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Say this for Ted Lilly's effort against the Mariners on Wednesday -- when he was on, he was dead on. The A's left-hander struck out nine Seattle batters in just 4 2/3 innings pitched. But unfortunately for Lilly -- and the A's -- when the Mariners weren't swinging through his pitches, they were connecting for hits, to the tune of five runs on 10 knocks in what eventually became a 13-0 blowout loss to the Mariners before 33,420 at Network Associates Coliseum. |
The first inning was a bit of a bear market at the start for Lilly, as he allowed the first three batters aboard, including an RBI double from Bret Boone that made it 1-0 and all that Seattle would need.
After getting Edgar Martinez on a liner to short, Mike Cameron added an RBI single to left to make it 2-0. After a strikeout, Lilly flirted with danger, loading the bases with a walk, but got a groundout to end the threat.
In the second, Lilly started out rough again, allowing consecutive base hits by Dan Wilson and Ichiro Suzuki before getting a strikeout. Boone added another RBI, this one on a single, to make it 3-0 before Lilly got the next two batters.
Lilly, after throwing 55 pitches in the first two frames, began to settle down in the third, allowing two base hits but no runs.
"I think early in the game I was pitching really tentatively and got myself into a lot of trouble by doing that," Lilly said. "It took me a while to get aggressive. Once I started doing that, and kind of pitching offensively, I was executing pitches more."
In the fourth he really executed, as it seemed a different pitcher had walked to the mound when Lilly struck out the side. Still only trailing 3-0, the lefty was back in the game.
His brilliance continued into the fifth, as he struck out the first two batters -- both looking -- before suddenly morphing back into first-inning Lilly. He allowed a double, a walk and an RBI single from Wilson, then hit Ichiro with a pitch to load the bases before getting the hook.
"Oh my, that's strange," A's manager Ken Macha said of Lilly's crazy outing. "We've been trying to figure that out. I've talked about inconsistency, and that highlighted that."
With Lilly in the clubhouse, things didn't improve significantly for Oakland on the mound. Lefty John Halama came in and pitched 2 2/3 innings, but he gave up four runs on six hits.
"The toughest thing about this is getting pulled in the fifth inning and making the bullpen work," Lilly said. "I have to try and find ways to turn this thing around. I expect myself to be more competitive than I am."
Wednesday's start for Lilly was in some ways a microcosm of an up-and-down season for the left-hander. Just like Lilly has alternated between bunches of good and bad outings, he strung together good and bad runs against a powerful Mariners lineup.
