CSN Bay Area

PHOENIX – Finishing a game in relief can’t be what Barry Zito had in mind when contemplating his baseball comeback.

But there was the lefty, firing four shutout innings Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers to close out the A’s 5-2 victory at Maryvale Baseball Park. It was undoubtedly the most impressive of Zito’s three outings for Oakland this spring, and it came in unusual fashion for the former Cy Young winner, who’s hoping to return as a starter after a year away from the game.

“You come in to finish a game, and to throw as many innings as he did to do it, it shows that he’s moving along nicely,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “You come into camp in shape and you’re able to get stretched out like that, and to come out of the bullpen when you’re not used to doing that, it’s pretty impressive.”

Zito faced the minimum 12 batters over his four innings, with one strikeout and no walks. Michael Reed singled to lead off the bottom of the eighth but was erased when Zito enduced an around-the-horn double play from Orlando Arcia.

There was a sizeable contingent of A’s fans on hand in the Brewers’ home park. As Zito engaged pinch hitter Parker Berberet with two outs in the ninth, those fans stood and cheered. Zito obliged by getting Berberet swinging to end it.

What does it all mean in the big picture? Zito still faces steep competition to crack the A’s rotation as a non-roster camp invitee. Generally speaking, the five other healthy pitchers in the mix for Oakland’s three open rotation spots have represented themselves well. Two of them, Jesse Chavez and Drew Pomeranz, spent time in the A’s rotation last season and performed well. The other three – Chris Bassitt, Kendall Graveman and Jesse Hahn – were acquired in offseason trades, and the A’s think highly of them.

Zito’s ERA is 4.15 after three outings. He’s allowed four earned runs and six hits (including two homers) over 8 2/3 innings, with four strikeouts and one walk. However, Sunday’s relief effort showed that Zito, 36, might be an option as a long reliever as well. And if it isn’t with the A’s, surely other teams took notice of Sunday’s effort.

“I know people have said things like that, but I don't know about that,” Zito said of catching the eye of opposing scouts. “I've got an A's uni on right now. I've just got to stay in the present moment, give it my all to the team every time out.”

A key against the Brewers was Zito’s ability to mix all three pitches – fastball, curve and changeup -- effectively in all counts. Catcher Luke Carlin, who has been behind the plate for all three of Zito’s outings, said the lefty’s changeup was the best he’s seen from him this spring. That’s important as Zito wants to get back to using the change as a third pitch to complement his fastball and curve.

His fastball generally has clocked in the mid- to high-80s in games this spring. Carlin said he was calling for fastballs against Berberet, a right-handed hitter, on the game’s final at-bat, but that Zito shook him off for offspeed stuff.

“We hadn’t talked about it,” Carlin said. “I put down a couple fastballs and he’s just kinda staring at me. That last hitter, he pitched backwards. He might have been just testing himself at that point … He’s gonna have to do that at some point anyway.”