A’s Zach Neal gets tips from ex-Giants pitcher

CLEVELAND - Zach Neal was called up May 24 but he didn’t appear in a game until Monday - and he was excellent, allowing just a hit and a walk in three innings in his season debut with the A’s.

Neal, 28, said he got some offseason advice from two former starters who pitched in the Bay Area: his father-in-law, onetime A’s pitcher Bobby Witt, and Witt’s former Texas teammate John Burkett, who spent five seasons with the Giants and won 22 games for them in 1993.

“They’ll come to my bullpens now and then in the offseason and kinda spit stuff at me,” Neal said. “It’s hard for me to ask Bobby stuff because he’s like the opposite of me - he just had natural ability, and I’m not that way. So Burkie…