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The last time Barry Zito faced the Anaheim Angels, the concern was that the A's left-hander not tip his pitches. The Angels didn't need any clandestine information Friday to pin Zito with the worst start of his career.
Repeatedly burned by a wayward change-up, Zito yielded a career-high nine runs
in four innings as the Angels beat the A's 12-2 at Network Associates Coliseum.
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"This is the way you pitch when you leave balls up in the strike zone," said Zito, who twice in his five-year career had allowed eight runs in a start. "My stuff felt good. The change was just up tonight, and they hit it."
It was a reversal of Zito's fortunes from Sunday at Angel Stadium when he limited
the Angels to one run and four hits in six innings. Zito retired 10 of the final
11 batters he faced in that game and left with a 7-1 lead.
Friday, Zito had trouble with the command of his change-up from the start and
the Angels feasted on seemingly every mistake.
Six of the 10 hits Zito (2-2) yielded went for extra bases, including the first
two home runs he has allowed this season -- a two-run shot by Troy Glaus in
the first inning and a three-run blast by former A's outfielder Jose Guillen
in the fourth. Both home runs came on change-ups over the middle of the plate.
"If I throw the pitch with the same arm action and speed" as the fastball,
Zito said, "they're not sitting on them."
Zito's command issues surfaced at the least opportune times.
All nine runs he allowed came with two out, including a four-run rally in the
second inning after Zito made a nice bare-handed grab of a tapper in front of
the mound to throw out Shane Halter at the plate.
"He couldn't close the innings off," Manager Ken Macha said. "Some
pitches got away from him and led to a big inning."
It was the second time Zito has been hit hard in his second successive start
against a team. After yielding two runs in eight innings in his 2004 debut against
Texas, the Rangers six days later battered him for 11 hits in five innings.
That shelling prompted ESPN analyst Rob Dibble to suggest Zito was tipping his
pitches.
Macha and Zito attributed the rough outing Friday to poor pitches, not a tactical
advantage for the Angels.
"They made adjustments, and maybe when hitters face a guy the second time
around things are fresher in their mind, but that's the schedule," Zito
said. "The bottom line is if you make your pitches, you're not going to
get hit."
Anaheim's offensive breakthrough helped support a shaky outing by left-hander
Jarrod Washburn, who yielded two runs and five hits and walked five in five
innings.
The A's had at least one runner on base in every inning against Washburn but
couldn't capitalize until Eric Byrnes hit a two-run homer in the fifth to cut
the Angels' lead to 10-2.
The turning point came in the third inning when, trailing 6-0, the A's had four
runners on base and didn't score. With runners on first and second and none
out, Mark Kotsay lined out to second baseman Adam Kennedy for a double play.
Two walks loaded the bases, but Jermaine Dye was robbed of a two-run single
when Kennedy grabbed his liner to end the inning.
"That was our chance to climb back into the game," Macha said. "We
just didn't get it done."
Zito's biggest struggles came in the first two innings, which he needed 51 pitches
to complete.
Starting with a double off the top of the center-field wall by Vladimir Guerrero
with two out in the first inning, 10 of 12 Angels batters reached base as Anaheim
took a 6-0 lead.
The Angels' 12 runs were a season high, particularly stunning considering that
last weekend in losing two of three to the A's they scored a total of seven
runs and they did it without two of their best hitters -- Garret Anderson and
Tim Salmon -- because of minor injuries. Anderson missed his second consecutive
game because of a tight back, and Salmon missed his fourth consecutive game
with a sore left knee.