Blackburn extends scoreless streak to 13 IP vs. Tigers

DETROIT -- There was some speculation this spring that Paul Blackburn would be named the A’s Opening Day starter. He is a former All-Star and the club’s longest-tenured player, so the honor would have been merited.

Though a strong candidate, Blackburn’s name was not called. But while he may not have earned the Opening Day nod, the right-hander is without question pitching like what the A's would expect out of a top-of-the-rotation arm.

Blackburn delivered another gem in what continues to be a near-flawless start to his season, blanking the Tigers on Saturday across six scoreless innings in a 4-0 victory at Comerica Park that snapped a four-game losing skid for the A’s. The dominant outing extended his scoreless innings streak to 13, which stands as the fourth-longest season-opening scoreless streak by a starting pitcher in Oakland history.

“He put us on his back today,” manager Mark Kotsay said of Blackburn. “It was a big performance for Paul. He gave us exactly what we needed.”

Blackburn’s pristine run is the longest scoreless streak to open a season by an A’s starter since 2010, when Brett Anderson began his season with 14 consecutive scoreless frames. The record is held by Matt Keough (1980) with 16.

Making Saturday's performance even more impressive was Blackburn’s suboptimal health. He arrived to the ballpark experiencing some chest congestion, perhaps from the cold Detroit weather, and lacked a good feel for his pitches in his pregame bullpen session with catcher Shea Langeliers.

About three innings into his start, Blackburn noticed the decrease in velocity of all his pitches -- his sinker and four-seam fastball were 1.8 and 1.4 mph down from their season average -- and switched up the game plan to throw more of his changeup. It ended up as his most-thrown pitch (26 times) and produced 17 swings with seven whiffs.

These types of adjustments are part of the transformation Blackburn underwent to become an All-Star in 2022. He gained a strong command of six different pitches -- sinker, fastball, cutter, changeup, slider and curveball -- and mixes them in so effectively that opposing hitters are constantly guessing wrong on what pitch might come next. This allows him to avoid hard contact, as he did for most of Saturday as the Tigers averaged an exit velocity of just 82.1 mph on 18 balls hit in play against him.

"He knows what he's doing, because he can move the ball in a couple of different directions,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch. “He pitches to the margins. He did a good job today of getting guys in between their plan. Like, if it was soft, he would do just enough soft out of the zone to get some chase swings. If it was fastball-cutter oriented, he would sort of entice some soft contact. He teases you with a variety of pitches, and when he rolls the lineup over, he really doesn't give you the same look."

Blackburn pounded the zone, with 59 of his 85 pitches going for strikes, and likely would have had the chance to at least begin the seventh if not for his chest issue. Still, he seemed to get better as the game went on. After allowing a two-out double in the first, Blackburn allowed just three baserunners over the next five innings on an error and two infield singles.

Dating back to his Spring Training start on March 10, Blackburn has not allowed a run in his last 26 2/3 innings pitched.

“Over my last five or six outings, including spring, I feel like I’ve just been attacking guys and making guys beat me,” Blackburn said. "I put myself in one bad count today, and it was a 3-0 to [Kerry] Carpenter. Other than that, I’m just trying to attack guys and not beat myself.”

The offense provided Blackburn enough support in the first inning alone on Brent Rooker’s two-run blast, which marked the slugger’s second consecutive game with a homer. Zack Gelof was on base for Rooker’s homer after the first of his three walks drawn on the afternoon, which surpassed his season total of two through Oakland’s first eight games.

“For Zack, those at-bats are what he needs to do,” Kotsay said. “It showed he’s laying off that slider down and away, which has been the challenge. It’s a good sign he’s making progress.”

Finishing off Oakland’s second win of 2024 was Mason Miller, who emphatically slammed the door by recording the team’s final six outs. The flamethrowing rookie continued lighting up the radar with six pitches going at least 101 mph. He has thrown 16 such pitches this season, with no other pitcher in MLB having thrown more than three.