OAKLAND — The A’s first crack at their new “bullpenning” experiment turned out to be a failure.
Employing the same strategy the Tampa Bay Rays made famous earlier this season by having a relief pitcher start out a game did not go the way the A’s had it drawn up in Saturday’s 8-7 loss to the Mariners, decreasing their lead over Seattle for the second AL wild card spot to 4 1/2 games with 25 games remaining.
Instead of beginning the game with scheduled starter Daniel Mengden, the A’s elected to open it up with reliever Liam Hendriks, who was among the the eight players called up Saturday with rosters eligible to expand for the month of September.