A's Option Kyle Muller to Triple-A, Reinstate Trevor May
The Oakland A's announced ahead of Tuesday's game in Seattle that Kyle Muller had been optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas to make room for Trevor May on the active roster.
Muller started Monday's game against the Mariners and went 5 IP, gave up 8 hits, 6 earned runs, 2 walks and struck out 3. Five of the runs he allowed came on two home runs, a two-run shot to Jarred Kelenic in the first, and a three-run shot to Jose Caballero in the second.
Both home runs were on pitches more or less down the middle. Kelenic was ahead 2-0 when he got his fastball, and Caballero was ahead 2-1 when he whacked a slider.
After Muller's previous start against the Arizona Diamondbacks, his focus was on putting hitters away when he got them to two strikes after not allowing a walk in a start for the first time of his young career. He did a decent job of that on Monday, but he was falling behind hitters, and putting himself in bad counts.
This demotion could be an opportunity for Muller to work on making some progress on getting ahead and putting guys away. Mark Kotsay also mentioned Muller's changeup after Monday's game as something they wanted to work on. "The inability to mix the changeup now is really hurting him. He has a changeup that he throws, but not for a strike right now. Right-handed hitters, everything is coming in to them. There's nothing fading down and away."
Muller will now be playing in Las Vegas, a hitter friendly park where a pop-fly can turn into a home run, and long balls have been an issue for the lefty this season. He has allowed nine in 47 innings en route to an 8.04 ERA through ten starts.
The A's rotation now consists of Luis Medina, Ken Waldichuk, JP Sears, and James Kaprielian. The A's will need a starter for Saturday's game against the Houston Astros. Paul Blackburn is scheduled to pitch on Wednesday for Las Vegas.
Trevor May was placed on the IL with anxiety back on April 19. He made one rehab appearance with the Aviators on May 2 before suffering a setback, then returned to the mound last week in Salt Lake and tossed 2.2 innings, allowed 3 hits, 2 ER (two solo homers), walked one and struck out two.