It was an abnormally brief outing for Oakland A’s starter Paul Blackburn tonight. But fortunately the team’s youngsters picked him up and got the win in Texas.
The A’s rotation leader didn’t have a bad night per se but he struggled to keep runners off the basepaths. In his first two innings, he allowed 8 baserunners, loaded the bases both times, and earned a pair of runs. He was out of the game after three innings and 87 pitches.
The rookies weren’t going to leave their vet hanging though. Zack Gelof started things off impressively with a true baserunning gem.