guys, putting myself in tougher situations than I had to be in. I don't think it really had anything to do with the lineup. It was myself more than anything, just behind in counts and walking guys."
The Angels have been one of the biggest surprises in baseball through the first five weeks of the season, as they are off to a 23-13 start. A lineup already featuring American League MVPs Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani and All-Star Anthony Rendon now is deeper with Taylor Ward, Jared Walsh and Brandon Marsh playing well.
Ward broke the game open in the second inning with a grand slam, while Trout doubled in a run in the fifth followed by Ohtani launching his 100th career MLB homer. At that point, the Angels led 8-1 and Oller was done after five innings of work.
"Obviously he's disappointed in that performance," Kotsay told reporters after the game. "He got a chance to come back here and it just didn't go his way. Again, I think the fastball command is the biggest issue. His secondary pitches, his changeup was good tonight. At the end of the day, I think the walks, the hit-by-pitch, and the inability to locate his fastball where he wants to throw it. When you get behind and have to go middle-middle, you end up paying the price."
Oller will be optioned back to Triple-A Las Vegas, where he has made two starts this season with better results than what he's having at the big league level. The 27-year-old right-hander knows he needs to fix a few things and he will go back to the minors knowing exactly what areas Kotsay and the coaching staff want him to work on.
"If you look at his history, last year, he didn't have command issues," Kotsay said. "For whatever reason right now, he's struggling with that. I think there may be a lack of confidence for him. You get to the big leagues and it hasn't been easy, obviously. And when you don't have success here as a younger player, I think you put more pressure on yourself and you begin to press and we're seeing a little bit of that with him now. So hopefully he'll go to Vegas and focus on getting that confidence back and being able to command his fastball up and down in the zone."
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Oller has pitched well in the minor leagues in the past, so his goal is to harness what is working for him in Triple-A and bring it back with him the next time the A's need him in Oakland.
The A's and Angels wrap up their four-game series Sunday at 1:07 p.m. PT with Frankie Montas taking on Patrick Sandoval. Coverage begins on NBC Sports California at 12:30 p.m. PT with "A's Pregame Live" and continues after the final out with "A's Postgame Live."