Athletics drop second straight, fall to Padres 5-4

A tough but close loss in West Sacramento

The Athletics dropped their series opener against the San Diego Padres on Monday evening, dropping their fourth straight game at home to open the Sutter Health Park era by a 5-4 final. Not a great way to introduce yourselves to the city of Sacramento.

Padres strike early

Starting tonight’s game against San Diego was righty Luis Severino, who was taking the ball for his third start of the season and second time at Sutter Health. His first outing at his new home park didn’t go well as he got off to a rough start and it was the same for the righty tonight. Back-to-back doubles and a 2-run home run gave the Friars a quick 3-0 lead against Sevy in the very first inning, and another RBI double in the fourth made it a 4-0 game. The club has now fallen behind 4-0, 3-0, 4-0, and 3-0 in each of their first four games at their temporary home. It’s going to be hard to rack up many wins in Sacramento if they keep consistently falling behind early this much.

Athletics climb back

Facing yet another early hole at home, the club showed more fight than the other games and mounted a serious comeback against Padres starter Michael King. First came a solo home run in the bottom of the third to get the A’s scoring going, courtesy of a 2-out blast to right field off the bat of Tyler Soderstrom:

That was the first baseman’s fifth long ball of the season. Hitting in the 3-hole for the first time this season Soderstrom continued his strong start to the season and that wouldn’t be the last we would here of him tonight. More to come on that front.

The next inning saw the Athletics keep chipping away. Two singles started the rally, which included shortstop Jacob Wilson extending his season-opening hitting streak to 11 games.

Some nice bit of company right there for the young player. That hit from Wilson kept the line moving and brought up rookie second baseman Max Muncy, who spun on a pitch inside and pulled an RBI double into the left field corner:

It’s been a slow start for Muncy but tonight was his first multi-hit game of his career. A sign of life from a rookie who has struggled mightily in his first taste of the big leagues.

The rally continued with a Lawrence Butler RBI single that set up runners on the corners with just one out. A great chance to continue the rally but the club couldn’t cash in on any more runs as Brent Rooker struck out and Soderstrom lined out to end the frame.

Teams trade zero’s, then homers

While he got off to a tough start in this one Luis Severino settled in nicely. The right-hander allowed just one more run over his final four innings, a seventh-inning two-out mistake to Fernando Tatis Jr. that ended on the other side of the fence. That was his second-to-last batter as he finished the frame and his night on a high note.

–Luis Severino: 7 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 96 pitches

Another tough “start” for Severino but an overall decent outing. He buckled down and kept the Padres from building an insurmountable lead, giving the team a chance to execute a comeback attempt. San Diego’s starter pitched into the sixth inning before finally getting pulled as well.

Finally into the Padres’ bullpen, the A’s got that run back from the Padres in the bottom of the frame when Soderstrom hit his second home run of the evening, another solo shot to right field:

The lefty slugger is now tied for the league lead in home runs with MVP Aaron Judge and doesn’t look like he’ll be slowing down anytime soon. The former 1st-round draft pick is finally having some sustained success in the majors after a couple false starts to his career. It couldn’t have come at a better time with fellow first baseman Nick Kurtz tearing the cover off the ball at Triple-A. That home run also put Soderstrom into the A’s history books:

This was now a one-run game yet again with the Athletics down to their last six outs. San Diego has a strong backend of the bullpen though and the bottom half of the lineup was due up. Not the best odds but anything can happen!

The A’s managed just one hit in the final two innings, another Wilson single in the eighth that put the tying run on base. That was as close as they would come to tying this one up as the Padres’ shut the door on the A’s to finish off the game and take game one of the series.

A tough start to this one ended up dooming ths team tonight. The club did manage to fight back and get back into this game, and a different swing here or there may change how this game unfolds. That’s the way it goes sometimes in baseball and the club at least put up a fight for the first time at their new home. They now sit at 4-7 and are tied for last in the AL West. Not a fun place to be.

The series continues tomorrow evening as left-hander Jeffrey Springs takes the mound for his third start of the year looking for a bounce back performance. He’ll be opposed by Padres righty Dylan Cease, who is a frontline starter and offers a serious challenge for the A’s. 7:05 P.M. sharp everyone!