Amarista finally got his chance Wednesday night, in the Padres' 16-2 loss to the A's. San Diego has lost four straight and seven of its last nine.
The A's scored seven runs in the eighth and had runners on first and third when Padres interim manager Pat Murphy brought in shortstop Amarista, who needed just two pitches to get Billy Burns on a fly ball to Matt Kemp in right field.
"That's my fastball," Amarista said of his pitches, which were clocked at under 80 mph. "I always thought I would get the opportunity and now that I did, I'm happy.