Rockies 3, A’s 2:
Colorado completes three-game sweep.
DENVER — The A’s return home for most of the next five weeks after a road trip that started with them looking unbeatable and finished with the club struggling to score runs.
Oakland did finally record its first homers in three games at Coors Field, with solo shots from Matt Chapman and Khris Davis, but the Rockies won 3-2 to sweep the series. The A’s, who scored just four runs in the three games, dropped to two games behind Seattle in the race for the American League’s second wild-card spot. (The Mariners, too, struggled against Colorado, going 1-5.)
“We’re disappointed we didn’t play better here, but you’ve got to give them credit: They played well. They pitched well,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “Every game, they were just a little better than we were.”
The A’s have no reason to hang their heads. No one expected them to keep winning at nearly an .800 clip after they went on a 27-7 roll. In the first two games of the series with the Rockies, they had plenty of baserunners, 26 in all.
“We’ve done a really good job of getting chances, we just haven’t gotten that big hit, myself included,” said outfielder Stephen Piscotty, who went 0-for-10 in the series. “That’s what winning games comes down to a lot of time.
“We’re not going to panic; there’s none of that going on. You’re not going to win them all, but we just have to trust our game plan and keep the faith.”
On Sunday, the A’s had fewer opportunities: only six men reached base and three were left aboard.
Now, they return home for 27 of the next 37 games.
“I think we’re ready to be home for a while,” Piscotty said. “We’ve definitely had some long road trips lately. I don’t think it matters too much where we play: We’ve had some success on the road, but it’s been fun of late playing at home. The crowds are starting to really grow and show up; it’s really, really cool to see that take shape. There’s an excitement level that we’re really looking forward to this next month.”
Frankie Montas started for Oakland and for just the second time in 10 outings this season, he didn’t make it through five innings. He went 41⁄3 before leaving with some calf cramping. He gave up eight hits, including a two-run homer by Tom Murphy in the second inning and an RBI double by Ryan McMahon in the third.
Colorado starter German Marquez didn’t allow a man past first until Chapman’s leadoff blast to left in the fourth, then retired nine of the next 10 batters before Davis’ leadoff homer in the seventh.
Davis has 28 homers, fourth in the AL, and he hit five on the trip, which featured a fourgame sweep at Texas.
The Rockies have won four in a row and trail the Dodgers by one game in the NL West; Colorado is 11-5 against AL teams this year.
“I knew coming in here this was going to be a tough series,” catcher Jonathan Lucroy said. “I played here last year for a couple of months, and I knew they’d bring it. They’d come after it every day. We kept it close, we just couldn’t score runs . ... We’re going to flush it and move on.”
The A’s open a three-series homestand Monday with three games against Toronto, then play three against Detroit and two against the Dodgers. Oakland is 26-22 at the Coliseum compared with 35-24 on the road.
“We’ve done a nice job on the road, now it’s time to take advantage of being at home,” Melvin said. “Whenever you can play over .500 on the road, it’s a good thing, and you want to take care of business at home, which we’ve been able to do in years past, and we get a nice little run at home.”