Sears' career-best outing the 'definition of how to pitch'

DETROIT -- JP Sears walked off the mound disappointed following a rough outing against his former team last week at the Coliseum. By the end of that night, the frustration was only exacerbated when a blowout loss ended with Yankees right-hander Domingo Germán tossing a perfect game against the A’s.

In search of a rebound on Tuesday night, Sears went beyond simply returning to form. In Oakland’s 1-0 victory over the Tigers in 10 innings at Comerica Park, the left-hander turned in a career-best performance by tossing 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just five singles and no walks. It was the first time in his Major League career that Sears has pitched into the eighth inning of a start.

“Great start by JP,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay. “Probably the best start of the year for us by a starter. Today was the definition of how to pitch. He used his weapons. Kept the ball out of the middle of the plate. He was a big part of this win today.”

After Miguel Cabrera’s one-out single in the second set the Tigers up with an early runner in scoring position, Sears proceeded to retire 18 of the next 19 batters he faced before a one-out single by Zack Short in the eighth ended his night at 90 pitches. Receiving an assist from right-hander Lucas Erceg, who finished the inning by escaping a bases-loaded jam, Sears managed to lower his season ERA to 4.09.

In what is his first full season in the Majors, Sears has emerged as a pitcher who relies heavily on his fastball. On Tuesday, however, his 34 fastballs were the least he’s thrown over a start in 2023.

Instead, facing a Detroit lineup that featured nine right-handed batters, Sears distributed his four pitches about as evenly as he ever has in his career. According to Statcast, he also threw 22 sweepers, 18 sliders and 16 changeups. With only four strikeouts, Sears pitched to contact and routinely missed barrels. The average exit velocity of the Tigers’ 23 balls put in play against him was 88.3 mph.

“Having the righties up there, I knew I had to command my changeup well,” Sears said. “I felt like I did a good job of making guys commit to it by throwing it good arm side or off the plate. Getting ahead of a lot of guys with some good sliders. I was just trying to be as efficient as I could out there. … It was a fun game to be a part of.”

The icing on the cake for Sears was his brush with baseball royalty. After retiring Cabrera -- who collected two hits off him earlier in the game -- on a flyout to end the seventh, the future Hall of Famer yelled something towards Sears as he was making his way back to the dugout.

“I think he said, ‘Good pitch,” Sears said of his interaction with Cabrera. “I said, ‘Finally!’ Anytime you get to face a Hall of Famer like that, it’s a blessing. He seems like such a nice guy. It’s fun competing against somebody like him.”

Coming out of Spring Training, there was a strong possibility that Sears would begin the year in the A’s bullpen. Season-opening injuries to Paul Blackburn and Drew Rucinski created a vacancy for him to fill in the rotation.

Sears grabbed that opening and never relinquished it. Of the current five pitchers in Oakland’s starting staff, he is the only pitcher to have spent the entire season in the rotation.

Sears is one of the A’s few stabilizing forces, giving them comfort in knowing he will go out to pitch every fifth day. More times than not, he is also putting them in a solid position to win.

“He’s our workhorse,” A’s catcher Shea Langeliers said. “He’s going to eat innings and do his job. When we’re doing that, it’s a lot of fun to catch and be part of. He’s proving what he’s capable of. He’s going to keep getting better and be a phenomenal pitcher for us.”

Before the season, Sears put together a list of goals he was looking to achieve this season. With Tuesday marking his team-leading 17th start of 2023, he is more than halfway toward reaching one of those objectives.

“One of the goals was just to be available every fifth day,” Sears said. “Give my team 30 starts by the end of the year. Hopefully, I can just keep it up. Stay on top of my routine and stay healthy so we can be there by the end of the year.”