Oakland Athletics: Ushering in the Jesús Luzardo Era, pitch by pitch

Sixth Inning

Jesús Luzardo had a section of about 30 friends and family who were on their feet for every single pitch he had to throw Wednesday night. Their excitement mirrored many A’s fans watching from their TV’s at home.

He would get a hold opportunity after five strong innings of work from Brett Anderson, who was looking for a career-high 12th victory on the season.

Aledmys Diaz would have the unfortunate task of going toe to toe with Luzardo. The first pitch of the at-bat was a 96 mph four-seamer with good movement that nabbed the inside corner and had Diaz already realizing he was in trouble.

The next pitch would be a nasty slider that dove out of the zone at 83 mph, having Diaz swing right through it before going for a long walk around Sean Murphy to get back into the batter’s box.

At this point, it seemed like Luzardo was just toying with him.

Luzardo continued pounding low and in with back-to-back fastballs that missed just off the edge of the plate before trying to break off a slider that caught a little more of the plate than he was after. Diaz fouled it off — and it was here when it seemed like Luzardo realized that he was in the driver’s seat.

A 97-mph two-seamer with incredible movement had Diaz’s knees buckling on a strike-three down broadway of the lower third.

One batter. One punchout.

Old pal Josh Reddick was up next and took a fastball off the plate. Luzardo would come back with the exact same pitch but with better location, having Reddick roll over it for an easy groundball to Jurickson Profar at second.

As it would go for almost any player making their major league debut, Jesús Luzardo was a little wound up — he was working fast on the mound but seemed to speed up as the inning went on. Tempo management can be tough to harness with that kind of adrenaline pumping.

Martin Maldonado would get ahead 3-0 thanks to three consecutive balls left low and out of the zone. Luzardo would come back with a 96-mph two-seamer before losing location on the fifth pitch of the at-bat.

Maldonado turned on a belt-high heater, middle-in, and took it to the train tracks to make it 5-3.

It was a pitch that Luzardo probably would have wanted back, but it also seemed to take some of the edge off of the game. While stoic in general, Luzardo didn’t seem fazed by the longball.

Myles Straw stepped to the plate next and took a two-seamer high — though it probably should have been a strike. This was the lone missed location of the night and may have been the only indication that Luzardo was still trying to regain himself after the solo shot.

An 88-mph changeup — yes, a changeup — was dropped into the lower third of the batter’s box, then a slider at 84 in virtually the same location. It seemed like Straw was hoping to see more fastballs to test his luck but was left window-shopping on some nasty breakers instead.

To screw with Straw a little extra, Luzardo decided to quick-pitch him with an even nastier slider. Between the movement on the pitch and the fact it came so quickly, both Straw and the homeplate umpire missed what should have been a called strike three.

It didn’t matter.

Luzardo would dust Straw back with a heater inside, and far enough out of the zone where he couldn’t get wood on it, before coming back into the zone with yet another 98-mph two-seamer that danced the whole way to the plate.

Strike three. Not a chance.