‘Wrong time’ for slump: 4th loss in row
MARINERS 5, A’S 1
Well, at least the A’s bullpen didn’t blow it this time.
It didn’t get the chance.
A’s left-hander Cole Irvin lasted just three innings as the Mariners won 5-1 to extend Oakland’s skid on a lazy Tuesday afternoon in front of 4,508 fans at the Coliseum.
The A’s have lost eight of 10, including three straight games blown by the bullpen (Saturday to Monday). That marked the first time in Oakland history that it lost three consecutive games after leading in the eighth inning of each, but the A’s led for only half an inning Tuesday.
A day after dropping out of a playoff spot for the first time since April 16, the A’s on Tuesday fell two games back of Boston for the AL’s second wild-card berth. Oakland fell 41⁄2 games behind AL Westleading Houston, as the Astros downed Kansas City 4-0. The A’s are just a game ahead of the third-place Mariners in the division.
Going 1-4 to start a ninegame homestand isn’t what the A’s planned, especially because the red-hot Yankees arrive for a four-game set Thursday just as Oakland is plodding through a
quagmire of poor play.
On top of the three-game bullpen meltdown, the offense has struggled for weeks. The A's entered the game batting .199 in their past eight games, including hitting .148 with runners in scoring position.
They had eight hits, but just two of the extra-base variety Tuesday, and they added starting pitching to their mounting list of troubles.
“We're putting too much pressure on every facet that we have right now,” A's manager Bob Melvin said. “Not a lot of room for error. It was a tough stretch we went through. We did not look good today. We've lost some close games here recently. We have to flip the switch and start playing like we do.
“We usually are on the other side of those games. And this is the wrong time to go into a slump, wrong time to go into a team slump. We'll figure it out.”
Apparently, Irvin really does not like throwing on four days' rest. He entered the day with a 1-6 record and a 5.01 ERA with that rest, and the numbers got worse after making it through just three innings and leaving with a 3-1 deficit.
After the A's took a firstinning lead on a Mitch Moreland single that scored Starling Marte, Irvin promptly gave up the advantage. Three straight second-inning hits, including an RBI single by Jarred Kelenic tied it, and the Mariners went ahead 3-1 on a two-run single by Luis Torrens in the third.
“They definitely have something on me,” said Irvin, who believes he was tipping his pitches with runners on second base and said he landed awkwardly on a third-inning curveball and felt something pull in his upper hip.
Irvin faced 19 hitters in his shortest outing of the season, allowing seven hits and two walks. Seattle starter Chris Flexen had no such trouble, breezing through 62⁄3 innings while allowing just one run on six hits.
The A's managed only two hits from the second to sixth inning and didn't advance a runner into scoring position during the span. Elvis Andrus finally ended the drought in the seventh inning with a double into the left-field corner, but Marte flied to right field to end the threat.
Kelenic and Dylan Moore each had two-out, run-scoring hits in the eighth inning to push the Mariners' lead to 5-1 and chase left-handed reliever A.J. Puk. Yusmeiro Petit, making his 500th career appearance, got J.P. Crawford to pop to center field to end the eighth.
But the A's didn't offer much of a comeback attempt.
“We have to have better atbats, and our late-game at-bats just aren't there right now,” Melvin said. “That's kind of our calling card, so it was not a good game.”
Matt Chapman, who was nursing a foot injury before being plunked in the left wrist with a 91-mph fastball in the fourth inning, led off the ninth inning with his third strikeout of the game. After a Tony Kemp flyout, Sean Murphy doubled down the third-base line.
He was stranded on second when Andrus grounded to shortstop and sent the A's into a much-needed off-day.
“We're not playing our best baseball right now, and we know that as a team,” Andrus said. “I think that sometimes everybody wants to be the hero and wants to be that person who gets the team back on track. …
“As a team, I think we need to just relax.”