Fatrolf’s Sunday Sketches: Frankie Montas is Cool, So Is Tanner Anderson Edition

Being able to say we have someone to rely on finally feels good. Knowing that someone is Frankie Montas, feels even better.

After the A’s got hammered for nine runs on Friday, Frankie had to come up with a strong outing yesterday. Taking the hill in the second game against the Mariners at the Coliseum, Montas continued his dominant streak, holding the Mariners to only two runs while the offense ran away with the game to an 11-2 victory.

In his continuous quest to be really good at everything, Ramon Laureano has put up nine dingers this season. However, until Wednesday’s game against the Rays, he had yet to hit a grand slam. Leave it to Laureano to come to the plate in the eighth inning of a 2-2 tie and smash the go-ahead runs in ... with the first slam in his Major League career. Why bloop in one run when you can go for four? In addition to the slammer, Laureano knocked in one of the other runs in the 6-2 victory. Hot? Hot.

Speaking of hot, the Khrush Khount is now up to 14. Woo-hoo!

Stephen Piscotty will be out for a couple more days after undergoing surgery on Thursday to remove a melanoma from his right ear. According to David Forst, he doesn’t expect Piscotty to be out long, but he has no interest in rushing a return. Piscotty caught the melanoma early and is expected to make a full recovery!

Also in the positive recovery column are both AJ Puk and Jesus Luzardo (not to be confused with the Jesus Lizard), who made their 2019 debuts with Class A Stockton on Wednesday. Puk is rehabbing from his April 2018 TJ surgery, while Luzardo is on his way back from a left shoulder strain that has had him sidelined since March. Luzardo tossed three scoreless frames, while Puk put up four K’s in two innings of work, only giving up a single run. Neither pitcher lost his velocity, Luzardo getting up to 97 MPH and Puk 99.

Last week, Tanner Anderson took the mound in his hometown of Tampa, FL for the first start of his major league career. While the game itself ended up being a total bust, it wasn’t on Tanner. He pitched 5 ²⁄₃ innings against the Rays, and was scoreless for the first five innings before a two-run shot in the sixth knocked him out of the game. The bullpen caved, letting in four runs for the 6-2 loss.

Anderson did not have the smoothest path to his first start. Last weekend, he hopped a plane from Vegas to Texas, which departed after midnight Sunday. He hung out with the A’s on Sunday, ready to fly into Tampa that night. Unfortunately for tired Tanner and the rest of the team, crazy weather was not on their side. It wasn’t until 4 a.m. Florida time that they finally made it to their hotel.

All that, and Anderson still pitched a killer start.

“Tanderson” gets the ball today in the finale against the Mariners, with a little more rest than last time. In his first appearance, he was someone we could only speculate on how he might perform in the majors. Now, he’s proved himself, and the pressure is on. Today at 1:07 p.m. he takes the mound against Seattle’s Mike Leake (5-3, 4.26 ERA), poised to secure our series victory over the Mariners.

Yesterday, Mike Fiers celebrated his 34th birthday! What better way to truly honor him than in a goofy comic?! Enjoy!