Bullpen picks up Stripling after 'bummer' of a start

OAKLAND -- You never want to give up on a game before it’s over, but with Tuesday’s game getting out of hand for the A’s early on the eve of a scheduled doubleheader, Mark Kotsay had no choice but to manage with an eye towards the next day.

Ross Stripling had a longer leash than he usually would under normal circumstances to get a spiraling second inning under control. Once his pitch count was approaching 40 for the inning, though, Kotsay went to the bullpen for left-hander Hogan Harris, who finished what was a 10-run second inning for Texas that dug the A’s an early hole in a 15-8 loss to the Rangers at the Coliseum.

“Both teams knew the situation we were in,” Kotsay said. “Tough one for Strip today. I know he wanted to get through that [second] inning. But 40-plus pitches for a guy that’s laboring is tough.”

That second inning involved a bit of bad luck for Stripling. Each of the seven hits he allowed in the frame were singles and mostly weak contact. There was also a throwing error by J.D. Davis on a potential inning-ending double-play ball. Most frustrating for the right-hander, though, were the two walks to Nathaniel Lowe and Adolis García immediately following Davis’ error.

“Those walks specifically are what I’m hung up on the most,” Stripling said. “You give up four straight singles and your thought goes into damage control and keeping us in the ballgame. Then I walk Lowe and García and don’t do myself any favors, then it snowballs into a 10-run inning. … I was trying to be pretty fine in those at-bats. Those are two power hitters with guys on base where I’m trying to limit damage, and I just lost them and gave them both free passes.”

For Stripling, his 11 runs allowed (five earned) on 10 hits and two walks with two strikeouts over 1 2/3 innings marked his shortest outing since July 19, 2021, with the Blue Jays, when he recorded just one out before getting pulled from a start against the Red Sox.

“Definitely a bummer,” Stripling said of his short outing, which pushed his ERA to 5.14 on the season. “One thing I’ve been able to mostly do this year is get through five and into the sixth to save the bullpen. Today, I was not able to do that. Props to Hogan for going in there and doing what he did.”

The silver lining was Harris’ ability to preserve a bullpen that had another long day ahead of itself after having to cover a one-inning start by Joe Boyle on Sunday. Taking over with two outs in the second, Harris -- called up from Triple-A Las Vegas on Monday as Boyle was placed on the 15-day injured list -- managed to pitch through the seventh on 94 pitches.

Tyler Ferguson, who after eight seasons in the Minors and one in independent ball in Canada received his first call to the Majors earlier in the day, came on in the eighth for his Major League debut and turned in a pair of scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

“Hogan did a nice job,” Kotsay said. “He had one bad inning and then threw up some zeros. Tyler did a nice job as well, pitching those two innings for us so we didn’t have to go back into the bullpen.”

Adding injury to insult was the potential loss of Darell Hernaiz, ranked Oakland’s No. 4 prospect by MLB Pipeline, for an extended period. Hustling down the first-base line in the second while trying to beat out an infield hit with the A’s trailing by 11 runs, the shortstop lunged and awkwardly stepped on the bag, immediately crashing down to the ground in pain.

Remaining down for about a minute, he was replaced by pinch-runner Max Schuemann at first base and slowly walked off the field under his own power with the A’s training staff.

After the game, Kotsay said Hernaiz was set to undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the injury.

“I’ll have more [on Wednesday] morning,” Kotsay said. “First off, the effort level from Darell on that play, I’m proud of that. … We’re hopeful this isn’t something serious. I know it’s most likely a sprain.”

Hernaiz was expected to see the majority of playing time at shortstop going forward. Should he land on the injured list, Nick Allen, whom the club optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas last week, is the likely candidate to be recalled. Another option is No. 7 prospect Max Muncy, who in 18 games for Las Vegas is hitting .274 with a .818 OPS.