Oakland-nemesis Vargas prevents sweep in K.C.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With the series already in hand, the A’s craved the sweep at Kauffman Stadium, especially after a long streak of wins against the Royals.
A’s vanquisher Jason Vargas was the opposing starter, though, and Kansas City beat the A’s 3-1 to end a string of Oakland wins against the Royals at eight.
Jesse Hahn, who’d pitched well in relief of initial No. 5 starter Raul Alcantara last Friday, gave up hits to four of the first five Kansas City batters Thursday night, allowing two runs in
the process on singles by Lorenzo Cain and Salvador Perez. The Royals added another in the third on a sacrifice fly by former Oakland outfielder Brandon Moss.
Hahn “just got nicked up a little bit, but then got it under control,” manager Bob Melvin said. “In the past, he might have gotten frustrated and let it get away from him, but he didn’t today.”
“They came out really aggressive, swinging early in the count,” Hahn said, crediting catcher Stephen Vogt for mixing up the pitch selection after that first inning to keep the Royals off balance.
Hahn allowed only three baserunners his final three innings, leaving Vargas as the bigger issue for the A’s. After Thursday’s game, in 21 lifetime appearances against the A’s, Vargas has a 3.04 ERA, has allowed a .212 average and has thrown four complete games.
On Thursday, he limited Oakland to four hits and a walk in 72⁄3 innings, his longest outing since returning from Tommy John surgery late last year.
“He executes pitches,” Jed Lowrie said. “He doesn’t make many mistakes. When you get something close, you have to be ready.”
The A’s only run came off Kelvin Herrera in the ninth, on Rajai Davis’ first homer of the season.
Vargas’ ability to handle Oakland made for a slightly different lineup. Vogt usually doesn’t start against left-handers, but Melvin said that a left-handed batter might be worth a try against Vargas’ changeup. (In addition, Melvin noted that, with lefty Dallas Keuchel going for Houston on Friday, he didn’t want Vogt to sit two games in a row.)
First baseman Ryon Healy certainly appeared frustrated; after an inside pitch from Vargas in the second inning, he glared back at Perez as he was spun inside and had some words with the Royals’ catcher.
“I was just kind of over-competing,” Healy said. “I flashed him a look I probably shouldn’t have flashed, but it wasn’t malicious. Nothing really to it. The way the pitch took me, I kind of looked back at him like, ‘Hey, that was inside,’ but there was nothing I said. Salvy kind of jumped on me, and it escalated from there.
“I talked to (Eric) Hosmer later, and he said, ‘Hey man, we’re not throwing at you,’ and I said, ‘I understand that’ and told Salvy, ‘Hey, man, we’re good. No worries here.’ ”
Oakland’s defense was an obvious point of concern before the season and the team has done nothing to dispel that notion. The A’s made two more errors Thursday. They’ve made errors in seven straight games and they lead the majors with 11. After Hahn’s error in the second inning Thursday, Oakland pitchers have made five in the first 10 games. They made nine errors all of last season.
The fact the pitching staff has made so many errors, Melvin said, “kind of skews the hard work we’re doing . ... I can’t explain the ones on the pitching end because during the spring, that’s all we do.”
The A’s are 5-5 but only a game out of first and return to the Bay Area on Friday for their longest homestand of the season, 10 games against the Astros, Rangers and Mariners.
“Nice long stretch at home,” Melvin said. “And early in the season, you get back-to-back-toback teams in your division, it gives you a good idea where you’re at and how you stack up against (AL West teams) . ... It’s a good way to measure ourselves this early in the season.”