Home woes continue for A’s in loss to Twins
Daulton Jefferies began the day eagerly anticipating his duel with Sonny Gray, a pitcher he has long admired. He ended it with a sore arm and an MRI while the Athletics were licking their wounds following a 14-4 loss Wednesday to the Minnesota Twins at the Coliseum. It was the most one-sided loss of the season for the Athletics before a paid crowd of 7,106. How one-sided was it? The A’s had outfielder/infielder Chad Pinder pitch
the ninth inning rather than use another arm in the bullpen. Pinder gave up three runs and two hits, two walks and a hit batter on pitches ranging from 43.6 to 85.4 miles per hour.
A’s manager Mark Kotsay used Pinder reluctantly, but after 15 games in 13 days, he preferred to not use another reliever.
“He gassed up on a couple of pitches and my fear is getting him hurt,” Kotsay said. “I’m just thankful he got off the mound and feels good.”
The same could not be said for Jefferies, who reported his biceps issue after four innings in which he gave up seven hits and six earned runs with three walks and five strikeouts. Jefferies had already left for medical tests by the time the media arrived and was unavailable for comment.
“We’re going to do some evaluations and we’ll have a lot more for you on Friday,” Kotsay said.
The loss marked the first time since 2011 the Twins won a series in Oakland and continued a trend of floundering before a fan base that has been reluctant to engage.
In losing two of three to the A.L. Central leaders, the Athletics fell to 16-24 overall and 6-14 at home. They’ve lost 11 of their last 13 at the Coliseum and endured the indignity of a historic winless (0-6) homestand from April 29 through May 4.
While the Twins were converting in any and all run-scoring situations, the A’s were struggling. Seth Brown, whose bat has awoken from its slumber, singled in a run in the first. He drove in Ramon Laureano, who hit the ball safely to center and hustled his way into a double with two out.
Oakland got its second run against Gray in the third when Brown hit a triple into the rightfield corner that bounced away from Kepler, scoring on a smash by Christian Bethancourt past Urshula at third base.