A’s starter Estes tosses first career shutout in masterful outing

OAKLAND — Joey Estes, in his own words, plays baseball with personality. He’ll display his passion. He’ll skip to the mound. He’ll roar for all to hear. On a sweltering Wednesday that gave way to a warm summer night, Estes invited the Oakland Coliseum to roar with him.

In his 12th career start, the 22-year-old Estes tossed his first career shutout on 92 pitches as the A’s defeated the Angels, 5-0, at the Coliseum. It was the first Maddux — a complete-game shutout on fewer than 100 pitches — thrown by an A’s pitcher since Kendall Graveman on Aug. 19, 2016.

“It’s an unreal feeling,” Estes said. “I’m still processing it myself and enjoying what this feels like.”

The ensemble of emotions that Estes experienced after blanking the Angels is completely unique. Estes has thrown one other complete game in his professional career, striking out 14 batters but allowing two runs over nine innings on Aug. 14, 2021. That outing was with the Augusta GreenJackets, the Braves’ Low-A affiliate. The attendance at SRP Park didn’t crack 5,000. In Estes’ estimation, that outing was the last time he experienced anything comparable to Wednesday night.

Even then, this was an entirely different beast.

“You could feel every one of those fans out there,” Estes said of the announced Coliseum attendance of 14,837. “It’s a great fan group that we have here, and it’s nice to be out there in the ninth and get that feeling that I haven’t really had here in Oakland.”

As evidenced by his pitch count, Estes had his share of efficient frames. On four occasions, Estes needed fewer than 10 pitches to complete an inning. Estes tossed eight pitches to complete the third, nine pitches to get through the fourth and seven pitches to breeze through the seventh. The real magic, though, was in the eighth inning.

Reliever Austin Adams began warming up after Estes allowed a leadoff single to begin the inning, but on the very next pitch, Estes induced a double play with the help of a replay review, the third and final double play that Oakland turned on the evening. One pitch after that, Estes ended the inning on a flyout, completing the frame on just four pitches. Adams returned to his seat.

Estes found himself navigating a similar situation in the ninth as Jo Adell began the game’s final inning with a single, prompting Mason Miller to begin warming up. On this night, Miller’s services were not needed.

Nolan Schanuel lined out. Luis Guillorme, entering down in the count 0-2 after Luis Rengifo left mid-at-bat with an apparent injury, popped out. Taylor Ward, after slapping a foul ball that caused the crowd to hold its breath, struck out. Game over. Shutout secure.

“It’s a testament to the mentality, the mindset that he has,” said manager Mark Kotsay. “You get into that sixth inning and you’re obviously aware that you’re deep into a game. You know your pitch count’s low. But the focus, the concentration, the competitor that he is, that’s what it takes to finish a game.”

Added catcher Shea Langeliers: “I love those guys down there, but I thought in my head that this was Joey’s game and we were going to get it done.”

While Wednesday was unequivocally Estes’ game, his teammates had their chances to shine, too. Brent Rooker hit his second homer in as many games. Max Schuemann not only homered for the first time since May 26, but was involved defensively in all three double plays. Lawrence Butler navigated the tough evening sun to make a leaping catch at the wall.

“You can’t get any better than your guys … catching balls at the wall, diving all over the field for you,” Estes said. “It just makes it that much easier for you as a pitcher to go out there and feel that much more confident in your stuff and roll through innings.”

With the shutout complete, Estes hunched over and let out a cathartic roar in a display of pure emotion. When asked about the celebration, Estes admitted that he didn’t really remember what happened, assessing that he blacked out in the heat of the moment. The A’s, of course, would be more than happy for Estes to continue having reasons to scream and shout.

Over his last three starts, Estes has allowed four earned runs across 20 2/3 innings (1.74 ERA). On June 5, he took a perfect game into the seventh inning against the Mariners. There is still room for Estes to grow, but at 22 years old, the rookie is showing flashes of being a mainstay in the rotation.

“I think he’s really showing everybody what he’s capable of,” Langeliers said. “The sky’s the limit for him.”