Frankie Montas didn’t pitch too horribly tonight, though he did find himself in trouble in a number of innings.
He ended the night throwing 105 pitches, went six innings, struck out five, walked two, gave up six hits including a home run, and allowed three runs all earned. Throughout the night Montas found himself in trouble. In the first inning he allowed a lead off triple to Kevin Kiermaier and he eventually scored on an error by Vimael Machin.
Montas got out of the inning allowing only the run. He then cruised through the next couple of innings while looking solid and being efficient with his pitches until the fourth where he walked Yoshi Tsutsugo and allowed a double to Francisco Mejia to put runners on second and third with two outs. He then struck out Brett Phillips to end the threat.
In the fifth Montas threw a comebacker away allowing Brandon Lowe to get to second with one out. He then walked Randy Arozarena, Austin Meadows then struck out and Joey Wendle grounded out to end the inning.
After getting two outs in the sixth, he allowed what seemed like a double to Mejia yet it ended up only being a single. Seemingly a big break for the Oakland Athletics as it seemed he was respecting the arm of Ramon Laureano in center field while also not having a good turn around first base. Montas got ahead of Phillips and seemed to have caught him looking for strike three, yet Chad Fairchild the umpire behind the plate ruled the pitch high.
Which gave Phillips new life and he didn’t waste the opportunity as he hit a two-run home run to give the Tampa Bay Rays a 3-2 lead. Montas then got the third out. In the dugout he was visiblyh upset and being consoled by catcher Sean Murphy.
It also was surprising that Bob Melvin didn’t stand up for his pitcher and get himself ejected in back-to-back games.
As for Montas here’s the thing he cannot let a bad call get him that wound up where he loses focus and gives up a home run to a ninth place hitter who before said at-bat was hitting .143. It simply cannot happen.
The A’s need more from Montas and he needs to learn to trust his defense and not always look for the strikeout. Hopefully that happens soon or his inconsistency will continue.