Joe Boyle gets rocked as Athletics lose to White Sox

Oakland Athletics righty Joe Boyle got rocked this afternoon, allowing 7 runs on 6 hits in 3 innings of work. Boyle struck out 4 and walked 3 as the Athletics lost to the Chicago White Sox by a score of 8-2.

This may have been the final straw in Boyle's chances to crack the Opening Day rotation. Boyle has been fighting with Kyle Muller for a spot in Oakland to start the year but today's effort makes three poor appearances in a row.

The issue for Boyle is that there are just 5 days left before the regular season begins and he hasn't been consistently good enough to force the A's hand. Boyle still has 3 minor league options and at this point, it seems likely that GM David Forst will have the righty start the year in the minors and work his way up.

It's an unfortunate series of results for Boyle, who had been superb in his first three spring starts. After allowing just 3 runs on 3 hits with 3 walks in his first 8 innings, Boyle has cratered to a 5.89 ERA and his walk rate has crept back into double digits.

Boyle has the stuff to make it work at the highest level, but he hasn't been able to control his pitches well enough over a longer stretch of time. We'll have to hope he can get back on track and find his way back up to Oakland to positively impact the rotation.

Reliever Stevie Emanuels allowed his first run of spring training this afternoon, giving up a solo home run to Dominic Fletcher. With the news of reliever Trevor Gott going down with a UCL tear, Emanuels is a dark horse candidate to earn a spot in the A's bullpen.

Hoy Park recorded another multi-hit game, banging a single and a double while raising his spring OPS to 1.126. Park is another guy who has been on fire to start the year but is an unlikely candidate to start the year in Oakland. He isn't on the 40-man and the A's have a bit of a log jam in the outfield that needs to get sorted out.

The Athletics return to Hohokam Stadium tomorrow afternoon for a matchup against the Los Angeles Angels. Righty Ross Stripling is scheduled to face off against Angels' righty Matt Moore. First pitch is at 12:05 pm PST.