Spence gains confidence with K of Ohtani before bullpen falters

OAKLAND -- Mitch Spence is experiencing the trials that are common for most young pitchers during their first taste of big league action.

After beginning the season in the A’s bullpen, Spence moved into the rotation on May 17. Since then, Spence’s time as a starter can be divided into chapters. There was the strong stretch that saw him post a 3.58 ERA through his first seven starts. Then came a four-start period from June 25-July 13 during which he seemingly hit a wall with a 7.52 ERA.

Over the past couple of weeks, Spence appears to have entered a bounceback third chapter of his journey as a Major League starter, which continued on Saturday against the Dodgers. In a 10-0 A’s loss at the Coliseum that got lopsided late, Spence kept Oakland in the game by limiting Los Angeles to two runs on five hits and three walks with six strikeouts across 5 2/3 innings.

Coming out of the All-Star break, Spence is regaining the form he showed earlier in the year. The 26-year-old right-hander has posted a 2.65 ERA in his last three starts, allowing five earned runs in 17 innings over that span and looking like the starter the A’s hope he can develop into as a mainstay for this rebuilding club beyond 2024.

“I still think he’s doing a nice job,” manager Mark Kotsay said of Spence. “Tonight, he goes 5 2/3 innings against a quality lineup. He’s still continuing to learn here to grow and really establish himself as a starter in the rotation.”

Spence was on his way to recording a second consecutive quality start until a single to Kiké Hernandez and a walk to Andy Pages with two outs in the sixth spelled the end of his night at 97 pitches. Of course, Spence would have liked to complete six innings, though he’ll take an outing where his only real blemish on the night was a two-run single surrendered to Gavin Lux in the third.

“I’m kind of frustrated because I think those [three] walks kept me from getting through the sixth inning,” Spence said. “It’s something to work on.”

As the season goes on, Spence has found himself gaining knowledge as to when to throw certain pitches in certain counts and not relying too heavily on his slider, which is his clear standout pitch for its ability to generate a ton of horizontal break. Despite the slider being his most-thrown pitch on Saturday at 38 times as he used it to generate seven of his 13 whiffs, Spence also mixed in 37 cutters, 13 sinkers and nine curveballs.

“There is obviously a learning curve,” Spence said. “Having to face a guy three or four times through the lineup, you have to throw some pitches that you’re probably not comfortable throwing. For me, that’s been the biggest thing. When I’m in an uncomfortable situation, it’s like, this might not be a pitch that I’m not most comfortable throwing, but I know it’s going to get the guy out.

“The biggest thing is trusting the sinker and the curveball, instead of throwing a cutter or slider to every righty.”

One of those sliders was a bit more special than the rest. It came in the third, when he used it to produce an off-balance swing from Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani for strike three for the second out of the frame.

“That’s pretty cool,” Spence said of striking out Ohtani. “Obviously, he’s one of the best hitters in the world, so it was pretty cool to get him. It’s just another out, but it’s pretty cool and definitely a confidence boost.”

The final was not indicative of how close this game was for most of it. The A’s entered the eighth trailing 2-0 before the Dodgers opened it up with eight runs in the final two innings.

The theme of the night was missed opportunities for this A’s offense coming off a red-hot July was the story, none bigger than a situation in the sixth in which they loaded the bases with no outs against Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty and were unable to bring home a run.

“That really was the key,” Kotsay said. “We had a chance right there to get back in the game. Ultimately, we had our chance in the sixth to get back in that game and we failed to take that opportunity.”