A's fall to Rangers despite strong effort from Montas
OAKLAND >> The A's came up empty at the plate on both sides Saturday and the end result was a 2-0 loss to the Texas Rangers at the Coliseum.
On offense, the A's managed just three hits against Texas starter Martin Perez and three relievers and are hitting .186 (35-for-188) with nine earned runs in six games on the homestand.
On defense, the A's failed to register an out at the plate in the seventh inning when catcher Sean Murphy tagged out Willie Calhoun but was ruled on replay to have obstructed with the runner, with Texas getting a second run and all the offense they would need to win for the second straight game.
The play led to the first ejection in the managerial career of manager Mark Kotsay.
It all added up to a hardluck loss for Frankie Montas (2-2), who continued to look every bit the No. 1 starter in falling to 2-2. Montas gave up three hits in 7 1/3 innings with one walk and eight strikeouts.
“You can't ask for more of Frankie than what we did today in terms of performance,” Kotsay said. “I thought he threw the ball great.”
The game was decided after Montas recorded the first out in the eighth inning on a ground ball, then gave up back-to-back singles to Adolois Garcia and Willie Calhoun. Domingo Acevedo was summoned from the bullpen and got pinch-hitter Jonah Heim on a ground ball to first, with runners advancing to second and third.
Brad Miller followed with
an opposite field single to left, which scored Garcia, with Calhoun racing around third and attempting to score. Left fielder Tony Kemp threw a strike to Murphy, and Calhoun was called out.
However, the Rangers claimed obstruction, and the crew chief Doug Eddings granted the request for an appeal. Murphy's left leg did appear to be in the way of Calhoun, and it was ruled the baserunner was not given a lane to score. The run counted, and instead of a 1-0 deficit the A's trailed 2-0.
“Tried to set up where I usually do and then there's a lot of things converging at one time,” Murphy said. “I was just trying to make a play on the ball and make the tag. There's a runner, a ball and a tag to be made. A lot of things are going through my mind. I don't think it was egregious; I don't know. Obviously New York thought I violated the rule.”
Kotsay went out to argue and got ejected.
“Maybe I fully don't understand the rule because I didn't feel Murphy was completely blocking the plate,”
Kotsay said. “I thought he was set up for a throw from the left fielder, which is going to take him to the plate once he received the ball. He was ahead of the runner. For me, it's a big momentum turn in the game.
“They had every right probably to throw me out of the game because you're not supposed to argue replay.”
The play constituted the only scoring in the game.
The Rangers improved to 5-9 while the A's fell to 8-8.
• Rookie Nick Allen, who made a throwing error on his first chance in his first start at shortstop, erased the mistake by turning a double play on the next batter but saved his best play for the fourth inning.
With the outfield swung around to the right and the left-handed-hitting Mitch Garver up, Allen somehow ran down a ball in mediumdepth left field and caught it with relative ease for the third out of the inning. Had it fallen in, Corey Seager, who had drawn a two-out walk, would have scored from first base.
“I think right when the ball was hit I looked back, and I saw Tony, and I just knew I had to get on my horse,” Allen said. “Luckily I think the wind was blowing a little bit in, it gave me a little more time to get to the ball and when I looked up it was right in my sights.”
According to Statcast, Allen ran 115 feet to catch a ball that most everyone figured would be a double into no man's land.
“I had no chance. I was not even close,” Kemp said. “Was not going to get there. Impressive.”
From his vantage point, Murphy had all but counted the Texas run.
“As soon as I saw where Tony was playing I thought, `That's going to fall,' “Murphy said. “I was looking for Tony, as soon as I saw where he was playing I thought, that's going to fall. Nick comes out of nowhere, and he made it look pretty easy too.”
• The A's only hits were a double by Nick Allen, a single by Cristian Pache and a double by Stephen Piscotty.
They were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left five on base. The A's didn't get a runner to second base with less than two out until the seventh, but failed to score.
“It's the ebbs and flows of a season,” Kotsay said. “We had three hits, we didn't get the timely hit which we've been able to do most of these 16 games. Ultimately, you get three hits and don''t get the timely one you're not going to be on the positive side of the game.”