A’s Drop Another, Fall To Rangers 6-2

A solid outing from the Athletics’ starting pitcher goes to waste

The A’s dropped yet another game on Tuesday evening in Arlington, falling 6-2 in their second straight contest to the division-rival Texas Rangers to drop the team to 19 games below .500 and setting themselves up to possibly get swept out in the finale tomorrow evening. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen but first a quick recap of tonight’s game.

It didn’t take long for the scoring to get started tonight. Leading off and looking to give his team an early spark new center fielder Lawrence Butler took the fifth pitch of the game from Jacob deGrom and blasted a solo home run to give the A’s an early lead:

That was Butler’s 14th homer of the season and it was a huge one for the A’s facing a rejuvenated deGrom. Runs would obviously be at a premium facing deGrom and the A’s were able to cash in early here.

It was a good thing too because after that hit deGrom locked in. After Butler’s leadoff bomb, deGrom retired 17 of the next 20 batters with just a single and walk from Nick Kurtz and a Tyler Soderstrom double. Other than that the A’s were clueless, also striking out nine times against deGrom. It was a nearly vintage performance from one of the greats of the game.

While the Rangers marched out a future Hall of Fame pitcher for tonight’s contest the starting pitcher for the Athletics tonight was rookie right-hander JT Ginn, who was making just his 11th career start. The 26-year-old held his own against the contending Rangers’ lineup by bending but not breaking. He allowed four hits through the first three frames but also induced a couple of groundball double plays to kill Texas’ rallies in their tracks. A little help from his center fielder in the second inning made his life a lot easier as well:

Butler looks more than comfortable in center field as that’s two nights in a row he’s made a spectacular catch. The A’s outfield defense is going to be great for years with Butler and Denzel Clarke out there manning the grass.

Ginn’ outfielders could help him with the big fly in the fourth inning. Rangers stud Adolis Garcia crushed a hanging slider from Ginn to lead off the bottom of the fourth to tie this game up 1-all. Ginn then proceeded to retire the next three batters of the inning, as well as posting a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth, wrapping his night up on a high note after just 58 pitches.

• JT Ginn: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, 58 pitches

Considering it was his first extended outing on a mound in since May 19th, pulling Ginn before he could get his pitch count any higher is probably in the best interests of both him and the team in the long run. He was on a roll though and he likely earned another start with the big league squad. If the team keeps on a five-man schedule then Ginn would next line up to take on the Astros in Houston next week in the series finale, which would be a tough test against the division leaders.

Things immediately went south for the Athletics once Ginn was out of the game. Veteran lefty Sean Newcomb was first out of the bullpen and served up a go-ahead solo home run to former Athletic Marcus Semien that was close but after umpire review was a fair ball over the fence in left. He finished the frame but now Newcomb was in line for the loss with just nine outs to go. The A’s would need a comeback tonight if they wanted to avoid their third straight defeat.

The A’s started their climb with a two-out rally in the top of the seventh but that didn’t go anywhere. Then Texas took advantage and busted this game open with a 4-spot in the bottom half of the frame. Righty Justin Sterner allowed a pair of singles before making way for lefty Hogan Harris, who allowed an RBI single and then a back-breaking three-run shot to star shortstop Corey Seager that seemed to break the A’s will. It ultimately wasn’t needed but insurance is insurance.

The A’s got one of those runs back in the top of the eighth. Finally into the Texas bullpen after getting stifled by deGrom all night, catcher Shea Langeliers brought in a run on an RBI knock. That put the tying run in the on-deck circle but Soderstrom grounded out to end the rally with just one run to show for it. They went down quietly in the ninth, losing 6-2 and securing the series loss for the Athletics with a chance to get swept out of Arlington tomorrow evening.

If we only counted the first batter of the game then the A’s would have won. That’s not baseball though and the A’s instead received their third straight defeat that drops them to 42-61 with the trade deadline fast approaching. Both trade chips Miguel Andujar and Luis Urias collected one hit apiece so there’s that. And Ginn looked sharp and ready to claim a spot in the second half rotation. The bullpen is still a problem and the offense had little to no answer against one of the best pitchers on the planet. It happens.

Tomorrow the series wraps up with Wednesday evening contest between these two rivals. For the A’s, they’ll turn to left-hander JP Sears, who will bring a 5.13 ERA into his 21st start of the season. The new trade candidate got rocked in his first start of the second half, allowing six runs in just four innings last time out so he’ll be hoping to get back on track against a team he’s seen plenty of the past few years. As for the Rangers, their starting pitcher has yet to be revealed but we’ll update when we know.