How the A's Can Get the Most Out of Jacob Lopez, and Fast

The A's lefty showed his potential in 2025. The goal for him right now is to get through five before the wheels come off

May 2, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics starting pitcher Jacob Lopez (57) walks towards the dugout after being removed from the game in the sixth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images | Dennis Lee-Imagn Images

With a tired bullpen and no long relief option available after Luis Medina threw 52 pitches on Thursday in addition to Brady Basso's 27, the A's decided to recall Luis Morales from Triple-A Las Vegas ahead of Saturday's game, with Jacob Lopez getting the start. Basso was sent to Vegas as the corresponding move.

While Lopez has been good about going at least five innings in each of his last three starts, he also entered the game with a 5.84 ERA on the year. If the A's were out of it on Saturday, the plan would be to deploy Morales to eat some innings and give the bullpen a brief respite. The young righty handled the final two innings of the A's 14-6 loss, giving up five runs.

In his start, Lopez ended up going 5 1/3 innings against the Cleveland Guardians in the A's 14-6 loss, giving up eight hits, six earned runs, walking one and striking out five. He also gave up two homers, with the first being an elevated cutter to Austin Hedges, and the second coming on well-placed fastball away that David Fry was able to launch to left in a wind-aided effort.

After the game, Lopez told reporters, "It's just one of those things. I feel like it's been a common theme to start the year. I'm six starts in, and I don't know what it is right now, just once I get past 65 pitches, the quality of the pitches in the strike zone have been kinda falling off."

Breaking down Lopez's struggles

Apr 16, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics starting pitcher Jacob Lopez (57) throws a pitch against the Texas Rangers during the third inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images | Dennis Lee-Imagn Images

Through the first four innings of Saturday's start, Lopez had pitched fairly well, giving up three hits (two singles and the homer) and walking one. He was sitting at 64 pitches, and looked like he may have turned a corner after a rough first month of the season.

Then in the fifth, Cleveland clobbered him.

In an inning that started with a double from Hedges and then went single-single-double-sac-fly, the Guardians took a 3-1 deficit and turned it into a 5-3 lead in short order. The home run in the sixth was the knockout blow.

In looking at his data, Lopez has done a pretty good job this season in the first four innings. Across six starts, he holds a 2.63 ERA in innings one through four of his starts, giving up seven runs in 24 innings. Three of those runs came in the first inning of his first start of the season in Atlanta, so outside of that, he's been even better, posting a 1.50 ERA.

The trouble has come in the fifth and sixth innings, where he has combined to go six innings total in his six starts, and has given up 13 hits, 15 runs, walked nine and struck out seven. That amounts to a 22.50 ERA, which makes his issues difficult to ignore.

What's next for Lopez?

May 2, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics starting pitcher Jacob Lopez (57) throws a pitch against the Cleveland Guardians during the first inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images | Dennis Lee-Imagn Images

While some of his pitches weren't located well in that troublesome fifth inning, these struggles tend to coincide with when he would be facing a lineup a third time, which is a much more real and tangible issue that has plagued pitchers forever.

In these analytical times, the common way to get past the third time through the order effect has been to appoint an opener to the game. On this roster, perhaps someone like Scott Barlow or Justin Sterner would be called upon, with them grabbing the first inning.

The idea here is that Lopez would pitch the second through sixth innings, as he has been tremendous before his 65-pitch/third-time marker, and then let the A's bullpen go to work in the seventh, eighth and ninth. This is actually something the A's tried last season with Jeffrey Springs at the beginning of June.

Up to that point, Springs had pitched 61 innings in 12 starts and held a 4.72 ERA with a 5.09 FIP. After those two outings with an opener in front of him, he went 97 1/3 innings with a 3.70 ERA and a 4.55 FIP.

For Lopez, this could be a mental fix or a physical fix — it just doesn't seem like a quick fix. Deploying an opener would be one way for the A's to maximize his value to the team right now while diving deeper into the issues that are plaguing him.