Rays rally in eighth as A’s complete winless homestand
OAKLAND — The Athletics may have some rough homestands to come, but it can’t get any worse than the one that concluded Wednesday afternoon.
Losing pitcher Zach Jackson loaded the bases without giving up a hit in the eighth inning to set the stage for three runs by the Tampa Bay Rays in a 3-0 win over the Athletics before an announced crowd of 4,838 at the Coliseum.
The loss brought with it the ignominy of an 0-6 homestand, as the Cleveland Guardians swept the A’s in three games before Tampa Bay came to town and did the same thing. It wasted seven shutout innings from starter Frankie Montas, who was locked in a pitcher’s duel with Corey Kluber with neither getting a decision.
The loss dropped the A’s to 10-15 before embarking on an eightgame road trip to Minnesota and Detroit starting Friday. Tampa Bay, which lost three of four to the A’s in Florida in April, improved to 15-10. It was the first winless homestand of six or more games in Oakland history and the third time in franchise history.
Manuel Margot broke the deadlock with a clean two-run single off Jackson with two out in the eighth, and then Domingo Acevedo balked home the third run of the inning as the A’s late relief faltered for the second straight game.
The Rays loaded the bases without a hit before Margot came through.
Brett Phillips opened the inning with a five-pitch walk, went to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a ground out by Yandy Diaz. Jackson then walked Randy Arozarena and then a high and inside pitch grazed the hands of Brandon Lowe to load the bases. The A’s protested the hit-by-pitch call but were denied on replay.
Margot then singled to right, bringing in Phillips and Arozarena. Jackson was removed in favor of Acevedo, with Lowe scoring on a balk to make it 3-0.
Montas was done after seven scoreless innings, giving up four hits with a walk and six strikeouts. He walked one and struck out six. Montas threw 103 pitches, 65 of them strikes before Jackson took over in the eighth.
The Rays didn’t get a runner to third against Montas until the sixth inning when Arozarena hit
a one-out double and then stole third with two out. Montas then got Manuel Margot to ground to Sheldon Neuse at third to end the threat.
Kluber, who looked every bit the three-time All-Star and two-time A.L. Cy Young Award winner he was in Cleveland from 2013 through 2018, locked up the A’s to the tune of three hits in six innings. He walked one, struck out seven and threw 64 pitches, 46 of which were strikes. He got relief help from winning pitcher J.P. Feyereisen, Colin Poche and Andrew Kittredge, with Kittredge getting his fourth save.
The A’s failed to hold a 53 lead Tuesday night with Kirby Snead giving up a two-run home run in the ninth to Mike Zunino and Lou Trivino getting roughed up for five runs in the top of the 10th.
The attendance on a 74 degree afternoon was the largest of the three-game series, which drew just 10,141 fans for an average of 3,380,. Including the Cleveland series, the A’s drew 44,703 for six games, an average of 7,451.