A's lose 8-2 to Nationals, ruin Lawrence Butler's debut in D.C.
Good news tend to come in bunches. Bad news always come in avalanches. Tell the Oakland Athletics, who called up Lawrence Butler to the MLB roster, started him, and only then went on to lose a stinker 8-2 to ruin the youngster's major-league debut.
The freshman, coming out of Atlanta's HS in the summer of 2018 to join the A's and finally debuting at the highest of levels more than five years later, didn't help himself nor his ballclub on Friday, mind you.
Butler went 0-for-4 when he stepped up to the plate batting eight in the order only above Nick Allen and manning the right side of the outfield in defensive play.
Need something? Call-up the Butler ☎️ pic.twitter.com/HDIXUgNogz
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) August 11, 2023
The rookie, who joined fellow post-All-Star-break newcomers Zack Gelof and Tyler Soderstrom in D.C. to finally get some reps with the A's, didn't walk nor strike out either. He simply did nothing, calling his day a good-old-cup-o-coffee.
Shea Langeliers of all men stole a base. So did Nick Allen, but not Esteury Ruiz nor Tony Kemp, now out of commission while on parental leave (s/o Kemp for opening the roster spot that allowed us to enjoy some Butler Nothingburger!).
The A's gave their freshest rookie hopes of debuting in victory, but after putting up a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard they then did nothing.
Díaz puts the A's up 2-0 in the first 🔥 pic.twitter.com/zTVestyAUP
— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) August 11, 2023
Oakland took the lead just a few pitches into Friday's outing. Ruiz flew out, JJ Bleday singled, Zack Gelof walked, Seth Brown stroke out, and when all seemed lost, Jordan Diaz singled to left field and brought a couple of runs home. Yay!
Paul Blackburn then melted starting his butter-like day in the second frame and finishing the outing having pitched 5.2 innings of eight-hit, four-run ball in which he allowed four walks only striking out three men. Sheesh...
Keibert Ruiz gave three runs to the Nationals. Ildemaro Vargas two. Ruiz, Vargas, and Stone Garrett hit it twice. Hell, every single Natty had a hit on Friday. Every. Single. Washington. Nationals. Player.
That's all you need to know. Kemp remains out, Butler remains in, hopefully doing better things. More coming soon, as soon as Saturday in the second game of the three-match affair between D.C. and the Bay.
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