Mason Barnett hit hard again in loss to Royals

Barnett served up a two-run homer to Junior Caminero in the first inning. The Rays brought a third run in to score in the third before adding three more in the fourth on home runs by Taylor Walls and Yandy Díaz. Barnett’s day would be done after four frames. He failed to record a strikeout. The 25-year-old right-hander will take a bloated 6.16 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, and a 36/20 K/BB ratio across 38 innings into a start against the Royals in Kansas City on Monday.

He pitched into the fifth inning for the second time as a major leaguer, but left with the bases loaded and the Reds wound up cashing in two inherited runs by walking twice with the bases loaded against Elvis Alvarado. Barnett’s got decent enough stuff to succeed in this role -- he had a 31 percent Whiff rate and only allowed four hard-hit balls -- but if all the hard-hit balls go over the fence, it’s not ideal. He’ll try to bounce back against the Rays next week.

Springs’ hip has been a problem since at least April, though this is his first IL stint of the year. It’s not yet clear whether this will be a brief rest to try to get him closer to 100 percent or if he’s being shut down. The left-hander has a 6.17 ERA in 22 starts this year. With Springs going down, both Mason Barnett and Jack Perkins should keep starting for now. One was expected to be removed from the rotation with J.T. Ginn back.

All of the runs came in the fifth after a leadoff HBP and three groundball hits, only the first of which was a hard-hit ball. The big blow, a two-run double by Ceddanne Rafaela, could have at least been knocked down by Tommy White at third, even if it wasn’t turned into an out. Barnett allowed just one hit and one walk prior to the fifth. His ERA increased tonight, but it was a solid showing that should help his chances of getting another start. Whether that happens right away will probably hinge on J.T. Ginn’s availability as he looks to return from the IL next week.

Barnett gave up four hits, walked one and struck out two. The 25-year-old had been starting exclusively at Triple-A, but the Athletics opted to have him follow an opener against the Twins on Saturday. Barnett came in during the third inning. He was able to hold the Twins off the scoreboard until the sixth inning when a two-out two-run Alan Roden single accounted for the only runs in the game. Barnett is lined up to face the Red Sox at home next Thursday.

Barnett has exclusively been starting in Triple-A but has only pitched out of the bullpen in the Majors this year. He’s taking J.T. Ginn’s place on the roster, and Ginn was set to start on Friday against the Twins, but there is no indication yet if Barnett will make that start in his place. It would make sense since Barnett was scheduled to start on Thursday in Triple-A.

Barnett had a couple of saves for the A’s last month, but he’d given up nine runs in six innings since July started, taking his ERA from 1.17 to 4.64. He was a starter in Triple-A before being called up, but given that we’re in the second half, it might make sense to keep him in the pen for now and see if he can resume being of use there later.

The A’s scored four times in the top of the ninth to go from trailing by one to creating a pretty easy save chance. They could have turned to usual suspects Hogan Harris or Elvis Alvarado at that point, but both pitched last night. Barnett got the chance and handled it quickly. His previous save came on June 9, when he pitched the final two innings of a 7-5 game. He’s probably still behind Harris and Alvarado in line for saves, but at least he’s in the mix. It is possible he could be stretched back out as a rotation candidate at some point.

Barnett was summoned in the eighth inning with a two-run lead against the Brewers. He completed two clean innings, shutting the door on Milwaukee with four strikeouts to convert his first save. Barnett had previously made appearances of four and two scoreless frames, so he may stick to a multi-inning role. But he now has a solid 11/4 K/BB ratio across 7 1/3 scoreless innings of work.

Barnett seemed to be the likeliest choice to join the A’s rotation when Luis Severino went down last week, and he became an even better bet with the decision to demote Jacob Lopez a couple of days later. Instead, the A’s went to Jack Perkins and Kade Morris and brought up Barnett as a reliever, instead. Tonight, at least, Barnett looked like the easily superior choice to Perkins as a starter, as he took over after Perkins gave up five runs in four innings. He went on to allow just one hard-hit ball and generated 12 whiffs on 26 swings. Perhaps it’s too soon for the A’s to make another change right away, but Barnett could be starting before long.