The Athletics’ free-fall continued Saturday in a 5-3 road loss to the Kansas City Royals, with their record having dropped to 10 games under .500.
Seth Brown gave the A’s some reason for hope in the second inning with a mammoth two-run home run against American League earned run average leader Seth Lugo, but Oakland (19-29) never led.
The grim march backwards continues as the A’s sink in the American League West standings. It was their seventh straight loss, ninth in the last 10 games and 12 of the last 14 after sitting at .500 at 17-17 on May 4.
Brown’s home run was his fourth of the season, with Kyle Isbel hitting his fourth for the Royals. Kansas City improved to 28-19. A’s manager Mark Kotsay was encouraged with his team getting 11 hits, even with the run output limited to Brown’s blast.
“We just didn’t get the big hit, the two-out hit, which they were able to capitalize on in the fifth to add on to their lead,” Kotsay told reporters. “Ultimately, I think the offense, there are better signs. Those are the things we’re looking for. If we can get the offense going, there’s a lot of hope in terms of getting out of this thing.”
The A’s showed some life in the seventh when Abraham Toro, J.J. Bleday and Brent Rooker hit consecutive singles with two outs against reliever John Schrieber, cutting the Royals’ lead to 4-3. The Royals got that run back on a solo home run by Isbel against Lucas Erceg leading off the bottom of the seventh.
Stripling pitched into the sixth but quickly gave up a bloop double to Michael Massey and a line single to Nelson Velasquez that put the Royals up 4-2. That ended Stripling’s evening at five innings — the ninth time in 10 games he’s pitched five or more innings — with nine hits surrendered and four earned runs. He walked none, struck out two and 62 of his 87 pitches were strikes.
Lugo (7-1) came out of the game in the sixth following a two-out error by shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. with two runners aboard, with Schreiber coming in to retire Brown on a fly to left. Lugo, who came in the American League earned run average leader at 1.66, threw 96 pitches with one walk and 10 strikeouts.
The A’s opened the ninth inning against Kansas City closer James McArthur with singles by Max Schuemann and pinch-hitter Kyle McCann before Abraham Toro was retired on a fly to deep center.
McArthur struck out J.J. Bleday and then Brent Rooker to record his 11th save.
Vinnie Pasquantino broke an 0-for-14 stretch with two-out line single to right to put Kansas City up 3-2. The hit brought home Maikel Garcia, who doubled with one out directly over the head of left fielder Esteury Ruiz, who initially froze as the ball approached.
Brown’s home run followed a hustle double by Zack Gelof in the second inning. It traveled 445 feet to dead center field and measured 109.2 miles per hour off the bat. Brown came in on a 4-for-39 slump (.103) over his previous 16 games.
At that point, it was the second A’s home run in three innings, coming off Shea Langeliers’ two-run home run Friday night. That homer snapped a streak of 158 at-bats without a home run for the A’s.
The Royals jumped on Stripling in the first, with Garcia lining a single to right to lead off the game and Witt hitting a bloop single to right. The runners moved up on a chopper to the mound, with Salvador Perez lining a two-run single to right field.
Stripling has been plagued by soft-contact hits which have found holes to go along with the legitimate ones. Together, it’s added up to a 1-8 record although he’s pitched better than that.
“Story of my year so far, it’s a 180 from last year when I couldn’t keep the ball in the yard,” Stripling said. “This year it’s a ton of hits. It feels like I’m throwing the ball well, but I’ve had a lot of outings exactly like that one. I feel I’m throwing the ball well, but a few things could be better for sure.”
The A’s are struggling so much on offense they opened the eighth with Tyler Nevin — who came up with a 1-for-37 slump — as a pinch hitter. Nevin grounded to second.
Waiting on Andujar
Miguel Andujar, signed in the offseason in hopes of recreating ihs rookie magic of 2018 when he was runner-up to Shohei Ohtani for American League Rookie of the Year, is being watched closely in a rehab assignment at Triple-A Las Vegas.
Andujar went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs in his first game Thursday against El Paso, and Kotsay said he will play extensively over the weekend to determine the progress of his surgically prepared knee. Andujar, 29, had surgery to repair torn meniscus.
“It’s nice to see he stepped right bcak in, didn’t miss a beat,” Kotsay said. “Had a great spring, was projected to be on this team out of camp and have a major impact on this club. When he’s ready it will be nice to get him back and have his bat in the lineup.”
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Andujar hit .357 with five home runs during spring training. In 2018 with the Yankees, Andujar hit 27 homers, hit 47 doubles and drove in 92 runs for the Yankees. A torn labrum the following year started a slide which found him eventually requesting a trade from the Yankees, being designated for assignment and spending time with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Kotsay said there was no specific timetable as to when Andujar would be promoted.
“We’re going to see how he does on the field, how his body responds,” Kotsay said. “As long as his body feels good, feels right and the timing is there, we’ll end up bringing him up.”
