WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Yankees manager Aaron Boone had just finished a successful road series but still felt a bit exasperated after New York took two of three games against the Athletics in the minor league stadium that torments pitchers and fielders alike.
“I didn’t play in the PCL. But I feel like I’ve experienced it a couple times here when it gets hot like this,” Boone said Sunday following a 13-8 win against the A's. “You’re never feeling
safe. ... Just glad to escape here and get on the bird. It’s a challenging place to play. You have to figure it out.”
Less than halfway through their second season at their temporary home at Sutter Health Park in the Sacramento area, the A's are still trying to deal with the challenges of a ballpark that inflates offensive numbers.
The heat and jet stream can turn what might seem like normal fly balls into home runs. The high sky and unpredictable winds make catching fly balls an adventure. It combines to make the ballpark one of the friendliest in the league for hitters and has appeared to have taken a toll on the A’s pitchers.
The A's went 1-5 on their most recent homestand, allowing 47 runs against Seattle and New York — including 13 in one inning against New York — in what has become a pattern in the team's waystation before moving to Las Vegas.
The A's have shown promise this season and have spent plenty of time in first place in the AL West before this recent slump. They rank 10th best in the majors with a 17-14 mark on the road, while their 11-17 record at home is the second worst.
Pitching is the major reason why.
The A's are allowing 3.01 more runs per game at home than on the road. That would be the biggest discrepancy ever for a full season in the majors, according to Sportradar, beating the previous mark of 2.82 by the Phillies in 1923 and even topping any season played in the mile-high altitude in Denver.
“You watch games here,” A's manager Mark Kotsay said when asked about the challenge of pitching at the A's ballpark. “You got to keep the ball down the zone and get the ball on the ground. We’ve paid for our mistakes probably more than what we’ve paid for mistakes on the road. That being said, we’ve got to play better defense at home. … That’s a combination of what it takes to pitch better. It’s also to play better.”
While the A's try to downplay the impact knowing they can't change it, the evidence is stark. The ease with how the ball carries takes a toll on pitchers, who can become reluctant to challenge hitters.
The A's have walked batters at the second-highest rate in the majors at home, compared to 18th highest on the road. The A's walked 16 batters in the three-game series against the Yankees, including four with the bases loaded.
“We’re not going to overfocus on home-road splits right now but obviously we’re well aware that we haven’t played well in this ballpark," Kotsay said.
But the pitchers say they try to do their best to avoid letting it play with their heads.
“You can try and pitch to it, and if you do that, it might work one time, but you might also do something that you don’t want to do, or try and do something you’re not good at,” A's starter Aaron Civale said. “Sometimes the wind’s blowing out here, sometimes the wind is blowing out in another stadium or different place. So there’s factors everywhere, rain, weather, cold, hot. It’s all conditions that we can’t control. Unless you have a roof over your head, then surely there’s nothing you can do about it.”
While the A's pitchers have been hurt more by the environment than their counterparts, the conditions are a challenge for everyone. On Saturday night, Yankees starter Ryan Weathers had the kind of stuff that should have produced a strong outing.
Weathers had 10 strikeouts in 6 2-3 innings and generated swings and misses on more than 40% of swings for just the third time in his career. But three home runs — including two on what he considered to be good pitches — proved costly in a 6-4 loss.
But he said he couldn't change his approach even knowing the risks of any flyball.
“I did my time in the PCL, so I know how these parks work,” he said. “But obviously, that can’t go into your decision-making, can’t go into your pitching.”
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