Wilmer Flores doesn’t need a hit to be the Giants’ hero as A’s strategy backfires

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They need to rename the stat. From RBIs to WBIs.

Because Wilmer will bat you in.

For the second straight night, Wilmer Flores beat the A’s, this time with little ball. A day after producing a career-high three home runs and eight RBIs in a 9-1 Giants rout, Flores drew a bases-loaded walk in the 10th inning to rubber stamp Saturday night’s 1-0 win before another sellout crowd at Oracle Park.

Flores should be the last guy teams want to face in RBI situations. He has driven in 42 runs, the most in the majors and one more than the mighty Aaron Judge. Yet the A’s curiously orchestrated a strategy in the final inning just so they could get to Flores.

With two outs and runners at second and third, A’s manager Mark Kotsay had his hard-throwing closer, Mason Miller, intentionally walk Mike Yastrzemski with Flores on deck. That loaded the bases.

More than one person in the Giants’ clubhouse questioned Kotsay’s strategy, but everyone was grateful Flores got the opportunity and won a nine-pitch duel with Miller, who threw six fastballs, one touching 103.9 mph, and two sliders. The fateful pitch was below the zone at 102.2 mph.

“I wouldn’t have done that,” one Giant said, realizing Flores’ penchant for getting runners home.

Kotsay said he had the A’s intentionally walk Yastrzemski because lefties have fared better against Miller this season. Indeed, lefties were hitting at a .286 clip (with a 1.137 OPS) while righties were at .091 (.264 OPS). So Miller versus Mr. RBI, it was.

“I had full confidence in him against Flores there,” said Kotsay, who was more bothered that the A’s wasted so many earlier opportunities, going 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

Flores was asked if he was surprised with the intentional walk and said, “I don’t really know what to expect. Just (be) ready.”

On his own walk, Flores said, “Hoping to make contact somehow. As the at-bat went longer, I was seeing the fastball a little better, but it’s just a different fastball. I think I was just lucky to foul it off.”

Flores’ latest theatrics overshadowed Landen Roupp’s fabulous six innings, the longest scoreless start of his career, and four relievers tossing a hitless inning apiece, Randy Rodriguez, Tyler Rogers, Ryan Walker, and Camilo Doval.

“We’re not always going to hit everyday, but our pitching is always keeping us in the game,” Flores said. “It’s been the same way all year.”

Roupp threw a gem on the day the Giants made a significant rotation change, replacing struggling starter Jordan Hicks with Hayden Birdsong, which wasn’t a major surprise considering Hicks’ inflated 6.55 ERA. Birdsong will start Tuesday against Kansas City.

The rotation could use a boost, ranking a so-so 16th in the majors in ERA, while the bullpen ranks first in ERA. Clearly, the rotation has some catching up to do, and the 23-year-old Birdsong has been summoned to help narrow the gap.

“I’m excited. It’s where I want to be, but I’ve got to pitch,” Birdsong said. “If I hold up my end of it, we’re going to be pretty damn good.”

Birdsong’s upside is considered greater than Hicks’. He has served as a long reliever and won’t need to be eased into the rotation; his last outing, in relief of Hicks, he threw 65 pitches.

“We’re just trying to get it right at this particular time,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Jordan came in last year, signed here as a starter, and came in this year expecting to be a starter, and he was. But we’re just making adjustments a month and a half into the season that potentially is going to make us better.”

Birdsong, with a 2.31 ERA, is developing nicely after making two significant adjustments in spring training – 1) pitching out of the windup for the first time since college in a bid to throw more strikes and 2) moving his feet from the first-base side to the third-base side of the rubber to create a more deceptive angle against right-handed hitters.

So far so good. Birdsong is walking fewer batters – 3.9 walks per nine innings versus 5.4 last year – and is having his way against right-handed hitters, whose batting average against him is .200.

The hope is that Birdsong can be a force the final 3 ½ months. Last year, he was called up in the middle of the season and immediately flourished (3-0, 2.45 ERA in five July starts), but he scuffled in August and September (6.05 ERA).

A’s starter Luis Severino matched Roupp with six scoreless innings, continuing his trend of excellent pitching on the road; his ERA in four starts is 0.72. Conversely, he’s 0-4 with a 6.75 ERA in six starts at the A’s minor-league park in Sacramento and told The Standard on May 9 that playing at Sutter Health Park “feels like a spring-training kind of thing.”

Severiono cited the fact the clubhouse is beyond the outfield wall, which throws him out of his routine because he generally visits the clubhouse between innings. He could easily do so in San Francisco but not in Sacramento.

Kotsay and A’s GM David Forst spoke about Severnio’s comments, which the pitcher reiterated in a postgame interview two days later, and agreed to let him walk straight to the clubhouse after the final out of every inning in Sacramento.

After Saturday’s game, Severino downplayed his comments and said he could try throwing bullpen sessions on the main mound in Sacramento to get more comfortable with the field and added, “The main thing is just stop throwing bad at home. That’s the key. If I do that, we stop talking about it.”

Meantime, his dominance away from Sacramento continues.

“I feel if I only pitch on the road, I’d be friggin’ Cy Young,” Severino said.