Ross Stripling, having been guaranteed a spot in the A’s Opening Day rotation did everything he could to put question marks on the guarantee today in a 12-11 loss to the San Diego Padres. In his quest to finish 4 innings, he gave up a whopping 13 hits and 8 earned runs, driving his preseason ERA up to an ugly 11.32. Stripling does pitch with a contact-driven approach so he’s bound to allow one of these hit-fests every once in a while. His 5 strikeouts and 0 walks can serve as your silver lining if you’re in need of one, but it wasn’t an outing that inspired much confidence in a rotation being optimistically advertised as “much improved.
Stripling has a stinker, Muncy homers
