Athletics Drop 7th Straight, Fall to Angels 7-5

And now Wilson is hurt too

The Athletics’ losing streak continued on Tuesday night as the club dropped their second game of their series against the Angels 7-5. The loss now drops the team to last place in the AL West and with a 22-27 record the team now sports the American League’s third-worst record. A huge fall from where this team was just a couple weeks ago.

Hoglund solid early

Drawing his fourth start of his career rookie Gunnar Hoglund got the ball hoping to be the stopper for this god awful losing streak. He was sharp early on as he collected two punchouts in the first and then another in each of the next two innings. He only allowed a couple base runners through the first three innings via a walk and single. His changeup was working early.

Bats jump on Hendricks early

12-year veteran Kyle Hendricks was on the mound making his ninth start for his new team. The results in his first eight weren’t anything to write home about so the A’s really wanted to get to the Halos’ starting pitcher early. After a 1-2-3 bottom of the first the A’s bats got to work. Singles from Shea Langeliers and Nick Kurtz set up second baseman Luis Urias with the RBI opportunity and he cashed in with the team’s third hit of the inning to take the early lead:

Urias has been a god-send for the team while Zack Gelof has been out. His slash line is now at .264/.339/.453 with six home runs and a 11/16 BB/K ratio. His .792 OPS is third on the team behind only Jacob Wilson, Tyler Soderstrom and Miguel Andujar. Even when Gelof returns the team needs Urias’ bat in the lineup some way.

Another couple innings later and the Athletics would add on with a home run, something the A’s haven’t done in five days. This big fly came off the bat of rookie first baseman Nick Kurtz, his second of the season/career and first in Sacramento:

Angels battle back

Staked to a four-run lead and seemingly on cruise control the Athletics were seemingly on their way to the victory and snapping this extended losing streak. Instead their division rivals began to chip into the home team’s lead. First came a fourth-inning solo home run from Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe, his 11th of the year that is second among all catchers in baseball.

The wheels really came off for Hoglund the next inning though with a single and walk to start the fifth. A couple outs later and the rookie was almost out of trouble. Instead he left a 2-0 pitch up high and in Yoan Moncada’s wheelhouse and he smashed it for a game-changing three-run home run. The next batter smoked a double and that was all the manager needed to see as Mark Kotsay came for his starter.

• Gunnar Hoglund: 4 ²⁄₃ IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 2 HR, 89 pitches

That final frame ruins what was shaping up to be another quality outing for Hoglund. Two mistake pitches ended up costing him the chance at his second win tonight. The Angels are a team known for the long ball though and the rookie had to know that going into this contest. Chalk it up to a learning experience that he can take into his next scheduled start against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Disaster strikes as things get worse

Righty reliever Justin Sterner came on in relief of Hoglund and gave up a go-ahead RBI single to O’Hoppe to give Los Angeles their first lead of the game. He would finish the fifth inning but the lead was gone. That wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen in the inning.

Shortstop Jacob Wilson was set to lead off the bottom half of the frame. Instead it was backup Max Schuemann who led off after Wilson was pinch-hit for. The rookie shortstop was hit by a pinch earlier in the game on the hand/wrist area and that’s what caused him to depart tonight’s contest early:

Although he was able to continue playing the field for a bit longer he wouldn’t be able to take another at-bat tonight. There isn’t any word on the severity but you can bet your bottom dollar we will let A’s fans know the moment we get an update on the AL ROTY frontrunner.

Angels add on insurance, A’s comeback comes up short

The Angels added on a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth against A’s reliever Anthony Maldonado that would ultimately be the difference maker. The A’s wouldn’t go down without a fight. Battling to the last out Lawrence Butler collected a two-out single and advanced to third on defensive indifference, and a pinch-hitting Seth Brown knocked him in with the Athletics’ 12th hit of the day. Representing the tying run Soderstrom battled against Angels closer Kenley Jansen but future Hall of Famer got the best of Sodey as he struck out to end the game.

This squad has looked like a completely different team than the one that was just one game out of the division lead at the beginning of the month. It doesn’t feel like there are any easy answers right now as the club just can’t figure out how to get a win and now the team faces the prospect of being without their top player for god knows how long. The losing streak now reaches the week-long mark and the team now sits dead last in the AL West with a 22-27 record while the Angels climb up to fourth. At least they still have fight in them.

On the bright side the club can draw even with these guys in the division again soon enough. The series will continue tomorrow night for the third of four games between these two division rivals. The Athletics will turn to left-hander JP Sears and his 3.31 ERA hoping he can bounce back and give the Athletics a big outing tomorrow when they desperately need one. Los Angeles will try to stop Sears and the A’s with rookie right-hander Jack Kochanowicz, who enters tomorrow’s start with a 4.71 ERA in nine starts.