OAKLAND – With the A’s pitching in a downward spiral, Oakland has relieved Curt Young of his duties as pitching coach, moving bullpen coach Scott Emerson up to take over as pitching coach.
The A’s are 27-38, 11 games under .500, in part because of the pitching that has a 4.83 ERA, 13th in the 15-team American League to go with an average of 5.40 runs per game allowed, which is dead last in the Major Leagues, although much of that has to do with Oakland’s MLB-worst defense.
Four times in the last dozen games the A’s have allowed 10 or more runs, and in the alst two months the A’s team ERA has exploded from 4.