OAKLAND — A’s rookie Paul Blackburn finally appears to be hitting a wall.
The Brentwood native turned in the shortest outing of his career, lasting only four innings in Wednesday’s 7-6 loss to the Kansas City Royals in front of 15,239 fans in a matinee at the Coliseum.
After an impressive first six starts to begin his big league career in June that caught the eye of manager Bob Melvin and the rest of the organization, Blackburn is now going through a rough patch. His previous start featured a career-worst 10 hits allowed. While it was not quite that bad Wednesday, Blackburn allowed four runs for the second consecutive start on eight hits as he reached nearly 80 pitches in just the first three innings alone.