DETROIT — Michael Lorenzen has had most of the week to absorb his surprise selection to the All-Star Game, an honor he considered bigger than his first Major League call-up. But before he could focus on the National League All-Star hitters in Seattle, he needed to focus on the A’s, and on one major thing that has been holding back his game.
“I need to generate more swing-and-misses,” he said after giving up a five-run inning in his last start on Friday at Colorado. “I just have to, in order to get better and improve and keep the team in the game. Otherwise, it’s going to be a good start and then bad luck next start. I can’t rely on luck. I have to go out and get better.”
It’s an issue that has flustered Lorenzen for much of the year, despite improvement in other categories over last season. His rate of 6.83 strikeouts per nine innings is down a full strikeout from last season, his first full season as a starter, while his 21.4 percent whiff rate is down 3.8 percent.
Thursday’s 9-0 win over the A’s wasn’t exactly where he wants to be, but it’s a big step in the right direction. His four strikeouts and nine swinging strikes in five innings are the same totals he compiled against the Rockies, but he did it in just 60 pitches over five scoreless with three hits allowed, compared to 95 pitches against the Rockies with seven hits.
He picked up three swings and misses each on his fastball, changeup and slider, compared with five swinging strikes off his changeup last time out and not enough from everything else.
“Today I was getting the swing-and-miss on the slider. They weren’t backing up on me a ton,” Lorenzen said. “Location was good. We’re definitely trending in the right direction.”
But the biggest difference, and arguably the key to his efficient outing, was cutting down on foul balls. The Rockies fouled off 23 pitches in Lorenzen’s last start to stay alive in counts and extend at-bats for base hits, including six in the five-run inning that doomed him at Coors Field. The A’s fouled off just seven pitches from Lorenzen on Thursday.
“Lorenzen was tough today,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “He’s an All-Star for a reason. His changeup off the fastball really plays well. He threw some good sliders today. He’s a competitor.”
Three of Lorenzen’s four strikeouts came against left-handed hitters, two from J.J. Bleday. In the first inning, he used an 0-2 fastball just above the zone for a ball to set up a 1-2 changeup that Bleday chased off the plate. Bleday battled Lorenzen for nine pitches his next time up in the fourth, but after he fouled off a full-count changeup, Lorenzen challenged him with three straight fastballs in the zone, eventually getting one past the former first-round Draft pick and ex-Marlins prospect.
Said Lorenzen: “My best pitch is my changeup, and I’ve had that maybe for two or three starts. Today was one of those starts, and I feel like I’ve made a ton of progress. If you don’t have your pitch, you can’t really be yourself out there. You have to be able to create that best pitch each and every day, not just hope that it shows up. So I feel like we’re in a really good spot, to where I can create that pitch every day and lean on it. I’m excited about that.”
His manager has been less worried about swings and misses.
“His pitch mix continues to be very solid,” A.J. Hinch said, “and getting into leverage [counts] gives him a ton of changes to get desired results. For me, it’s outs. For him, it’s outs by punchout.”
Lorenzen faced one batter over the minimum, nullifying two of the three hits he allowed by inducing double-play grounders. So why remove Lorenzen after five innings and 60 pitches, with Alex Faedo expected to be on a pitch count Friday in his return from the injured list?
“We wanted Michael to finish on a good note going into the All-Star break,” Hinch said. “We had it perfectly aligned how we could go about it, the way their lineup was. And we’ve tried to be pretty smart about the usage of our pitchers.”
Lorenzen certainly left feeling positive.