One of the pitchers acquired from the Washington Nationals for Gio Gonzalez did a pretty good impression of Gonzalez in just his second spring start on Tuesday.
Tommy Milone, a 25-year-old left-hander vying for one of the three open spots in the A’s rotation, may have taken an early leg up for one of the jobs with three shutout innings to kick off 6-0 A’s victory against Milwaukee.
Milone gave up a hit and a walk and struck out three, including Brewers slugger Ryan Braun swinging to end the first inning. He opened the game by walking Rickie Weeks, but promptly picked him off. He completed his day but striking out Weeks looking to end the third inning.
Happy?
“Extremely happy,” said Milone. “(The Brewers) have such a tough lineup, and that was the first time I’d ever seen Braun in person, let alone face him. I’d only seen him on TV. It was exciting to strike him out, particularly doing it to end an inning and be able to walk off the mound afterward.”
Milone certainly didn’t look like a pitcher with only five games of major-league experience. Calm and efficient, he retired eight of nine hitters after picking off Weeks, including the final four in a row.
“I have not changed my opinion of him since the first bullpen I saw him throw,” said manager Bob Melvin. “Mixing his pitches, great command, reads swings, very smart pitcher.”
“My game is to stay composed and continue to stay low in the zone,” Milone said.
n It was a fun day for Jemile Weeks, who not only got to play against his other brother Rickie, he got to tag him out. Picked off by Milone to open the bottom of the first, the younger Weeks ran down his brother from behind as he made a dive toward first base at the end of the rundown.
“We just got into the normal rundown and I felt I was close enough to make an attempt, so that’s what I did,” Jemile said.
Weeks said it wasn’t the first time the two brothers have spent time clashing in a cloud of dust.
“That’s one of the few times on the field,” he said. “We’ve done it a few times off the field, actually, some years back. He usually gets the better of it. Not today, though.”
Did Rickie say anything after being outraced to the bag by his sibling?
“Nah, we just looked at each other funny and he gave me a little smirk,” Jemile said.
– Highly touted Cuban acquisition Yoenis Cespedes is still probably 4-5 days away from playing in a spring training game, but that could be accelerated depending how he fares against live pitching in the next couple of days.
Melvin said Cespedes is in great physical shape, but added, “He’s not in baseball shape, in my opinion.” Cespedes hasn’t played in a live game since December, when he logged eight games in the Dominican Republic.
Cespedes went through another day of routine batting practice and conditioning, and may face some live pitching in the next day or two. Depending on how he looks, he could be in a game by the weekend.
“Once we feel comfortable where he is physically that he can go out and run around for five innings or so, then we’ll get him in,” he said. “There will certainly be a couple of days where he’s facing pitchers, but whether it’s two or three days of that, he’ll be in a game closely after that.”
– Brett Anderson took a significant step in his recovery from Tommy John elbow surgery. He threw off a mound from the full 60-foot, 6-inch distance for the first time Tuesday. Anderson said he threw 25 pitches, all fastballs at roughly 60-70 percent velocity.
“The ball came out of my hand really well,” he said. “It’s weird not having any pain. I kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel. You don’t want to get ahead of yourself, but I feel unbelievable.”
Melvin is encouraged.
“Everyone was envisioning potentially August (for Anderson’s return),” Melvin said. “I would caution to say it could be before that, but he’s had no setbacks.”
– It was a strong afternoon for all the A’s pitchers against the Brewers. Five pitchers limited Milwaukee to just two hits while Oakland hitters boasted a 14-hit attack. Ryan Cook pitched two perfect innings following up Milone, rotation candidate allowed just a walk in two innings, while Andrew Carignan and Jerry Blevins each threw a scoreless innings.
