Fujinami on right track in 1st strong start for A's

OAKLAND -- Given his sporadic flashes of brilliance since joining the A’s, there has been much intrigue as to what it might look like on a day when Shintaro Fujinami puts it all together.

Saturday might not have been peak Fujinami, but it certainly felt like a step towards the level he’s striving for. The Japanese right-hander fared much better than his first two Major League outings in a 3-2 loss to the Mets at the Coliseum, yielding three runs on four hits while walking two batters and striking out five over six-plus innings.

Fujinami compiled a 17.55 ERA in his first two starts, and didn’t finish the fifth inning in either. A common theme from both outings was sudden bouts with control issues, highlighted by one bad inning in each when he lost all feel for his command.

Against New York, Fujinami avoided a disastrous inning by pounding the strike zone with efficiency. He got through the first four innings on just 54 pitches, and his first walk did not come until the fifth. He followed that up with a strikeout of Francisco Álvarez on a 97 mph fastball and a flyout from Brandon Nimmo to end the frame.

“I thought he did an outstanding job,” manager Mark Kotsay said of Fujinami. “He attacked today. Really dominated for pretty much the whole game.”

Fujinami’s sixth inning felt like something of a conquering of previous frustrations. He began the sixth by hitting Starling Marte with a pitch, and followed that by reaching a three-ball count against Francisco Lindor.

In his first two outings, this might have been the inning where it fell apart. This time, though, after a signal to take a breath from catcher Carlos Pérez, Fujinami buckled down. He retired Lindor, Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil on consecutive groundouts, becoming just the second A’s starting pitcher to complete six innings this season.

“I just tried to calm him down a little bit,” Pérez said. “Sometimes he rushes. But we were on the same page, which was good. I know he has great stuff. If he can throw strikes, he’s going to be good.”

Sitting at 82 pitches through six innings of one-run ball, Kotsay showed faith by sending Fujinami back for the seventh. The outcome was not ideal, as he ended his outing by surrendering a game-tying homer to Mark Canha and issuing a walk to Daniel Vogelbach. Pinch-runner Tim Locastro scored the decisive run later in the inning on Brandon Nimmo’s double off Trevor May.

Still, Kotsay considered it a “great step forward” for both Fujinami and an A’s pitching staff that was coming off a rough performance on Friday night, in which a team-record 17 walks were issued. On Saturday, A’s pitchers combined for just two walks.

“It was a great bounce back on the mound today,” Kotsay said. “We’re doing things right, and now we just have to continue to do them right. Get these young guys confident on the mound and throwing strikes.”

For Fujinami, Saturday was a blueprint for how he can find success in the Majors. Heeding the pregame advice of pitching coach Scott Emerson, he attacked hitters throughout the afternoon and relied heavily on his two best pitches -- 78 of his 92 pitches were either fastballs or splitters.

Aside from solo homers allowed to Canha and Pete Alonso, most of the contact made by the Mets against Fujinami was weak, with an average exit velocity of 91.6 mph on 17 balls in play. Canha was impressed by what he saw.

“He has really good stuff,” Canha said of Fujinami. “Whatever success he has wouldn’t surprise me, just because his stuff is electric. He throws really hard. He’s got a good splitter. He’s got that little slider. I think for him it’s just a matter of, if he’s commanding the ball, it’s really tough.”

It goes without saying the A’s could use more outings like this from their starters, whose 68 innings pitched rank near the bottom of the league.

Because Fujinami is only pitching once a week, there is a bigger onus on him to consistently pitch deeper into games. Saturday was a step in the right direction, but he believes there is more he can provide.

“[Kotsay] told the starting pitchers today that since we have a lot of relievers throwing a lot of innings right now, we need to go deep,” Fujinami said through interpreter Issei Kamada. “I feel like if I needed to go into the eighth or ninth inning today, I could have done it. My toughness is my strength. Hopefully, I can go deep every game from now on.”