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First start a learning lesson for A’s righty Neal
- Updated: May 26, 2016
SEATTLE — Zach Neal threw strikes. That’s what he did in Triple-A in the months leading up to his first Major League start, and that’s what he did when the lights came on at Safeco Field on Wednesday night.
But Neal has a lot to learn about competing at this level, and the education process began in the early stages of his A’s team’s 13-3 loss to the Mariners. Throwing strikes sometimes isn’t enough, and while Neal had his moments in a four-inning outing, but he also ended up having crooked numbers attached to his line.
“It kind of seemed that everything they hit was finding a hole,” Neal said. “That’s how baseball is sometimes.”
The A’s right-hander, who had made one appearance in the big leagues — a three-inning relief stint in Boston on May 11 — prior to getting the call to replace injured ace Sonny Gray, didn’t issue a walk and threw perfect innings in each of his first and last frames.
But an Adam Lind solo home run got him in the second and everything unraveled in the third.
The pivotal inning started off with a flurry of hits. Luis Sardinas singled, …
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